Do statues tell us anything about history?

Where do we stop? Ideas alter through time so what is acceptable, even praiseworthy to one generation is disliked by another. Very few people of the past will be seen to be 'worthy' in the present climate although they were influential and possibly seen as kindly to their peers.
Harriet Beecher Stowe approved of the Highand Clearances where thousands of people were forcibly evicted, King Richard of England massacred thousand of Islamics, Genghis Khan is a hero in Mongolia yet was responsible for uncounted deaths.
This present trend reminds me of the Protestant Reformation when abbeys and other religious institutions were destroyed in the 16th century.