I like this forum because I try out radical thoughts. Most of you are reasonable about it, except, you know, that one guy.
My thought is, we have radically changed this country, to the point of it being unrecognizable by our founders. As some call it, we have a revolution every November, with no bloodshed. It’s not surprising to me at all that we are moving those 250 year old heroes into museums. They are history, they are not gods.
Some people feel differently.
I think they’d be the first to say they weren’t gods. But removing them because 250 years later we don’t like some of the things they did is kind of silly IMHO. MLK was a womanizer - gone. Kennedy, womanizer, gone. And I’ll bet you can dig up dirt on anyone enough to satisfy these “woke” idiots. And regardless, instead of cancelling out history, how about let’s make sure we know more about them, warts and all. I was in Plymouth recently and was pleasantly surprised to see how the Pilgrims were portrayed, not as heros, but as people whose image in fact was changed many times over the years by whomever was portraying them. That’s honesty. Enough of this “hero/saviour” BS, it’s just people trying to make it in the world.
I can get that. “Womanizer” would be almost every President. Please don’t fact check that.
“Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.” George Orwell, 1984
“History is not there for you to like or dislike. It is there for you to learn from it. And if it offends you, then even better. Because then you are less likely to repeat it. It is not yours to erase. It belongs to all of us.” Lt Colonel Allen West
[Allen West (politician) - Wikipedia]
Please don’t berate me for citing this man, even if he is controversial to be polite.
Even if I don’t share his ideas, i feel that he is right.
Now sending a statue to the museum is not a problem " per se", but sending every statue of every one who was not perfect is, especially when it is done by people who don’t understand and know history.
And the true matter is this requirement of perfection in anyone, from past or present.
The prosecutors will find some one who claims to be more pure and perfect than them. In the past, this quest ended in mass murder.
Good job the white supremacist icon erected in 1833 wasn’t near the harbour.
We Woke Brit beneficiaries of white supremacy have had enough.
I would be more bothered by this one move of a statue if there was already a real portrayal of history in our streets. The streets of New Orleans should have plaques and monuments honoring the slaves. Instead, the National Park System glosses over that history. I took the tour, I could write a thousand words on this.
I was one of the last generations to be taught Columbus was a hero. So, I get what you’re saying morgan, but it had already been happening. The book 1984 was released in 1964 and it was about that time, not some frightening future. The debate happening now seems to be “one man’s treasure is another man’s trash”. I think the history of Jim Crow had been hidden and the changes we see now are lifting those covers. Pendulums swing, but I see it being done right this time.