The Shooting Gallery: Police Violence MEGATHREAD

[Tamas]

If we go after Colombus there's really no reason to keep busts of Caesar, Alexander the Great, half the Plantagenet kings, any of the Ottoman sultans, Martin Luther (the 1500s one), etc.  untouched. Would be terrible double standards. And don't get me started about Washington and Jefferson owning slaves.

Well I do think the purpose of the statues makes a difference. The point of Confederate statues is, usually, to celebrate the redemptionists and Jim Crow and therefore as a tool of political propaganda need to go. Those that exist for other reasons can stay. I don't know about any specific statue of Columbus.

I don't get the "double standards" idea. Were statues of Martin Luther put up to justify killing Jews or something?

But anyway who is we here? It is not like we took the head off of that statue.

Also how many busts of Caesar made within the last 1000 years are displayed anywhere? I don't think anybody is calling for ancient historical artifacts be destroyed just cheaply produced 19th century shit.

I wasn't aware this Colombus one was a CSA status, my bad. Those are inexcusable.

[The Larch]

AFAIK the figure of Columbus in the USA is mostly propped up by the Italian community since the late XIXth, early XXth century, right?

[Valmy]

I wasn't aware this Colombus one was a CSA status, my bad. Those are inexcusable.

I don't know what is going on with any particular Columbus statue or why it was put up. I was just giving an example as to when I think a statue should be taken down without necessarily meaning every statue of everybody who sucked by today's standards should be ripped down.

[Valmy]

AFAIK the figure of Columbus in the USA is mostly propped up by the Italian community since the late XIXth, early XXth century, right?

Probably. They traditionally are the ones carrying a torch for Columbus around here.

[The Larch]

AFAIK the figure of Columbus in the USA is mostly propped up by the Italian community since the late XIXth, early XXth century, right?

Probably. They traditionally are the ones carrying a torch for Columbus around here.

That's what I thought, it's kinda fun as in Italy he's basically ignored outside of strictly naval circles, maybe he's only civically celebrated in Genoa itself.

[Valmy]

AFAIK the figure of Columbus in the USA is mostly propped up by the Italian community since the late XIXth, early XXth century, right?

Probably. They traditionally are the ones carrying a torch for Columbus around here.

That's what I thought, it's kinda fun as in Italy he's basically ignored outside of strictly naval circles, maybe he's only civically celebrated in Genoa itself.

It was a way for Italians to show how American they were so yeah I can see why that would not be as important for Italians in Italy.

[Admiral Yi]

All I know about Italians and Columbus is what I saw on The Sopranos.

[The Brain]

If we go after Colombus there's really no reason to keep busts of Caesar, Alexander the Great, half the Plantagenet kings, any of the Ottoman sultans, Martin Luther (the 1500s one), etc.  untouched. Would be terrible double standards. And don't get me started about Washington and Jefferson owning slaves.

In fairness Jefferson did a lot more than own slaves. He also fucked them. To top it off he was an extreme hypocrite, talking of unalienable rights including liberty while owning slaves. By today's standards he was a walking shitstain. But of course, "times were different then".

[Valmy]

In fairness Jefferson did a lot more than own slaves. He also fucked them. To top it off he was an extreme hypocrite, talking of unalienable rights including liberty while owning slaves. By today's standards he was a walking shitstain. But of course, "times were different then".

They weren't that different, it wasn't like people didn't call him out for all of his two-facedness at the time when he was alive. But again the statues were not put up to celebrate that stuff but the INalienable rights stuff.

[The Brain]

In fairness Jefferson did a lot more than own slaves. He also fucked them. To top it off he was an extreme hypocrite, talking of unalienable rights including liberty while owning slaves. By today's standards he was a walking shitstain. But of course, "times were different then".

They weren't that different, it wasn't like people didn't call him out for all of his two-facedness at the time when he was alive. But again the statues were not put up to celebrate that stuff but the INalienable rights stuff.

I may not be the biggest Jefferson fan, but calling him out on his spelling seems petty.

[Valmy]

I may not be the biggest Jefferson fan, but calling him out on his spelling seems petty.

They are both correct

[Maladict]

That's what I thought, it's kinda fun as in Italy he's basically ignored outside of strictly naval circles, maybe he's only civically celebrated in Genoa itself.

It is odd, and not just Columbus. Cabot, Vespucci, Verrazzano, Pigafetta and Cadamosto are all fairly prominent explorers, but I've never seen a monument for any of them.
Come to think of it, not even Marco Polo. It was hard to find his family home in Venice, there's barely any mention of it.

[The Brain]

I may not be the biggest Jefferson fan, but calling him out on his spelling seems petty.

They are both correct

[The Brain]

That's what I thought, it's kinda fun as in Italy he's basically ignored outside of strictly naval circles, maybe he's only civically celebrated in Genoa itself.

It is odd, and not just Columbus. Cabot, Vespucci, Verrazzano, Pigafetta and Cadamosto are all fairly prominent explorers, but I've never seen a monument for any of them.
Come to think of it, not even Marco Polo. It was hard to find his family home in Venice, there's barely any mention of it.

No one is an explorer in his own land.

[Maladict]

No one is an explorer in his own land.

They do tend to implore back home.