Quote:
Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby
Said it before in different words:
If your understanding of history relies on a statue or a series of statues, then you need to just stop talking about history at all.
Removing statues is NOT erasing history. It's removing statues. History is still being taught. The books are still in print. The original documents are still in the museums and archives where they were put, precisely so that actual documentation of our history could be preserved for future use/consideration.
Stop with the nonsense about removing statues being an act of removing our history. It just isn't. Most people don't even know who sculpted any of those statues. The artists are part of the STATUE's history. Most people don't know what year any of those statues were erected. The year is part of the STATUE's history. Most people don't know the actual official names of most of the statues. The names are part of the STATUES' histories.
These statues are, for all intents and purposes, not historical at all. They represent prominent personalities who existed at one point or another in our history, but the statues themselves have no importance of their own.
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They were strong and fine looking men on elegant horses that someone once loved. Someone worked hard to make a beautiful statue of them. They were someone's father and someone's son and someone's brother..just like the men who are being touted as hero's who were incarcerated many times and didn't stop when they were told to stop and grabbed an officer of the laws tazer and shot at him with it.
People who look for beauty find it in all kinds of places.
If it is wrong to look down on one group of people who have done wrong things, than it is also wrong to look down on another group of people who have done wrong things. It is the same issue. Who has the high ground here?
I have plenty of farmers and hillbillies and rednecks and doctors and lawyers and statesmen in my family and aquaintances. None of them kept slaves or were put in jail for anything. My point is this. No matter how you look at it, there are people who do try their very best to do the right thing, just about every day in their lives. I bet no posters on this site knew anyone who kept slaves and very few know/knew anyone who was put in jail.