Quote:
Originally Posted by spuzzum
A plague with a historical figure is definitely an important component of what is being presented. Certainly a good talking point on if the statue is there for historical celebration. I think the problem is - even with heroes - no human being will ever be perfect and some segment will always be offended.
Take a great general - they win war after war and expanded the empire that made the nation what it is today. Prosperity, global importance etc... War is bad. Many people including civilians perish. Decades or centuries later, everyone including those conquered are living happily together. I think it's certainly important to not only celebrate what the general did with a statue dedicated to their memory, but also use it for historical context.
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This brings me back to a point I have made earlier in this thread, and I think it bears some discussion:
Why are we still venerating individual people in the forms of effigies?
From the Lincoln Memorial to the statues of the Kim dynasty to Wayne Gretzky’s bronze idol outside of the Edmonton Toiletbowl, the subtlety that we apply to distinguishing statues from one another in their purpose is extremely fine, and frankly, a little weird.
As I understand it, the purpose of this particular statue of John A MacDonald is to recognize his time as the first serving Member of Parliament who represented Victoria in the House of Commons. He had lost his seat in his home Ontario riding, and as a result sought re-election in a constituency to which he had never visited. Is this itself something that warrants a statue? Part of MacDonald’s legacy was the inclusion of British Columbia in Confederation, but I question whether a statue is the most appropriate way to honour that achievement. In the light of how indigenous peoples from the region have now expressed their feelings about this monument, I think an open discussion about his legacy in Victoria and the best way to represent it is certainly worth having. A statue seems to me like a poor, very hollow method of commemoration in the first place, and given certain reactions its replacement opens new opportunities for something better, and more appropriate.