Jun 24, 2020
We Just Don’t Love Rapists Like We Used To…
President Trump has warned against taking executive action against those who deface statues. While not all statues are of rapists, we need to stop praising people who have used their power for evil. Sure some of these people have changed history, but we cannot give them a pass on their misdeeds. We do not forgive Bill Cosby even though he reminded us how good Jello pudding is. We do not forgive Harvey Weinstein even though he gave Quentin Tarantino mainstream success. We have shifted as a society and unfortunately statues just don’t meld with societal changes. We need leadership from our government, not to arrest people for vandalism, but instead to review what statues we currently have and if we really need them.
Andrew Jackson, our seventh President, American soldier, brutal slave owner, murderer of indigenous peoples. We chose to embrace the first half of this description, but we must not forget that President Jackson forced many tribes of Native Americans to relocate on towards uncertain death that we now refer to as the Trail of Tears. Wouldn’t a statue showing Jackson beating a slave or leading Native Americans to their demise also “preserve our history”? I bet you that those who wish to preserve our statues would feel otherwise.
For years now, many states have had the argument of the removal of Confederate statues appear as a hot button topic. Now I haven’t been to Germany, but I want to believe they don’t have many statues of Hitler in Berlin. Outside of the Freedom Tower in downtown NYC, we don’t keep a statue of Osama Bin Laden thanking him for his contributions to real estate development. The Confederate army killed over 300,000 Americans who sought to preserve our country, versus tear it apart. History rarely celebrates losers, this should be the case with any relics of the Confederacy including the flag.
History sadly is always distorted based on those who are retelling the story. There is one common theme though, power corrupts. Those who have had the power to influence others, while they may have had great moments, have all used their power in a negative way. We need to remember, while these men are human, they need to be remember for who they were in all facets of their lives. We need to make sure that we do not idolize those with fatal flaws that we cannot accept in modern society. If you choose to idolize them via a statue, just keep in mind that you support their vile acts as well.
I do agree with those who say we need to learn from our history, but I disagree with a need for a statue to memorialize our history. I think we use history to figure out how to make the world a better place, while not murdering or raping someone else. I bet you that we can accomplish a lot more good if we can focus on the flaws of our “heroes” and try to avoid making the same mistakes.
After all, we just don’t love rapists like we used to.
