Fuck it, I’ll weigh in.
1. I don’t endorse vandalism generally.
2. The defendants admitted what they did, but the jury decided their actions did not warrant punishment. Despite what that idiot Tory said, this does not set a legal precedent.
3. Coulston was a fucking slave trader, let’s not forget that, regardless of the standards of morality at the time. The statue was not contemporary.
4. Various legal attempts to remove the statue were supposedly blocked by a small group repeatedly.
5. People say that the statue represents our history, well the events surrounding it being toppled are (or rather will) be part of our history too. If it were up to me I’d have left it on the ground, concreted it in place and put up a plaque explaining how it ended up there.
6. Food for thought: how is this any different to the now famous footage of Saddam Hussain’s statue being pulled down after the man himself was toppled?
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jonbob loves you, Tue 11 Jan 2022, 11:24,
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good points, though saddam was a recently deposed hated dictator
not some bloke dead 300 years ago who had the statues build after his death by a grateful public because of his public works he built for bristol
Maybe the Bamiyam buddhas might be a better example. Something that was built long in the past that some current residents, in this case the taliban, decided they wanted to erase evidence of because they didn't like the idea of it
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cumquat may will not be commenting further on the allegations, Tue 11 Jan 2022, 13:37,
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Although I'm somewhat opposed to the method in which the statue was removed, I'm not really opposed to it's removal. To be honest, I couldn't give a fuck either way.
But you raise an interesting point re: Saddam Hussein. What's the statue of limitations on the actions of the subject when viewed from a contemporary perspective?
Saddam was very much a contemporary figure, and I think it's safe to say that the statue was erected by him, during his lifetime as an act of narcissism, so I don't think he's the best example. But should https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equestrian_statue_of_Genghis_Khan be torn down? I mean, he killed a *lot* of people. Enough to make a noticeable change in the temperature of the fucking planet. And mostly because they didn't want to be pals.
There's no doubt whatsoever that the guy was a master strategist, but surely we only celebrate or admire his conquests because they occurred so long ago. Is there a historical watermark where we brush aside the atrocities these figures committed and instead just focus on the impressive stuff?
(, Tue 11 Jan 2022, 13:53, Share, Reply)