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Question

Statues

Aug 21, 2017 3:48PM PDT

What's with this rush to remove statues?
It's our history.
I may not like our history but it is what it is.

What's next, gather up all the history books and burn them?

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Have to agree Bob--b
Aug 21, 2017 4:26PM PDT

If in the UK we removed historic statues we'd be at it a while. As you say it's your history. It shows north v south divides still exist.
Dafydd.

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Statues
Aug 21, 2017 4:44PM PDT

So many intolerant people.
I'm from the north.
If my city had a statue of Robert Lee it would not bother me a bit.
I may not agree with the message it sends but I would not consider defacing or destroying it.

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I don't get it either
Aug 21, 2017 5:00PM PDT

Some I've heard say that certain ones belong only in museums. This appears to be more of revisionist history where folks look for warts and focus on them rather than the unblemished skin. Any wart found is reason to dismiss the person as unworthy of any honorable place in history. We're going to need to take down a lot of statues of early presidents and statesmen if we want a "no wart" policy. And don't we have statues of many Native American chiefs and warriors. Were they not our "enemies" at one time or another? I've no problem with such statues so whats with the need to take down statues of folks who were enemies of "The Union"? Did they not serve honorably in other capacities? I suspect that this may arise from how American History is being taught in our schools today. These people grow up with hatred already ingrained in their minds...hatred for something of which they have no personal knowledge or experience. Such a shame and waste of a person's life.

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I'm gonna be waiting a long time
Aug 22, 2017 3:55AM PDT

to see Clarence Thomas (the only black Supreme Court Justice.....and a Conservative) recognized in the Black History Museum at the Smithsonian........and yet right the bust of MLK Jr in the same museum sits next to a bust of Margaret Sanger, a white racist woman who founded Planned Parenthood for the sole purpose of aborting black babies because she believed they weren't worthy of living).

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I'm waiting for the next round.
Aug 22, 2017 6:05AM PDT
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Stan Freberg:
Aug 22, 2017 6:33AM PDT

'... and so, George Washington became the father of his country ... in every possible way.'

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It is probable that most all of us, regardless of color,
Aug 22, 2017 12:49PM PDT

had ancestors who were slaves and some who were slaveholders as well. How can we, today, possibly know what was culturally accepted hundreds of years ago that would not be tolerated today. Heck, slaveholders and slaves might well have been thought to be more like employers and employees.

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I must be looking in the wrong places.
Aug 22, 2017 6:49AM PDT

I found one article, with pictures, that showed the monument problem is worldwide, driven by the regime changes after WWI and then WWII.
Another said that in the US, many who want them removed from taxpayer-funded places think the museum idea is a fine one. It will also satisfy any archaeologists in the future. If the museums survive. And the archaeologists.
The Bible has a different view, not at all popular. Lemme hurl this at ya. Ps 146:3,4.

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How do you feel...
Aug 22, 2017 10:01AM PDT

....about Lady Liberty Statue in New York Harbor? Made in France.

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(NT) The topic of the posts I read was statues of the formerly
Aug 22, 2017 11:45AM PDT
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living, not one whom had to put up with
Aug 22, 2017 11:48AM PDT

my stupid phone. Some heroes!
There are also statues of Columbia, Britannica and Marianne. "Allons, enfants!"

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(NT) Sorry. Britannia.
Aug 22, 2017 11:49AM PDT
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Answer
For the most part
Aug 22, 2017 9:58AM PDT

...I don't give a crap about monuments and statues anymore than I care for "yard art" or "yard trash" as I often refer to it, especially when someone's overdone it in the front yard. In fact, just because some neighbors do that here, after some years I finally decided to have my piece of yard trash and put a pink flamingo out there. Would you believe about a year later someone stole it?! So, to increase the fun I got a bigger one made from heavy concrete. Darn it, nobody stole it yet, so there it still sits.

Although I don't care that much about such items personally, I know those who attack the memorials are attacking you, me, and America, even if like burning something in effigy. THAT'S what matters, the motivations of such fools. It's truly not so much an attack just on statues, as an attack on American History.

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Perhaps the statue of R. E. Lee
Aug 22, 2017 11:35AM PDT

would be allowed to stand if it could be modified to show a gaping bullet hole in his chest.

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The only cadet to get through the
Aug 22, 2017 11:51AM PDT

Academy without a demerit, they say.

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Just happened in my town
Aug 22, 2017 5:06PM PDT

and I live in Ohio. This, however, was a statue of a confederate soldier in cemetery full of other confederate soldiers. I'm especially taken by the comments here;

http://nbc4i.com/2017/08/22/statue-vandalized-at-camp-chase-confederate-cemetery-in-west-columbus/

"Nicolas Gonzales is a Native American and veteran. He said while he doesn’t agree with the Confederacy, anywhere a veteran is buried is a sacred place.

“In my Native American culture you always honor the warriors from the other side, too,” he said. “So, I found this very repulsive to me when I heard about it on the internet and came out immediately to check it out and frankly, salute that soldier.”


Good on you Mr. Gonzales but I wish you'd have used your Native American name if you have one. You definitely have the right attitude and thanks for sharing it.

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He may be using it.
Aug 22, 2017 5:18PM PDT

Many Navajo and Hopi out here have Hispanic names. It's true some will have another, native name as well, but IMO that's fading, like the rest of the culture.

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(NT) And an Apache teenager once counted coup on me.
Aug 22, 2017 5:20PM PDT
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Intolerant people
Aug 22, 2017 5:48PM PDT

We seem to have a bunch of them.
What harm does a statue do?
If you don't like the message it sends don't look at it.

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Not a statue, but
Aug 23, 2017 1:42AM PDT
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41004040
A scheduled monument for a key WWI battle 100 years ago.
Quite a story. Note the Canadian General's rationale for changing the target. A retreating German army in Belgium would likely have done worse than they did advancing in 1914.
Not too late for the pros to get tickets for France, to salute.
Not too late for the cons to get tickets to France, to throw yourselves in front of the machines.
Myself, I'm expecting the end to all war, soon.