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Statuemania

“So, you read the title of this blog and automatically assumed I was going to share my opinion with you concerning recent events around our country. You were interested to know what I thought about the desire and the movements to destroy or relocate certain statues, paintings, or other memorials that certain people might find offensive.

No, I wanted to talk with you today about the deliberate destruction of approximately 1,750 bronze statues throughout France during the German Occupation of World War II. Not since the French Revolution had so many statues been destroyed (albeit for different reasons).”

These were the first two paragraphs to my blog, Statuemania, we published on 2 September 2017 ⏤ almost three years ago. Frankly, I had forgotten about the reason why I first wrote the blog or the first paragraph; which now takes me back to the events that inspired me to write the original blog.

Pedestal without a statue, Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, Paris. Photo by Coyau (May 2011). PD-GNU Free Documentation License v.1.2. Wikimedia Commons.
Pedestal without a statue, Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, Paris. Photo by Coyau (May 2011). PD-GNU Free Documentation License v.1.2. Wikimedia Commons.

I guess my reason to re-post the blog is pretty much the same reason I gave three years ago. While I don’t necessarily oppose certain statues, busts, or flags being taken down or done away with (e.g., statues or busts of Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest, the flag he represented, and the Washington Redskins name), I do think we go overboard sometimes. Shouldn’t we step back and determine if we can turn something negative into a positive? I’m speaking about the lost opportunities to help educate, raise awareness, and try to make sure certain events or thought processes never happen again. I think it’s a better and more positive approach than pure destruction. Hate confronting hate doesn’t solve problems. Read More Statuemania

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The Destruction of Paris

My last blog post dealt with copyrighted material and my search for images I could not find. I mentioned a couple of people and I thought I’d like to expand on them. Before I do, let’s set the stage in the mid-1800s in Paris under the rule of Napoleon III (the nephew of Napoleon).

Paris up until the mid-1800s was still a medieval city

London was forced to rid itself of its medieval trappings in 1666. The Great Fire of London created the opportunity for the city to rebuild and become more contemporary. It took Paris almost 200-years to catch up but it wasn’t a fire that provided the catalyst.

Read More The Destruction of Paris