Historic Statue Removal

[Randy]

How do you feel about historic statues being removed? Do you think it is right for people to take these down or leave them up even though they might have a negative background associated with them?

 

[MrDawn]

It's nothing new in our history. When people don't like something they resort to toppling statues and burning down buildings.

The toppling of Saddam’s statue: how the US military made a myth

The long read: In 2003, the destruction of one particular statue in Baghdad made worldwide headlines and came to be a symbol of western victory in Iraq. But there was so much more to it – or rather, so much less

www.theguardian.com

 

[Nebulous]

I think they should just be relocated to a museum or something. Don't destroy them completely. They don't need to be in public if people are offended by them.

 

[passenger]

I guess re-writing history means that it didn't happen; that way it can repeat over & over.

 

[PGen98]

Yeah, take them down respectfully and put them in a museum of some kind. Warnings to history.

 

[Nebulous]

I guess re-writing history means that it didn't happen; that way it can repeat over & over.

Is removing a statue rewriting history? If they were doing that they'd be scrubbing the history books and the internet of all traces of said history.

 

[passenger]

Is removing a statue rewriting history? If they were doing that they'd be scrubbing the history books and the internet of all traces of said history.

Yes, I think that in a way it is; I guess I feel the same way about re-naming sports teams. Soon nobody will remember that Sadam Hussein or Robt. E. Lee or the Cleveland Indians ever existed; and maybe that's all okay.

 

[Nebulous]

Yes, I think that in a way it is; I guess I feel the same way about re-naming sports teams. Soon nobody will remember that Sadam Hussein or Robt. E. Lee or the Cleveland Indians ever existed; and maybe that's all okay.

...and like you said, we'll repeat the cycle again.

 

[Scarlet Rose]

In many instances the act of putting the statues themselves up is a rewriting of history. There is the whole thing about history being written by the victors and all that. I would not assume that leaving the statues up is any less political charged or objective than taking them down. It just depends on what we value as a society and which historical narratives we wish to promote and which we wish to neglect. Agreed that the removal of the statues in and of itself can not be the endpoint. It also requires a more critical engagement with history in our educational institutions. Something we are hopefully going to see here in New Zealand from next year, I believe.

 

[Nebulous]

@Scarlet Rose do you have a lot of historic statues around NZ?

 

[Scarlet Rose]

@Nebulous yeah, my city has one right in the center dedicated to soldiers who died during WWI. I think we have various statues all throughout the country. Not all generate controversy. Some are more actively resisted. Although my city tends to have more abstract statues than historical ones. I am almost always daydreaming though haha.

 

[Nebulous]

@Nebulous yeah, my city has one right in the center dedicated to soldiers who died during WWI. I think we have various statues all throughout the country. Not all generate controversy. Some are more actively resisted. Although my city tends to have more abstract statues than historical ones. I am almost always daydreaming though haha.

I kind of like the abstract funky art that some cities are adopting. San Francisco is not too far from me and they always have cool things to look at.

We have lots of controversial ones here in the states since we used to be savages back in the day. Lol

 

[Scarlet Rose]

I kind of like the abstract funky art that some cities are adopting. San Francisco is not too far from me and they always have cool things to look at.

We have lots of controversial ones here in the states since we used to be savages back in the day. Lol

They can be pretty neat. I am not very outgoing though, so I don't tend to notice them. Although on the rare times I am existing in the world I usually appreciate them.


We still do have our controversial statues too. As our historical narratives we have tended to learn here have been more favourable to our own colonialism. But that is changing as there is quite a massive revision to national standards for history education coming out. It is the result of something like 3 years work. Which was itself a process which began in response to a master student's thesis questioning how poor our own education was regarding our history.