. . . a mere monument of the times which are past . . .

Great Debates
1

(Thread title shamelessly stolen from a letter to Mark L. Hill from Thomas Jefferson, April 5, 1820.)
“Exegi Monumentum aere perennius.”
(I have executed a memorial longer lasting than bronze.) – Horace
Historical monuments have enormous narrative and symbolic power. As the Soviet Union fell, some of the most enduring images, to my mind, surrounded the accompanying frenzy of statue destruction.

Certainly not all shifts in political wind throughout the ages have led to this kind of behavior, else our museums would stand empty and the tour-guides be left to point out the stunning scenery where Rome once stood. But with the rapid redrawing of national borders we’ve seen of late, and given the tendency of many towards revising history to match current viewpoints (not so much a modern idea as one which refuses to abate), the image of memorials and monuments being pulled down by angry mobs creates some difficult and far-reaching questions.

I’ll open with only two such: Can the destruction of the symbols of the past be equated with ‘purifying’ the present (or perhaps ‘ratifying’ is a better word)? Also, could a similar ‘new political wind’ someday topple the Washington Monument as an outmoded symbol of an ‘evil’ past?

Dr. Watson
“Si monumentum requiris, circumspice.” --attributed to the son of Sir Christopher Wren.

2

I think humans are a very symbolic people (all of our communication is symbolic, I think) and symbols play a very large role in our thinking and emotions. Statues and monuments may have immense historic value, but they are also symbols of the times in which they were built.

So I think that there will be two urges in any drastic societal shift. The first will be to destroy anything representing the ‘old’. The second will be to try and preserve history. The first will be stronger and will probably include the second in things to be obliterated.

Just think, how would you react if you saw a large statue to the glory of Hitler in the middle of Time Square (sure, it’s history, but…)

3

Symbols change, and what we read into symbols depends upon our context. As our context changes (progression and change being a given in human life), so will our interpretation of symbols.

Christopher Columbus: Visionary explorer, challenging a firmly-held view and adventuring off into unexplored wilderness; or, mass murderer, Fundamentalist fanatic, raging bigot and enslaver of free and noble peoples.

Thomas Jefferson: Brilliant American statesman and philosopher who so eloquently summed up the rights of man and who helped form our fledgling country; or, hypocritical slave-holder and adulterer.

John F. Kennedy: Visionary American statesman and voice of the imagination of a generation; or, philandering scumbag whose accomplishments were highly-overrated.

As we learn new information about the peoples we revere, and as our morality flexes and changes to fit our new societies and stations, we change our perception of those in our past, and of those symbols we once used. The Confederate Flag changes in popular perception from ‘symbol of independence, states’ rights, and the South’ to ‘symbol of slavery, racism, and general hatred’. No re-design of the flag occurred; rather, how we perceive the times that created that flag and the people who have used it since have changed.

Of course. To claim that our current situation is the ‘end of times’, or that morality and equality will not progress further than we; such things are always possible. Perhaps, as the third millenium begins and we all participate in the one-world government through voting over the InterViewCyberSpace, we will see the concepts of representational government and individual countries as being as hateful, bizzarre, and unworthy as the modern American views monarchies.

JMCJ

This could be YOUR sig line! For just five cents a post, JMCJ Enterprises will place YOUR sig line at the bottom of each message!

4

Actually, symbols are among the few things in civilization that remain relatively static. You are right, though, that as our perspective changes so does our judgement of what those symbols signified. After all, Hitler was once Time Magazine’s “Man of the Year.”

But changes in historical perspective and changes in political viewpoint, whether right or wrong, have not caused folks to launch assaults on statues of Columbus or convert the Jefferson Memorial into a used car dealership.

Memorials are not generally erected without the idea of glorifying or remembering a person or event that is currently held to be notable and representative of the good moral values of the folks who carve the plaques. Satan didn’t get any cathedrals.

The overall point is less that memorials are symbolic than that they are invariably designed to be symbolic of ‘positive’ forces and achievements.

So is it just a ‘maturing’ of viewpoint, and the ‘gaining’ of perspective that causes the desecration of monuments? Is it a fundamental shift in morality, in the view of what is ‘positive’? Or is it simply, as has been suggested by more than one historian, the ‘barbarians storming the gates of intellect and culture’?

Dr. Watson
“Even color is not a constant, changing with the light.”

5

Time didn’t make Hitler Man of the Year (sometime in the thirties) because they thought he was a good person. They chose him because he was the biggest newsmaker. As they repeatedly point out, Man of the Year is about making news, not about being a good person.

6

Which ties in with my thought on this: the swastika in Indian and Chinese symbology is a sign representative of peace and wholeness. The four legs represent the four elements, all turning into themselves. I know a chick who works at Urban Outfitters, and they had to return a shipment of those silly jeans with the fabric sewed on the bottom. The jeans came from India, the swastika was all over them. So yes, I think a perfectly peaceful symbol can be associated with evil permantly.

The real question is whether we’ll actually stumble on the Statue of Liberty when those damned dirty apes take over…

One must have chaos in oneself to give birth to a dancing star. -Nietzche