Do You Approve Of Destroying Confederate Monuments?

[Revoltingest]

My question is, when does it stop being "remembering the bad history so we don't do it again" and become honoring? That's what I think statues do. They are walking a thin line between the two.

Did you miss my posts about keeping the statues for
the purpose of adding new messages about the horrors
of slavery, the Civil War, & lingering racism thereafter?

Notice:
I do not propose keeping every statue everywhere.
I do not propose leaving the statues as they are
with their original message intact.
I propose changing the message.

People, people, people...please read this post
before objecting to the wrong arguments.

 

[ADigitalArtist]

zzzz

I'll wager that white supremacists would chafe more
at statues with added exhibits about the horrors of
slavery, the Civil War, & lingering racism thereafter.

You can do that without keeping up the statues they clearly want preserved. Heck you really want to cheese then off, destroy them and display the rubble, especially highlighting how cheaply made and thin, low quality material they were.

 

[Ashoka]

Did you miss my posts about keeping the statues for
the purpose of adding new messages about the horrors
of slavery, the Civil War, & lingering racism thereafter?

Notice:
I do not propose keeping every statue everywhere.
I do not propose leaving the statues as they are
with their original message intact.
I propose changing the message.

People, people, people...please read this post
before objecting to the wrong arguments.

Honestly? If that were the case, I would not be so against it. So long as it's in black and white that what these people did was wrong.

 

[Revoltingest]

You'll notice Auschwitz and the museum didn't keep the nazi flags and busts on celebrating the nazi party up. It's a somber experience focusing on the trials of the people who were victimized, not their perpetrators.

But neither did they tear it down.
Nay, they even advertise it as an attraction.
With good reason I say.

BTW, I'd give more attention to the perpetrators.
Their evil should be better understood. But perhaps
the populace isn't ready to face feelings of guilt.

 

[ADigitalArtist]

But neither did they tear it down.
Nay, they even advertise it as an attraction.
With good reason I say.

BTW, I'd give more attention to the perpetrators.
Their evil should be better understood. But perhaps
the populace isn't ready to face feelings of guilt.

They tore down everything except for the locations were victims were held, tortured and killed. Including many, many statues and icons.

The museum is about connecting with the people who lost their lives, not about understanding the mentality of nazi. There's plenty of books and museums dedicated to that purpose, Auschwitz museum and the Holocaust museum in DC don't need to be among them.

 

[Revoltingest]

You can do that without keeping up the statues they clearly want preserved.

Of course they could.
But the offensiveness of the memorials
heightens the drama, & makes the history
more real. This is just my preference.

(I'm very active in preservation &
presentation in museums....hence
some strong opinions.)

 

[Ashoka]

Of course they could.
But the offensiveness of the memorials
heightens the drama, & makes the history
more real. This is just my preference.

(I'm very active in preservation &
presentation in museums....hence
somestrong opinions.)

This isn't meant as a "gotcha" or "aha" moment, I am just genuinely curious about your response and what you think.

When it comes to 9/11, should we have a statue of the hijackers? Of Osama Bin Laden?

 

[ADigitalArtist]

Of course they could.
But the offensiveness of the memorials
heightens the drama, & makes the history
more real. This is just my preference.

(I'm very active in preservation &
presentation in museums....hence
somestrong opinions.)

Museums have finite space and so do public displays. I'm well versed in historical preservation societies and even am friends with a few archeologists and tracking their projects of that nature.
But there's a difference between historical preservation and hoarding everything as if it's all of equal value, which it certainly is not to me.
If someone wanted to take one of the thin confederate statues and display it for history, go for it. But the space they're being displayed could be used for higher quality projects which could also become history for future generations.

 

[Revoltingest]

Honestly? If that were the case, I would not be so against it. So long as it's in black and white that what these people did was wrong.

The way to educate isn't to say it was wrong.
It's to present it in a manner that conveys
the wrongness. This beats being preachy.

 

[Guitar's Cry]

Their evil should be better understood. But perhaps
the populace isn't ready to face feelings of guilt.

That's likely true. The wounds are all too recent, the bruises are still being felt, and some people just can't look at the scars.

 

[Revoltingest]

But there's a difference between historical preservation and hoarding everything as if it's all of equal value, which it certainly is not to me.

I dint advocate hoarding.
Nor did I say everything has equal value.

If someone wanted to take one of the thin confederate statues and display it for history, go for it. But the space they're being displayed could be used for higher quality projects which could also become history for future generations.

It seems that you & others are inferring an argument
to keep everything ever erected, & leaving it as is
for the purpose of continuing the message that the
Confederacy was a noble effort.
Read better, please.

 

[Revoltingest]

That's likely true. The wounds are all too recent, the bruises are still being felt, and some people just can't look at the scars.

If Germany can make Auschwitz into a tourist
attraction that informs & motivates, then I think
we can do better than we are.

 

[ADigitalArtist]

I dint advocate hoarding.
Nor did I say everything has equal value.

It seems that you & others are inferring an argument
to keep everything ever erected, & leaving it as is
for the purpose of continuing the message that the
Confederacy was a noble effort.
Read better, please.

Maybe you should do the same, as nobody was inferring that.

 

[Revoltingest]

Maybe you should do the same, as nobody was inferring that.

Even from our own, eg, "hoarding", "equal value".
You're arguing against your own creations.

I think some emotions are running high, & it
means people are handing me their baggage
to handle. There is nothing between the lines
in my posts.

 

[ADigitalArtist]

If Germany can make Auschwitz into a tourist
attraction that informs & motivates, then I think
we can do better than we are.

Again, not in the way you seemed to think it was or should be. It informa and educates, choosing to focus on the victims, not the perpetrators. And removes many, many statues, icons, flags and insignias.

If we did what Auschwitz museum did, we would, in fact, take down confederate statues and erect statues towards victims of slavery and Jim Crow era racism. Displaying memorabilia confiscated and pictures and backgrounds of those victimized.

 

[ADigitalArtist]

Even from our own, eg, "hoarding", "equal value".
You're arguing against your own creations.

I think some emotions are running high, & it
means people are handing me their baggage
to handle. There is nothing between the lines
in my posts.

Nothing in the lines of your post either. Per usual.

 

[Revoltingest]

Again, not in the way you seemed to think it was or should be. It informa and educates, choosing to focus on the victims, not the perpetrators. And removes many, many statues, icons, flags and insignias.

If we did what Auschwitz museum did, we would, in fact, take down confederate statues and erect statues towards victims of slavery and Jim Crow era racism. Displaying memorabilia confiscated and pictures and backgrounds of those victimized.

That would be how you might handle it.
My approach both preserves & illuminates.

 

[Revoltingest]

Nothing in the lines of your post either. Per usual.

Some of us are stronger at empathizing.
Others better at thinking.

 

[ADigitalArtist]

Some of us are stronger at empathizing.
Others better at thinking.

Some of us are better at both.

 

[syo]

Can they erase Hitler and second world war from history? It disgusts me.