Re Writing Of History

[RJRB 688]

I really am not sure where I stand on the current fervour for revising our history.

Nothing can be changed ,but many lessons can and should have been learned.

It looks like a whole host of statues,road names,memorials ,books,films,will be raked over because of the wave of emotion that has come to the fore.

How about some of our monarchs or industrialists who made fortunes on the back of dreadful treatment of their workers.

Who is going to be the arbiter of correctness .

[RollingJ 1,999]

'1984' thirty-six years too late, maybe?

[L00b 441]

20 minutes ago, RJRB said:

I really am not sure where I stand on the current fervour for revising our history.

Nothing can be changed ,but many lessons can and should have been learned.

It looks like a whole host of statues,road names,memorials ,books,films,will be raked over because of the wave of emotion that has come to the fore.

How about some of our monarchs or industrialists who made fortunes on the back of dreadful treatment of their workers.

Who is going to be the arbiter of correctness .

Aside from the really fundamental, universal principles of morality (think 10 commandments), there can never be a finite, intemporal 'correctness', because morality evolves permanently with society.

 

Maybe you can think of the ongoing erasing of statues, road names and memorials to slave trade-enriched types, as a centuries-overdue adjustment? (edit: given that 'society' deemed slave trading and slave labour immoral in the 1800s, around the same time some of said statues were erected..if not later).

 

The time for erading statues, road names and memorials to monarchs and industrialists enriched by labour exploitation (the excessive type) will surely come. Eventually.

 

For the little story, Belgium is currently tearing down statues to King Leopold II, enriched on the back of slave labour in Congo in the early 1900s.

 

 

Edited June 11, 2020 by L00b

[willman 10]

Where do start or draw the line?  I think that it is the right thing to do in many circumstances.

Many European Imperialist nations were heavily involved in some of these deplorable acts from  centuries ago. Portugal,Holland,Spain,Belgium,Germany(who try to deny it)

 

Some modern companies were supporters of modern slavery and the Holocaust yet aren't as persecuted as Winston Churchill has been recently.

Hugo Boss

Merceds Benz

Volkswagen

 

But i suppose its easier to pull down a statue than to make lifestyle choices based on history.

[RollingJ 1,999]

3 minutes ago, willman said:

Where do start or draw the line?  I think that it is the right thing to do in many circumstances.

Many European Imperialist nations were heavily involved in some of these deplorable acts from  centuries ago. Portugal,Holland,Spain,Belgium,Germany(who try to deny it)

 

Some modern companies were supporters of modern slavery and the Holocaust yet aren't as persecuted as Winston Churchill has been recently.

Hugo Boss

Merceds Benz

Volkswagen

 

But i suppose its easier to pull down a statue than to make lifestyle choices based on history.

It is always easier to pick on those who can't answer back.

[Halibut 12]

The title of the thread suggests that we're currently involved in is 're-writing' history. I don't think that's what is happening. The way I see it, we're simply choosing which bits we want to celebrate and memorialise with statuary.

Colston has been fished out of the dock and will go to a museum - he's not being erased.

Look at Churchill for example - whichever way you look at it, he was a massive racist. Yes, he was a great leader during the war, but still a massive racist. Perhaps if we could be a bit more honest about such matters it would help us as a nation to understand where we've come from.

[lazarus 68]

When are we going to start burning books? Leave the past alone, it’s history, I can’t understand why people are apologising for things they’ve said and done in the past, I.e, Little Britain, black people white up on African tv shows, no demonstrating there.

[Halibut 12]

2 minutes ago, RollingJ said:

It is always easier to pick on those who can't answer back.

I'm sure Churchill was well aware of that when he wrote "I am strongly in favour of using poisoned gas against uncivilised tribes,".

Just now, lazarus said:

When are we going to start burning books? Leave the past alone, it’s history, I can’t understand why people are apologising for things they’ve said and done in the past, I.e, Little Britain, black people white up on African tv shows, no demonstrating there.

Try saying that when your people have been enslaved and abused for hundreds of years. 

You can't understand why people apologise for things they've said and done in the past - really? 

[kidneystone 23]

It won't be long before this thread gets locked down.

Edited June 11, 2020 by kidneystone

[RollingJ 1,999]

Careful, you'll get yourself Mortified again!

[Branyy 10]

The question which hasn't been answered - Where do we draw the line? 

[RollingJ 1,999]

@Branyy- wherever the 'clever-ones' (wokes) decide, if they can ever make their minds up.