Even larger statues in this tradition are very standardized, not individualized (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kouros#/media/File:Louvre_E5345.jpg …). Because - beyond their religious significance - they're not about remembering the deceased ("Hank here liked propane...") but about revering them more generally. 4/22
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And here's the thing: for those confederate statues, we *know* what values they expressed, because the people who made them *told us.* They literally told us: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/its-not-just-the-monuments/612940/ …. These statues stood for hate. That was their 'value.' 15/22
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And I hear the hemming and hawing and "but did they really mean it" in the back. They *really* meant it. They wanted to be *very* clear: https://hgreen.people.ua.edu/transcription-carr-speech.html … (content warning on that one, the speech, dedicating a now fallen statue, is disturbingly hateful) 16/22
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And that's why I'm not persuaded that there's some statue slippery-slope that will lead us towards total de-monumentalization. There are a lot of statues up of people with imperfect pasts that no one is seriously suggesting taking down... 17/22
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...because statues fundamentally are not about the people they depict but about the *values* that person represents. Jefferson is safe not because he was perfect (he was *not*), but because he doesn't represent his imperfects, but rather his finest words. 18/22
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So if you are thinking, "should this statue be here?" The question you want to ask is not "what history is it connected to?" but "what values does it express right now ?" Not who does it glorify, but WHY does it glorify them? And for the person saying,"well, maybe it..." 19/22
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"...was because they were good soldiers" let me ask this: where are James Longstreet's statues? Why is there one confederate general left out of all of this soldierly commemoration? https://www.cnn.com/2017/08/23/opinions/where-are-monuments-to-confederate-general-longstreet-opinion-holmes/index.html … Why? Because after the war, he supported reconstruction. 20/22
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It was never about generalship or leadership, these statues were always about hate and Longstreet didn't hate quite enough for the hateful people who put these statues up. That's the *value* they communicate. Hate. 21/22
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So when evaluating a statue, ask yourself, "What values was this statue created to communicate? Are they good values? Are they values I believe in?" And if the answer is "no" - remove that statue and replace it with one that *does* represent our values. end/22
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Keskustelun loppu
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Agreed. But the rub comes when like looking at art, individuals don't always see the same thing. https://bit.ly/3dpIcsBEddieMarsDMS …
Kiitos. Käytämme tätä aikajanasi parantamiseen. KumoaKumoa
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