Do statues tell us anything about history?

@bijouxbroussard Yeah and they threw it in the river with people filming it. Predictably loads of people who have never heard of him before have trotted out the 'erasing history' argument and the really don't get it.

To state the obvious: This is the British equivalent of Confederate statues.

@Burnley123 Exactly.

@bijouxbroussard I love those who responded to 'this is destroying history' with, 'No, this is making history.'

We have statues of people who were guilty of aboriginal massacres too. It's time to tear them down and acknowledge the history.

But then beyond that the debate becomes nuanced into attitudes. Many colonialists had racist attitudes that ranged from considering people sub-human across to those who [u]genuinely cared about their welfare[/u], but [u]unacceptably patronising by today's standards[/u]Beliefs and attitudes like this were standard across most of Europe and historical figures going back right through history. Beyond race, Brits hated the French and vice-versa - similar attitudes towards nationality. Almost all in the past were (at least publicly) anti-gay. Do we look back through history and write off anyone who failed to achieve 21st century standards of awareness and consciousness? (Apart from those really blatant examples.)

I want to be clear - there is a line somewhere and there are those we cannot continue to celebrate and uphold. I think others it's about retelling the story clearly so we are aware of the complexity and contradictions, without assigning everyone to the write-off category. There's a line somewhere - I don't know where it is and it should be found by society coming to a shared space.

Interested in your thoughts. It's just a question I'm wrestling with.

Rest assured - we'll all be looked down on by coming generations for the way we have destroyed the planet and exploited the third world countries. Most people aren't even aware that their prosperity for the last many years has come from exploitation of Africa, Asia and Latin America.