The Problem With Statues

My mother would say some of us have lost our feeble minds.

Maybe I'm just a reactionary fuddy-duddy who doesn't understand the evil of systemic (insert problem here) that we MUST GET RID OF RIGHT NOW.

Apparently, we have systemic problems with statues.

At first, you could understand some of the issues with statues, like Confederate generals. After all, they were fighting against the United States for the proposition that some men should be able to have free labor.

By the way, as some of you know, I majored in history in college. One of my professors was Dr. Roach, who sort of sounded like Richard Nixon when he lectured. In explaining The Civil War, he said it is important to remember that one-third of the South wanted to fight, one-third didn't want to fight, and one-third didn't give a damn.  The One-Third that wanted to fight convinced the No Damns that war would be an adventure and Yankees are bad, etc.  They forgot to mention the part about death and the amputations.

Quickly the Statue Wars moved from Confederate generals to other Americans, who are quite famous. People like Washington and Jefferson.  Both Washington and Jefferson owned slaves. They are now considered as morally compromised people by those whose knowledge of the American Revolution is the Broadway play "Hamilton".  What's funny about "Hamilton" is that he's considered a shining light because he didn't own slaves.  No, he was just involved in slave trading, but that's okay because the songs are so good in the show.

Popular Mechanics magazine recently published an article titled: "How To Topple A Statue Using Science".  You can read it here. https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a32870657/remove-statue-science/ 

I'm glad science is now being used because trying to topple a statue using the liberal arts just wouldn't work.

From Washington and Jefferson, the crowd went after Christopher Columbus. My theory is that there is a dearth of Confederate statues in Northern cities and the crowd up there wanted to get into the action.

Columbus is considered problematic because he is honored as the founder of America when he wasn't the first European over here. The Vikings were here way before  Columbus. There were also other people here before either The Vikings or Columbus.   Of course, he made them slaves.

Now, the crowd is having problems with statues of elk

Last week, in Portland, Oregon, protestors set fire to a statue of an elk. It was not a Confederate elk or an elk that is associated with Washington, Jefferson, or Columbus.

Here's how The Associated Press reported it:

"A 120-year-old statue of an elk has been removed from downtown Portland after protesters lit a fire underneath it Wednesday night. The statue, which sits atop the David P. Thompson Fountain, has been the target of graffiti and fires during the weeks of protests against systemic racism, police brutality and the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police"

The elk was put at the fountain in honor of David P. Thompson, a former mayor of Portland.  I looked up Mayor Thompson's biography on Wikipedia, thinking that maybe he was a Grand Racist Water Buffalo that was a misogynist and a homophobe.  No mention of any great sins, except that he was a Republican.

In just one month's time, we went from shock over police brutality to setting fire to a statue of an elk for no particular reason.

We have a crowd of people, who apparently are very well educated, who just cannot grasp that we are not honoring Washington and Jefferson for owning people.  Washington was the First President and led The Continental Army to victory over Great Britain. Jefferson wrote The Declaration of Independence which said, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."  Jefferson deserves a statue just for that sentence.

This is a slippery slope in which people are sliding down headfirst. Who is next?  Dr. King? (He would get in trouble with the #Metoo crowd.)   FDR? (Interned people during World War II simply because of race.)  George H.W. Bush? (Fathered George W. Bush.)

If you tear something down, you should have something better to replace it. So far, I haven't heard anything better.  I have a feeling I won't.