# Statues of Sons of Bitches still standing? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 6, 2012, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statues-of-sons-of-bitches-still-standing/614923 "2012-03-06T12:17:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statues-of-sons-of-bitches-still-standing/614923/21 "2012-03-06T16:47:26Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Good source material, though. I don’t think you can say that of any book with fabricated footnotes. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statues-of-sons-of-bitches-still-standing/614923/22 "2012-03-06T16:57:28Z")
> [@Malcolm Reynolds](#): > > It’s my estimation that every man ever got a statue made of him was one kind of a son of a bitch or another. \_\_ ---
**Author:** ![Hallucinex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ba9def/32.png) [@Hallucinex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hallucinex)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statues-of-sons-of-bitches-still-standing/614923/23 "2012-03-06T17:10:16Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > Huh, apparently Turkmenistan took down the gold-plated rotating [Turkmenbashi statue](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11095257). Not so fast, Berdy apparently had it put back up out in the suburbs somewhere: [http://www.eurasianet.org/node/64458](http://www.eurasianet.org/node/64458) (I visited Ashgabat literally a few days after they took it down from the original spot, and arrived to see the scaffolding you see in that BBC article) ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statues-of-sons-of-bitches-still-standing/614923/24 "2012-03-06T17:54:01Z")
Not a statue, but Sarah Vowell in _Assasination Vacation_ mentions visiting a shrine to John Wilkes Booth in Port Royal, Virginia. ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statues-of-sons-of-bitches-still-standing/614923/25 "2012-03-06T18:21:03Z")
> [@postcards](#): > > Red Square, a luxury rental building on East Houston Street. It was designed so that Lenin was saluting the World Trade Center towers. > > [Not a great picture here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lenin-east_village.jpg), but note the huge clock behind him. My favorite clockface ever. Ah thanks, I thought I’d lost my basic grasp of my despots. ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statues-of-sons-of-bitches-still-standing/614923/26 "2012-03-06T18:28:37Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > India has a marble orchard of discarded Empress Victoria and Raj figures attracting weeds and BBC documentarians filming opening shots. I’m interested in this, you do realise that Victoria wasn’t actually anything but a figurehead, with no real position of power in the country over the period of her rein? Sure it was called the Victorian era, but indeed, it wasn’t her sending the troops into the imperial expansion, it was politicians, she sure wasn’t comparable to the likes of Lenin or Stalin… I suppose her nephews were to blame for World War I, but that’s as much as I thought you could actually pin on her… ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statues-of-sons-of-bitches-still-standing/614923/27 "2012-03-06T19:01:17Z")
She was a figurehead of an empire that created famine in India and Ireland. She was pleased to be fawned over by Disraeli and supported his imperialist aims, but snubbed the anti-expansionist Gladstone as much as possible. She famously worked her red state papers boxes daily, meaning that the millions of deaths were figures she kept in her head. ---
**Author:** ![MrSquishy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9e5f3/32.png) [@MrSquishy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrSquishy)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statues-of-sons-of-bitches-still-standing/614923/28 "2012-03-06T19:38:06Z")
I don’t get it. Can somebody explain to me what makes Lenin a son of a bitch? ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statues-of-sons-of-bitches-still-standing/614923/29 "2012-03-06T19:38:40Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > She was a figurehead of an empire that created famine in India and Ireland. She was born into that and it wasn’t the type of time you refused. > [@](#): > > She was pleased to be fawned over by Disraeli and supported his imperialist aims, but snubbed the anti-expansionist Gladstone as much as possible. Still wasn’t her making the decisions. Probably had less say than the Prime Ministers Butler. If she disagreed, it made no difference. > [@](#): > > She famously worked her red state papers boxes daily, meaning that the millions of deaths were figures she kept in her head. And yet was not responsible. Look, I’m no fan of monarchy, its generations of inbred fools running countries, but the country was a democracy. Its a diversion here to blame her, when it was the Prime Ministers and party elite who were causing all that death. It’s those names who should be cursed hundreds of years later because they’d have done the same if it was a laughing moron in charge rather than a fat bird. Kaisers and Tsars had says in those times, those were monarchies. Blame democracy when democracy is to blame. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statues-of-sons-of-bitches-still-standing/614923/30 "2012-03-06T19:48:27Z")
> [@MrSquishy](#): > > I don’t get it. Can somebody explain to me what makes Lenin a son of a bitch? When I was in the sixth grade, Mr. Falkenstien summed up\* ALL \*of European history with the following statement: "That Nee-ko-lie Lenin, he was a _Dirty-Bird!"_ And that was that. As to the OP, USC has removed O.J. Simpson’s Heisman trophy from Heritage Hall, as far as I’ve been told. Stuck it in storage, out of sight. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statues-of-sons-of-bitches-still-standing/614923/31 "2012-03-06T19:51:25Z")
> [@MrSquishy](#): > > I don’t get it. Can somebody explain to me what makes Lenin a son of a bitch? Well he ordered the mass slaughter of his political opponents including unarmed civilians, does that count? ---
