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The Off Topic Topic

Started by Korea, March 10, 2009, 06:24:26 AM

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Josquius

I hate this people of colour malarky.
Just sends up a little 'oh bit racist innit' twinge.
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Agelastus

The oldest outdoor statue in London dates back to the late 14th Century. As attitudes change the gender and racial balance of the statues will gradually shift but unless they suddenly go on a statue-raising binge it will take decades to centuries for this to happen naturally.

Which is what you would expect for an old, historic city like London.

Of course, these days people "want change now" rather than to wait for things to take their course.

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Come to think of it, how many statues do we raise outdoors now compared to, say, the Nineteenth Century? :hmm:

"Come grow old with me
The Best is yet to be
The last of life for which the first was made."

Syt

I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.
—Stephen Jay Gould

Proud owner of 42 Zoupa Points.

Malthus

Quote from: Agelastus on October 21, 2021, 08:38:33 AM
The oldest outdoor statue in London dates back to the late 14th Century. As attitudes change the gender and racial balance of the statues will gradually shift but unless they suddenly go on a statue-raising binge it will take decades to centuries for this to happen naturally.

Which is what you would expect for an old, historic city like London.

Of course, these days people "want change now" rather than to wait for things to take their course.

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Come to think of it, how many statues do we raise outdoors now compared to, say, the Nineteenth Century? :hmm:

Plus: aren't a lot of old statues equestrian? It would not be surprising to find a lot of animals depicted, if statues of soldiers often come complete with some guy with a sword riding a horse!

I mean, it would be a bit odd if the statue showed some guy with a sword riding a woman, let alone a specific named woman. For one, she would have to be pretty big and strong.
The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane—Marcus Aurelius

Josquius

True. Would be more useful to see a division in animals between horses that happen to have a guy on them and just animals.
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garbon

Quote from: Tyr on October 21, 2021, 08:17:41 AM
I hate this people of colour malarky.
Just sends up a little 'oh bit racist innit' twinge.

I prefer it to non-white or my UK census description: Any other Mixed / Multiple ethnic background.
"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."
I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

garbon

Quote from: Agelastus on October 21, 2021, 08:38:33 AM
The oldest outdoor statue in London dates back to the late 14th Century. As attitudes change the gender and racial balance of the statues will gradually shift but unless they suddenly go on a statue-raising binge it will take decades to centuries for this to happen naturally.

Which is what you would expect for an old, historic city like London.

Of course, these days people "want change now" rather than to wait for things to take their course.

------------------------------------------

Come to think of it, how many statues do we raise outdoors now compared to, say, the Nineteenth Century? :hmm:



Well sure, why would I care about what statues there will be in the future? Only natural I'm more concerned about statues I see in my lifetime.
"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."
I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

Savonarola

Quote from: The Larch on October 21, 2021, 07:35:46 AM
Quote from: Savonarola on October 20, 2021, 11:04:48 AM
Another question for the Spaniards; I saw this article in Atlas Obscura about huesos de santo and I was curious if they were popular throughout Spain or just in certain regions.

(In Palermo they celebrate Carnivale with marzipan pig heads (not life sized.))

AFAIK they're pretty widespread (and v. highly seasonal, as the article says), but I might lack some data from the South/Mediterranean coast. Cel?

Thanks, sometimes this sort of article goes overboard and makes it sound like all of Spain frequently throws goats from a church tower or the like, so I thought I'd better check.
In Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace—and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock

Eddie Teach

Quote from: garbon on October 21, 2021, 10:17:51 AM
Quote from: Agelastus on October 21, 2021, 08:38:33 AM
The oldest outdoor statue in London dates back to the late 14th Century. As attitudes change the gender and racial balance of the statues will gradually shift but unless they suddenly go on a statue-raising binge it will take decades to centuries for this to happen naturally.

Which is what you would expect for an old, historic city like London.

Of course, these days people "want change now" rather than to wait for things to take their course.

------------------------------------------

Come to think of it, how many statues do we raise outdoors now compared to, say, the Nineteenth Century? :hmm:



Well sure, why would I care about what statues there will be in the future? Only natural I'm more concerned about statues I see in my lifetime.

The statuary is showing a glimpse of the past, not the present.
To sleep, perchance to dream. But in that sleep of death, what dreams may come?

garbon

Quote from: Eddie Teach on October 21, 2021, 04:10:56 PM
Quote from: garbon on October 21, 2021, 10:17:51 AM
Quote from: Agelastus on October 21, 2021, 08:38:33 AM
The oldest outdoor statue in London dates back to the late 14th Century. As attitudes change the gender and racial balance of the statues will gradually shift but unless they suddenly go on a statue-raising binge it will take decades to centuries for this to happen naturally.

Which is what you would expect for an old, historic city like London.

Of course, these days people "want change now" rather than to wait for things to take their course.

------------------------------------------

Come to think of it, how many statues do we raise outdoors now compared to, say, the Nineteenth Century? :hmm:



Well sure, why would I care about what statues there will be in the future? Only natural I'm more concerned about statues I see in my lifetime.

The statuary is showing a glimpse of the past, not the present.

Aren't statues generally reminders/memorials? We can choose to memorialize other people.
"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."
I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

Admiral Yi

Quote from: garbon on October 21, 2021, 04:33:18 PM
Aren't statues generally reminders/memorials? We can choose to memorialize other people.

And then tear those down later when we decide they were evil after all.

garbon

Quote from: Admiral Yi on October 21, 2021, 04:41:14 PM
Quote from: garbon on October 21, 2021, 04:33:18 PM
Aren't statues generally reminders/memorials? We can choose to memorialize other people.

And then tear those down later when we decide they were evil after all.

Is that not the cycle with statues?
"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."
I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

Admiral Yi

Quote from: garbon on October 21, 2021, 04:48:27 PM
Is that not the cycle with statues?

It is the cancel culture preferred cycle.  It's not THE cycle.

Sheilbh

Quote from: Admiral Yi on October 21, 2021, 05:13:57 PM
It is the cancel culture preferred cycle.  It's not THE cycle.
Isn't it? The oldest surviving statue that hasn't been reconstructed or hidden and then put back in place in London is early 19th century.

Obviously there were lots of statues before then, torn down, destroyed and defaced in the Reformation. Then Charles I with his incipient popery starts making statues of his favourites (torn down, destroyed and defaced in the civil war/Commonwealth). In the 18th century old secular statues were also torn down (but largely moved indoors rather than destroyed - so the Elizabeth I and Gog and Magog statues survive) because they were perceived as reeking of Catholicism. We certainly have a cycle running for the last 500 years.

Now people are more concerned with things being associated with imperialism than Catholicism but it seems fair to say there was a cycle.

QuoteAren't statues generally reminders/memorials? We can choose to memorialize other people.
Yes. It's like any other form of public art - the timing, audience and who built it are all relevant.
Let's bomb Russia!

Razgovory

I didn't know that a little bit of water renders ovenmitts useless.  Burned the shit out a my thumb
I've given it serious thought. I must scorn the ways of my family, and seek a Japanese woman to yield me my progeny. He shall live in the lands of the east, and be well tutored in his sacred trust to weave the best traditions of Japan and the Sacred South together, until such time as he (or, indeed his house, which will periodically require infusion of both Southern and Japanese bloodlines of note) can deliver to the South it's independence, either in this world or in space.  -Lettow April of 2011

Raz is right. -MadImmortalMan March of 2017