Do statues tell us anything about history?

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sCMy6t5Cf8]

IMO this video is excellent. There is nothing good to gain by commemorating people who benefitted from historic racism.

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SW-User

Yes, I think they do. Taking the statues away doesn't change anything. Colston was still a slaver and the people of Bristol in 1895 thought he was worth commemorating 170 years after his death. I think the statue will now be in a museum, where far fewer people will see it. Possibly a missed opportunity to educate more people.

Bristol seems to be particularly, or maybe deliberately, ignorant of the role of slavery in its history. There is a good article in the local paper about it here. Until recently, only 100 people had signed a petition to remove it.
https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/how-city-failed-remove-edward-4211771

Having said that, I'm not saying no statues should be removed. I'm sure there aren't any statues of Cromwell left in Ireland. I think it's a very difficult judgement to decide what should be removed. Were the Taliban right to destroy 1700 year old statues of Buddha?

HootyTheNightOwl

@SW-User At least, there were 1700 year old statues of Buddha for the Taliban to destroy... the way that things are going - our current statues will be ending up in some warehouse before being sold off to the highest bidder in some private auction somewhere...

SW-User

@HootyTheNightOwl I'd be happy to get rid of them all if someone wants to buy them. I'm not a fan of statues at all to be honest. But that's just my personal tastes.