The Off Topic Topic

[Josquius]

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

[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?

[Syt]

[Malthus]

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?

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.

[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.

[garbon]

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.

[garbon]

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?

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.

[Savonarola]

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.

[Eddie Teach]

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?

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.

[garbon]

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?

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.

[Admiral Yi]

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]

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?

[Admiral Yi]

Is that not the cycle with statues?

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

[Sheilbh]

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.

Aren'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.

[Razgovory]

I didn't know that a little bit of water renders ovenmitts useless.  Burned the shit out a my thumb