Quote:
Originally Posted by The Familia
We might as well remove the pyramids and sphinx in Egypt if we are going to start taking things down. I mean, Egyptian pharoes believed in slavery and used 1000's upon 1000's of them to build their monuments. Those pyramids are symbols of oppression.
Might as well burn down Rome as every monument left from the Roman Empire was built on the back of slaves and conquered cultures. Can't have those left standing.
This statue removal is going to open a massive can of worms. Where do we draw the line?
|
There's also a very different context involved the pyramids and most of the monumental roman architecture and art you're talking about. The pyramids were not built to honor historic abuses of human rights. Nearly everything roman building or statue honored gods/goddesses not slave owners. The fact that they were built by slaves is meaningless in their symbolic existence.
Proof of this is the thousands of farms throughout the south contained by rock walls built by actual slaves. No one is screaming for the removal of these meaningless features. They're good and useful stone walls. They are not symbolic and they mean very little to very few. Yet they were built on the backs of slaves as you say. It's all about context.