Quote of the Day: Woodrow Wilson

[Inspiration Bot]

"The man who is swimming against the stream knows the strength of it."

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[maddmaxx ★]

I'm surprised Wilson statues aren't being torn down.

[Razors Edge ★]

19 minutes ago, maddmaxx said:

I'm surprised Wilson statues aren't being torn down.

You thinking they should?  We can get a GoFundMe up and running for you!

[maddmaxx ★]

2 hours ago, Razors Edge said:

You thinking they should?  We can get a GoFundMe up and running for you!

I'm not sure that any statues should be torn down.  History is what it is and can't be ignored.  Wilson, however, was a bonified racist who quoted scientific reasons for it.  I'm surprised that the groups favoring statue hiding aren't on his too.

[MoseySusan]

1 hour ago, maddmaxx said:

History is what it is and can't be ignored

Recognition and glorification are different in kind, not merely degree. History cannot be ignored, but it also doesn’t need to be amplified, memorialized, raised to a higher level than ordinary experience, or even glorified as though the person/event transcends this mortal experience. 

[Razors Edge ★]

6 minutes ago, MoseySusan said:

Recognition and glorification are different in kind, not merely degree. History cannot be ignored, but it also doesn’t need to be amplified, memorialized, raised to a higher level than ordinary experience, or even glorified as though the person/event transcends this mortal experience. 

Yeah, I'm not sure why folks seem to think things need to stay the same.  We've had millennia now of statues coming and going.  Why do we need to pretend that "modern" statues should be permanent fixtures?   It's hard to imagine many Iraqis miss the Saddam statues, and certainly, post-Cold War removal of many Soviet statues was well received.  On the flip side, Rome and Greece and Egypt make good use of old tyrants' statues (for tourism $$$), and many questionable characters still have a statue publicly displayed randomly around the world (DC is peppered with them).  I guess those in ancient history - like the Roman emperors - or forgotten history - like many random statues, receive less scrutiny. It's usually the more current ones, with meaning from our lifetimes, that set the frame of reference we use to judge them.    

[groupw]

My family has a direct link to Woodrow Wilson. He had some good ideas, but also some very racist views. If his statue was taken down, I wouldn’t lose sleep over it. 

[maddmaxx ★]

3 hours ago, groupw said:

My family has a direct link to Woodrow Wilson. He had some good ideas, but also some very racist views. If his statue was taken down, I wouldn’t lose sleep over it. 

Princeton University did pull his name from their school of public policy for his racist beliefs.

 

4 hours ago, MoseySusan said:

Recognition and glorification are different in kind, not merely degree. History cannot be ignored, but it also doesn’t need to be amplified, memorialized, raised to a higher level than ordinary experience, or even glorified as though the person/event transcends this mortal experience. 

IMO the offending statues no longer glorify.  The serve as pointed examples of what we should learn.  Erasing their presence is a step too close to erasing parts of our history taught in schools because some don't like it.  Just my opinion.  I'm sure that it bothers some and appeals to others.

I guess it depends on what you do.  I would take my children to a statue of Lee and explain that he led a war against our country because the group he represented believed in slavery.