| Comment | Short answer: yes.
Long answer: no, we should not whitewash our past and hide our misdeeds. We should confront them head-on and ensure they do not happen again. This means directly dealing with our own privileged positions and teaching children that "heroes" are also, sometimes, arseholes (and they now need to write an essay on the moral judgements).
Slavery still exists today, it exists in Europe, it exists in the EU and it (very probably exists in the UK. If we want to honour those who suffered in the past, we need to make efforts to stop the suffering of those in the present.
I can alsmot guarantee you that, by today's standards, *every* historical hero is an arsehole in some dimension (that includes Lincoln BTW). That's the problem with looking back in time, some of those people did the best they could in the times they lived. Some day people will back on us and decide that out current champion are arsrholes too.
There is often nuance and debate. Mob rule and revisionist history removes that debate. |
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