White Privilege

what dreams said:

mace1229 said:

what dreams said:

All this talk about "learning history from statues." Serious question (maybe it should be a poll):  Who actually learned their history from a statue? I mean, I learn history from reading books, from taking classes, from attending lectures. Occasionally I'll go to museum to learn some history of a place while traveling, like a few times in my life, but who in the world can claim they've learned *anything* of deep historical value from walking past a statue? I've always been perplexed by this argument. If America is learning its history from freaking statues, we have a bigger problem than we think.

You’ve never once walked by a statue and thought “who’s this guy?” And read the plaque under it? 

Granted, I didn’t learn who the first president was or who wrote the Declaration of Independence from a statue, but many smaller, often local, historical figures.  But I never lived in a city with monuments to national figures either. A few months ago I went to Dallas for the first time and even as an adult I learned a lot about the JFK assassination just by visiting the location and seeing where it happened in person. I know that’s not a statue, but same concept I think.

I also think more than just learning from a statue, it’s a bigger reminder and taking point. I’m willing to guess most high school kids have no idea who Grant was. If they walked by his statue on a regular basis they’d be more likely to remember. Or give an opportunity to bring him up in discussion.

If I visit a new place and want to learn about its people, I read plaques on statues if I'm out for a stroll.

In my hometown, Manassas freaking VA, site of Civil War memorials everywhere, no, I don't need to read the statues. We have schools and streets and neighborhoods named after all these confederate people, whom we learned about ad nauseam my entire K12 years. The actual Manassas museum is a pathetic one-room memorial full of uniforms and weapons. Boring.

In DC, 30 miles from home where I do stuff on a regular basis, I walk (or drive) by statues all the time and no, I'm usually too focused on my destination to stop and read a plaque. I've lived in this area for 40 of my 50 years, and I have never once been to the top of the Washington Monument. Last school year we took our students on the monuments walking tour offered by the the park service, and 4 of the 7 of them (major ones including the MLK one) were first looks for me. In a city with a monument on every corner, it's easy to think of them as mere decoration. The major ones on the Mall you can't miss, but I couldn't tell you who the guy is on Logan Circle, or any of the other circles, or the smaller statues tucked on lawns in front of buildings.

There is the part of George Orwell's Animal Farm where things start to go wrong, and one of the first ways readers notice it is Napoleon tells all the other animals it's time to build a statue, to him of course. That's what I think of statues. They are ways that people in power remind everybody else who is in control. 

DewieCox said:

Statues don’t educate, they indoctrinate. 

How many of these people complaining about statue removal would be ok with accurate explanations of their presence?

what dreams said:

All this talk about "learning history from statues." Serious question (maybe it should be a poll):  Who actually learned their history from a statue? I mean, I learn history from reading books, from taking classes, from attending lectures. Occasionally I'll go to museum to learn some history of a place while traveling, like a few times in my life, but who in the world can claim they've learned *anything* of deep historical value from walking past a statue? I've always been perplexed by this argument. If America is learning its history from freaking statues, we have a bigger problem than we think.

hedonist said:

As I think about it, I had zero problems with Saddam’s statue being destroyed, so I’ve not much room to speak against defacing them. 

hedonist said:

HughFreakingDillon said:

hedonist said: hug

As I think about it, I had zero problems with Saddam’s statue being destroyed, so I’ve not much room to speak against defacing them. 

i thought that was despicable how the american soldiers were involved and put an american flag over his face. it was supposed to be about iraq and the iraqi people. it never was, and it showed by that singular act. 

Not cool, and while detailed recollection of those events is beyond me, I’m reading that Iraqi citizens decapitated and destroyed the statue. So it seems both were involved?

mickeyrat said:

I believe a major part of the problem is how our history is taught. A read of the unabridged A Peoples History, compared with where we really are, makes complete sense.

History as taught, from the hip slick and cool shiny brochure, leads most I believe to the false idea that we're nearer the ideal or actually there than where we really are which is no where close to that ideal.