**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statues-of-sons-of-bitches-still-standing/614923/32 "2012-03-06T21:09:21Z")
The last Franco statue wasn’t removed from the Spanish mainland until 2008. I believe the Franco statue – well, the Franco bust – in Santa Cruz de Tenerife (the capital of one of the Canary Islands) is still going strong, though. ---
**Author:** ![ctnguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@ctnguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ctnguy)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statues-of-sons-of-bitches-still-standing/614923/33 "2012-03-06T22:24:59Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Cecil John Rhodes, the Imperialist son of a bitch, still has [this statue](http://www.flickr.com/photos/yasirnisar/4352476135/)at my alma mater - and just up the mountain, he also has [this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhodes_Memorial)fucking memorial. > > I don’t mind the various statues of Jan Smuts about the place, he did as much good as harm. But Rhodes… I was going to mention this, but I see you beat me to it. Of course there’s also Rhodes Drive, Rhodes Avenue, the Rhodes’ Gift post office on campus, all just in that part of the world. (And there’s [Jameson](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leander_Starr_Jameson) Hall, though I don’t think there are any statues of Jameson around.) ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statues-of-sons-of-bitches-still-standing/614923/34 "2012-03-06T22:45:03Z")
I am sure there are numerous statues of Robert E Lee still standing. There’s an entire state park in Kentucky dedicated to Jefferson Davis. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statues-of-sons-of-bitches-still-standing/614923/35 "2012-03-07T00:12:13Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > She was a figurehead of an empire that created famine in India and Ireland. She was pleased to be fawned over by Disraeli and supported his imperialist aims, but snubbed the anti-expansionist Gladstone as much as possible. She famously worked her red state papers boxes daily, meaning that the millions of deaths were figures she kept in her head. Go down that road and we might as well include statues of 19th century US Presidents for presiding over a nation which was busily murdering and starving the original inhabitants. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statues-of-sons-of-bitches-still-standing/614923/36 "2012-03-07T00:31:10Z")
Lots of statues of Andrew Jackson around, most famously perhaps the one in Jackson Square, New Orleans. To native Americans he’s slighly more beloved than Hitler (but did not, repeat, did not have bigger tits than Cher, as evidenced by his bullet ridden chest). ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statues-of-sons-of-bitches-still-standing/614923/37 "2012-03-07T00:52:41Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > Go down that road and we might as well include statues of 19th century US Presidents for presiding over a nation which was busily murdering and starving the original inhabitants. Will you guys quit hijacking this thread? Or at least support your claims by explaining why **India,** not the UK or Canada or Australia, but the nation I mentioned: **India,** should keep statues of Queen Victoria standing. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statues-of-sons-of-bitches-still-standing/614923/38 "2012-03-07T03:59:44Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > Go down that road and we might as well include statues of 19th century US Presidents for presiding over a nation which was busily murdering and starving the original inhabitants. There is a big difference between a Queen with no real power, and the elected president of a democracy. ---
**Author:** ![Escantell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8dc957/32.png) [@Escantell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Escantell)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statues-of-sons-of-bitches-still-standing/614923/39 "2012-03-07T04:49:32Z")
Just wondering, but are there any statues of hitler anywhere? ---
**Author:** ![auRa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c4cdca/32.png) [@auRa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/auRa)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statues-of-sons-of-bitches-still-standing/614923/40 "2012-03-07T07:45:28Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > When I was in the sixth grade, Mr. Falkenstien summed up\* ALL \*of European history with the following statement: > > "That Nee-ko-lie Lenin, he was a _Dirty-Bird!"_ > > And that was that. > > As to the OP, USC has removed O.J. Simpson’s Heisman trophy from Heritage Hall, as far as I’ve been told. Stuck it in storage, out of sight. Nikolai, huh?.. There’s a statue called “[World Peace](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/fi/e/e3/Maailmanrauha.jpg)” close to my home. It was donated to the city of Helsinki by the city of Moscow in _1990_, if you can believe it… a textbook example of Socialist realism. Also known colloquially as “Katiskavarkaat”, or The Fish Trap Thieves. It’s been the subject of quite a lot of discussion over the years - is it a glorification of the Soviet Union or a reminder of its downfall or a recollection of the Finnish government bowing down to the East during the years of [Finlandization](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finlandization)… Some university students tarred and feathered it in 1991 and someone tried to blow it up in 2010. In a questionnaire organized a few years ago, it gained high marks both in the “loved” and “kill it with fire” categories. Personally I think it’s god-awfully ugly. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statues-of-sons-of-bitches-still-standing/614923.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statues-of-sons-of-bitches-still-standing/614923.md?page=3)