# Who are good white-male historical figures? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 1, 2017, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-good-white-male-historical-figures/795234 "2017-09-01T10:11:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2017, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-good-white-male-historical-figures/795234/161 "2017-09-03T07:13:36Z")
> [@Knowed\_Out](#): > > Why is there a statue of him at all? People like his [cigarettes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Stuyvesant_(cigarette))? ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2017, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-good-white-male-historical-figures/795234/162 "2017-09-04T19:23:28Z")
> [@Reddy\_Mercury](#): > > When the other side does, I will. When I stop hearing every single day in every single place about white privilege, or which statue of which (Non-Confederate) will come down next, I’ll let it go. When I stop being the Left’s boogie man, I’ll let it go. See, here’s the thing. I don’t hear every single day, in every single place, about white privilege. I hear about it sometimes here at SDMB, and more often at another message board, but that’s about it. Oh, and from one crazy Trump-loving brother who’s convinced that there’s a war on white men and all that. But I only see him once every couple of weeks. In the real world, I pretty much never hear about it. I’m not stupid. I know there is such a thing as white privilege. But it’s not like everyone is out there talking about it all the time, and it’s not like everyone I know who isn’t a white middle-aged man is pointing it out to me and telling me to check my privilege all the time. And nobody in the world in which I live is all that worked up about statues one way or the other. They’ve all got more important things going on. Maybe you’re just hanging around with the wrong people. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2017, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-good-white-male-historical-figures/795234/163 "2017-09-04T19:42:52Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > And no one is asking for all statues of Theodore Roosevelt to be taken down. The one being protested in NYC (and these are not new protests) is a particularly egregious tribute to Imperialism. It might well have been titled “White Man’s Burden.” By this standard, the [Admiral Dewey monument](https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4242/35346928431_b245c3da5c_o_d.jpg)in San Francisco is just as questionable. In general, though, I don’t agree with the taking down of monuments to people because their views didn’t agree with ours on every point. By today’s standards, for instance, most if not all of the Founding Fathers were racist, as was even Abraham Lincoln. But all of those men contributed substantially to the evolution of our ethical standards. We still have far to go, but race relations would not have advanced even this far if it hadn’t been fo them. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2017, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-good-white-male-historical-figures/795234/164 "2017-09-05T18:34:25Z")
Reddy Mercury is the cabin boy of his soul. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2017, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-good-white-male-historical-figures/795234/165 "2017-09-05T20:03:52Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > In general, though, I don’t agree with the taking down of monuments to people because their views didn’t agree with ours on every point. I concur. However, I don’t see anything wrong with **considering the option** of taking down monuments that a significant chunk of people have stated significant concerns about. Let’s have the discussion(s) and see what we, as the modern inheritors and maintainers of those monuments, think about the pros and cons of what they symbolize. If most of us think the pros of a particular memorial outweigh the cons, we’re not actually required to take it down. What I don’t get is the pants-shitting hysteria displayed by so many conservatives nowadays at the mere fact that people are even **daring to question** the continued memorialization of some dead white guy or other. AFAIK there’s no principle that says we’re **obligated** to continue showing deference to an existing public monument whose symbolism is now widely seen as offensive and/or unethical. (Or if there is such a principle, as I’ve pointed out before, why weren’t all these history-loving conservatives jumping up to defend it back when various populaces were pulling down statues of, say, Lenin and Saddam Hussein?) ---
**Author:** ![blogflogdog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@blogflogdog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blogflogdog)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2017, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-good-white-male-historical-figures/795234/166 "2017-11-14T05:27:27Z")
George Washingtons wife? ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2017, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-good-white-male-historical-figures/795234/167 "2017-11-14T05:39:39Z")
Not a white-male historical figure as specified by the OP. And thanks for ruining my elegant last-word-of-the-thread there, **blogflogdog**. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2017, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-good-white-male-historical-figures/795234/168 "2017-11-14T16:36:30Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > Well, there’s always Jesus. 😛 [god already tried](https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/9786) ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2017, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-good-white-male-historical-figures/795234/169 "2017-11-14T20:47:58Z")
I don’t think [these](http://himetop.wikidot.com/louis-pasteur-monument-at-the-sorbonne) [statues](http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMHXCH_Joseph_Lister_Statue_Portland_Place_London_UK) are coming down any time soon. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-good-white-male-historical-figures/795234.md?page=8)