Yup, let’s only allow statues that you personally like to exist!
Let’s only allow statues that reflect the views, perspectives, and stories of the majority! Clearly, that’s what it means to be diverse and inclusive!
Also, restoring a statue that was removed is totally the same thing as building a new statue!
Sounds logical.
Not.
Plus, what would be wrong with putting up statues of Hitler and Putin, anyways? Hitler and Putin are historical figures (the latter is still alive, so maybe not technically a historical figure yet) that both you and the majority of people happen not to like.
But how well-liked or popular a person is, has nothing to do with whether they are good or bad.
You consider your own personal dislike of a historical figure as obvious proof that it would be ridiculous to put up a statue of them. In other words, you act as if your own personal likes and dislikes are the sole determinant of goodness and badness, and you treat this as obviously true. When in reality, this isn’t true at all, let alone obviously so. Your personal likes and dislikes might match up perfectly with the majority’s, because you have no capacity for independent thought, but this doesn’t make them any more legitimate than anyone else’s. Minority views and perspectives are just as legitimate, and just as deserving of being reflected in statues and public art, as yours are.
“Hell, yeah! Let’s put up statues of Hitler and Putin!”
Um, yeah. And that’s bad, how?
Translation: “Hell yeah! Let’s put up statues of people that I don’t like!”
As if it the existence of views and perspectives other than your own, is somehow ridiculous. As if it’s ridiculous for statues to exist that honor anyone but bland, mundane people that the majority approves of. Completely ignoring the fact that this not only defeats the entire purpose of statues but also creates a world in which life isn’t worth living.
You think that you’re so smart, you think that you’ve somehow defeated the argument for restoring the memorial at Arlington National Cemetery with this purported “gotcha” comment. But your comment isn’t the hot take that you think it is. In reality, all that your comment demonstrates is your own mindless intolerance and moral bankruptcy.
“Hell yeah! Let’s create a world in which everything that makes life worth living has been destroyed!”
Sounds really great.
Not.