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Yet again, the Welsh Government's evangelical wokeness has made Wales look ridiculous and a figure of fun - this time the renaming of streets, buildings, etc., "tainted" by association with Churchill, Nelson, Columbus, Ghandi, et al.

This sort of thing used to make me despair: now I just roll my eyes at the tedious repetitiveness and predictability. Those responsible need to be told to "grow up" and concentrate on what the people of Wales are desperate for (such as healthcare, effective public transport , etc.,) rather than trying to impose on people that with which they do not agree. Such plans are very authoritarian and risk making the [assumed] offended groups look so weak and delicate that they need special protection.

Philosophy includes the concept of "ressentiment", i.e., "a vengeful, petty-minded state of being that does not so much want what others have (although that is partly it) as want others to not have what they have" [Oxford Reference dictionary]. Such vandalism as changing names, removing statues and hiding artworks is symptomatic of ressentiment, the vengeance being taken against traditionalists (including, since 2016, punishing the (presumed traditionalist) people who voted for Brexit) and being delivered by those caught in a spiral of virtue-signalling. It is not without precedent. Development of a blemish-free "mythic past" is a key theme (or symptom) of fascism. In 1933, book-burning by the Deutsche Studentenschaft eradicated publications at odds with the Nazi ideology (the social justice movement of the day). A blemish-free historical narrative paves the way for the framing of views such as 'everything was perfect until the Jews/immigrants/gypsies/other arrived'; a history broken on the wheel of political aims is common to many instances of totalitarianism where a brave new world is to be imposed.

The onus should be on educating the audience, not vilifying the art/streets/buildings. It is the job of institutions and heritage organisations to objectively tell us about the cultures that produced the artefacts (and why), not altering them to fit the sensibilities of a new breed of people who are utterly intolerant and demand that everything, new and old, fit their particular moral compass. Everything is nuanced, History almost infinitely so. A policy of "retain and explain" seemed to me classic British compromise, so why push further? To see the Welsh Government tearing at its own history makes me think of a group of vegans tearing in torment at their own flesh because they've realised that they themselves are made of meat.

Understanding people of the past in their historical perspective is a compliment we pay them in the hope that people in the future will do the same to us. In their historical context, many people (famous or not) would have been unremarkable for racism, beating their wives, kicking animals and sending unpopular relatives to asylums. People of historic significance are, like us all, flawed. In many ways, that is what makes them interesting and allows us to relate to them. Shine a bright enough spot-light on any one of them and you are likely to find some aspect of unacceptability: Martin Luther-King Jr was a serial philanderer; Pope Benedict XVI had been in the Hitler Youth (albeit briefly and involuntarily); Aristotle was a misogynist, etc., ad infinitum. One man's freedom fighter will always be another man's terrorist (e.g., Mandela). Having [informed] discussions about (say) Churchill is healthy and should allow individuals to come to their own opinions; having a conclusion imposed upon all is not a healthy part of democracy.

It would be boring and predictable of me to quote reproduce Orwell's quote "He who control the past controls the future" but a more apt quote from Nietzsche is (regarding ressentiment): "The sufferers, one and all, are frighteningly willing and inventive in their pretexts for painful emotions; they even enjoy being mistrustful and dwelling on wrongs and imagined slights ... they rip open the oldest wounds and make themselves bleed to death from scars long since healed, they make evil-doers out of friend, wife, child, and anyone else near them". This is almost a daily occurrence.

As long ago as 1911, Booker T Washington said "I am afraid that there is a certain class of race-problem solvers who don't want the patient to get well, because as long as the disease holds out they have not only an easy means of making a living, but also an easy medium through which to make themselves prominent before the public". The best way to stop racism is to stop talking about it, not to always be talking about it. No doubt there is another department of the Welsh government scratching their heads wondering why Patriotic Alternative and their ilk are doing the rounds.

There seems no room for debate or discussion and, ultimately, history is not changed by these activities; the removal of statues and the renaming of streets is often perceived as punishing people who have personally done nothing to please people who have not personally suffered. The irony is that many of those on the list of people to be expunged from history contributed to a chain of circumstances ultimately leading to the freedom that allows such plans to be considered.

Learn History. Embrace it. Don't repeat the bad bits. That's not difficult, is it?

rrhool wrote:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cr5mym9l1e5o

I saw that and thought: simple, rename it "The Fox and Chicken" and have a picture of a fox carrying a dead chicken in its mouth. It's accurate and there's no way that PETA or anyone else can claim that it misrepresents foxes.

Moo wrote:

I know. You couldn't make it up!

It's scary how our history and heritage is under threat or being taken away. I used drink in the Black Boy pub in Winchester. It's named after chimney sweeps but how long before that history is taken away?

It's all mad!

Not like this, then?

Click image to enlarge

rrhool wrote:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cr5mym9l1e5o

You probably won’t be surprised to know its just called “The Fox” to anybody here whenever its discussed, drank there many a time, nice boozer