(September 11, 2017 at 8:53 am)bennyboy Wrote: I'm personally against the statue removal. I'd also be against the removal of Hitler statues in Berlin. I mean. . . you don't want to have too many of them, but seeing how important figures in history looked is interesting and educational.
This shit about things representing ideas is bullshit. So General Lee was a slaveholder. His statue isn't enslaving anyone, and its existence doesn't necessarily imply endorsement of slavery. He was an important player in American history, and I see no problem with his image being displayed. Now, I wouldn't call the park, "Southern Freedom Memorial Park" or something, but that's a different issue.
Human thought is symbolic. The existence of those statues in a context when the subject is being honored is a de facto approval of his actions, and try as you might to dance around it, his actions -- namely, defending the right to own another human being -- those were odious. You even allude to the importance of context to symbolism in your last sentence, so I'm sure it's not that you're unaware of it, it's just that you're choosing to downplay it.
