Off Topic The "Discuss Anything Else" Thread

On a completely different and more topical note, I didn't realise that Slave Owners had been compensated at the time by the government by quite the amounts they were. The debt was so huge it only finished coming out of taxpayers money in 2015. I didn't realise that the "abolition" basically meant paying people off using the money of the people who were objecting to the change in the law in the first place, presumably. I'll be honest it's not a subject I know anything about. I hadn't heard of Coulson until 2 days ago.

 

I did answer your first question: “Why glorify someone that was not worthy of it?” Only you sad lefty losers see no value in Colston’s contribution to Bristol at the time that he made it. Just as you see no value in the contribution of Cecil Rhodes. Zimbabwe is doing so much better now that it has cast off his name and gone to the far left.

Your second question: “Should a Jimmy Savile statue be removed?” reeks of a sad life coach WUM. There is no Jimmy Savile statue anymore and it is totally irrelevant to this issue but you were clearly desperate to come up with any sort of example for your non argument. I think the Michael Jackson statue has gone as well, so try again. Both of those were removed contemporaneously for similar reasons. Is there a statue of Stormzy in Croydon? Shame on da white oppressors.

I see that the political correctness apologists have removed a status of Robert Milligan in London because of “community wishes”. I bet that virtually no-one in the community was consulted; just a handful of moronic woke protestors made some noise. Ripping down historical monuments because some view them as morally reprehensible does nothing to change the problems of the present. When they have got rid of Sir Francis Drake and William Gladstone, history will not have changed.

 

You just proved my point. Statues were taken down that were deemed offensive once views changed/information came out. Removing statues of slave traders doesn't remove them from the history books, it just means we stop glorifying people that don't deserve it. The statues are only there because he made money off slaves, why should that be commemorated?

 

Somebody will be along to complain in a moment as the £20 million was a colossal sum of money back then and the government borrowed it off the Rothschild banking dynasty. It is an indication of how crooked Parliament was in those days, effectively paying compensation to MPs and their friends getting rich from slavery in order to get the Act passed.

I do not expect anyone outside Bristol had heard of Colston unless they studied 17th century British history. He probably has not been as well known in the last 150 years as he is at this moment. The idiots will want everything in Bristol that he gifted it demolished.

 

£20 million then is £16.5 billion now Google tells me. That seems quite a lot of money, admittedly I don't know how it was divided and that would be interesting to find out.

 

Gladstone Hall in Liverpool being renamed because his father, not him, profited from slavery.
After they have got rid of these statues due to violence and threats (terrorism) what will they demand next? As it wont stop there.
Ive no problem removing anything as long as it is done via debate and vote.

 

,,,

I think with Sir Francis Drake, an online petition has been set up calling for his statue's removal and then another one has been set up by a rival gang, calling for it to stay. And I believe that it's neck and neck. I think realistically that's the only way to do it; democratically. Not sure whether Coulston would have won. I do think that statues are of less value than the monuments (aka hospitals etc.) themselves, we could bring back Madame Tussauds and put all the statues in there. People are saying that it is erasing history; not sure who wrote/taught that history but I don't recall it. I would imagine if this period were looked at from a different lense it might be more detailed and so more memorable than a quiet statue. As I said, I had never heard of Coulston. I have heard of Drake...good to see everyone getting a history lesson. Not least of all me.

 

It's ridiculous. I don't see the point in a statue in the first place to be honest but if they're there then why does it matter if they stay standing. They didn't get a statue celebrating them being world champion slavers. Slaves were just a part of how they made their money. It wasn't illegal and it was common practice. Is it right, should it be condoned or celebrated in anyway? Of course not but that's not what the statues are doing or what they represent. These people were part of history. They'll still be part of history even if the statues are gone. Tearing them down in protest is definitely not the right thing to do and those who were on film doing it should be tracked down and prosecuted. If the people of the towns and cities where these things stand no longer want them and they are deemed inapproproate then by all means remove them. Where does it stop though. Are me smashing buildings and monuments of past Kings and Queens because they executed people without a fair trial. How long before The Queen is dragged out in front of the cameras to apologise for the British Empire. Its utter nonsense. No one is saying slavery is or was good, nobody is saying we should still have slavery. It's history, pretending it didn't happen doesn't make it so. Comparing these people to the likes of Jimmy Saville is just so ridiculous I don't even know where to start with that one

 

They didn't get a statue celebrating them being world champion slavers.

Smokey, that is, without doubt, the best line on this whole subject I have heard to date. I wonder if they paid for their own statues?

 

Some of the protesters in Bristol were advocating destroying the Egyptian pyramids. Other protectors have followed suit.

There is much debate anyway over whether the pyramids were actually built by slaves but it remains to be seen how far people will go with this. Surely getting rid of the pyramids is just a step too far?

Plenty of protestors want to change street names in Bristol as well as tear down statues. Replacing the likes of blackboy hill and whiteladies road with alternative names. Talk about ridiculous..

 

Steady on Smokey...just want to point out that there is a statue of the great Kauto Star at Kempton Park racecourse in honour of one of the greatest steeplechasing racehorses to ever grace this planet. I think that is a fitting gesture and something to think about as you walk past it...

 

Thought everyone knew these days it was Aliens that built them.

 

So if i’ve killed all your family and profited from it , and all your friends families and made money from that , erect a statue with my ill gotten , you’d have no issue with that ?

i’d say the chances are you would , that’s what Colston and his ilk basically did , used humans as fodder , for monetary gain , some went further and actually killed slaves , for pleasure, sport with dogs .......and you really have to ask what these things represent ?

 

I agree with you Rudey I think the statues should come down.

 

Yep. They're pointless, i don't give a **** about the statues themselves, i think all of the fuss being spouted about them is ridiculous and the way the 'protesters' are going about it is wrong. You can't just go destroying things because you don't like it. I really don't like religion but i'm not going to start destroying churches/mosques/synagogues etc..

 

That is next but only the churches.

 

Exactly right..statues and monuments should be brought down by democratic means and then speaking to the people of the city next to gauge what might replace it.

The lefties on here refuse to condone the behaviour on grounds that it is somehow just.

 

It's hard to condone lawlessness.

 

hmmm , history teaches us that laws are made and laws are broken , then changed , rioting is often the only recourse for people denied their rights / freedom / equality .......looting is not rioting , don’t confuse the two , bit like saying the fights over bog rolls are reflective of all the population rather than a minority of selfish people .....

 

Sorry, who was happy the statue was ripped down? I never said I was. I don't think it should have been there in the first place though, we should have dealt with this decades ago without public intervention.