This is the problem with all memorials or statues. No matter what the person accomplished, whether heroism in warfare, national leadership, or outstanding achievement in any field, there will always be those who say that person shouldn’t be immortalised due to something that modern society deems to be wrong. Currently we seem to be going through a movement of removing statues of those whose beliefs or values ended up on the wrong side of history although they were deemed important enough to be memorialised by statues in the past. In Canada, where i’m from there have been recent steps taken to remove statues of early leaders because they embraced what were contemporary values regarding first nations that we now accept as being wrong and inappropriate. This is a travesty as it leaves nothing to honour those who founded our nation. Instead it would be more fitting in my opinion to post a plaque about their accomplishments, but include information about their values or decisions which have since become unpopular. This way their full legacy is presented so that people can learn about the positives and negatives of the individual presented in the monument / statue.
This is the problem with all memorials or statues. No matter what the person accomplished, whether heroism in warfare, national leadership, or outstanding achievement in any field, there will always be those who say that person shouldn’t be immortalised due to something that modern society deems to be wrong. Currently we seem to be going through a movement of removing statues of those whose beliefs or values ended up on the wrong side of history although they were deemed important enough to be memorialised by statues in the past. In Canada, where i’m from there have been recent steps taken to remove statues of early leaders because they embraced what were contemporary values regarding first nations that we now accept as being wrong and inappropriate. This is a travesty as it leaves nothing to honour those who founded our nation. Instead it would be more fitting in my opinion to post a plaque about their accomplishments, but include information about their values or decisions which have since become unpopular. This way their full legacy is presented so that people can learn about the positives and negatives of the individual presented in the monument / statue.