Falling Statues, Rising Trump?
I read a lot of history. This makes me two things:
1) Old and boring.
2) Less likely to have an emotional reaction to current events.
I could spout my opinion on the statues and monuments coming down all over the country, but it's just an opinion at the end of the day. Opinions last as long as the next breath you take.
The fact is, the more history you read, the more you realize that statues come down all the time. Monuments rise and fall with the societies, regimes, dynasties, etc., that put them there...and then they're gone.
When Napoleon's armies arrived at the Sphinx, it was halfway buried in the sands of time, which is to say, forgotten.
The Nazi's destroyed countless statues and artifacts...hell they tried to wipe every evidence of the Judeo-Christian world from existence.
Some historians concur that the entire concept of western civilization barely survived the ruthless conquest of barbarians and norsemen(vikings) in the dark ages. After the sacking of Rome it was anyone's game for centuries, and it wasn't until Charlgamane conquered and settled enough territory in Europe, that western thought was able to plant it's foot in history. Charlgamane ordered the few remaining texts of his "side's" version of history to be copied and preserved, thus insuring those teachings would be spread far and wide, instead of destroyed and forgotten.
The words of Jimi Hendrix in his song "If 6 was 9" keep ringing in my head..."If the mountains fall into the sea, let it be, it ain't me."
And so, here we are today, two decades into the new millenium. Same as the old millenium. Statues are coming down, just like they always do.
The consensus is generally that this latest round of statue toppling is because of their connection to a racist past full of slavery and violence. And there can be no doubt that the past is full of racism and violence. Slavery as well is an all too common theme in all of history, not just American.
With the recent, horrific, murder of George Floyd in my hometown of Minneapolis that was viewed the world over, the pulling down of statues has elevated to the level of frenzy. The energy of the masses swarming on anything connected(or thought to be connected) to racism is impressive to the point that it can't be denied.
President Trump has spoken out against some of these actions. The old political establishment seems to waver between support and complacency of these actions. The rest either watch on the news or debate it on facebook.
Amidst all the ruckus, a coming election gears up and the unfolding events will certainly be jostled back and forth among the candidates. On one side is Trump, who four years ago, did his own tearing down of the old monuments, namely, the Clintons, the Bushes, and the old establishment also known as "the swamp". On the other side Joe Biden, as old as the establishment itself, and up to his neck in the past four decades of it's dealings.
As the summer heats up, the rhetoric will inflame on both sides of the aisle. The noise will be deafening, bolstered by the crashing of bronze statues and the accompanying roars. Time will march on, if you believe in that sort of thing, and eventually the freshly minted history books will spill over with opinions and observations.
The division bell is ringing loud in America right now. Trump has over eighty million twitter followers that tune into his opinion daily. Joe Biden...well we haven't heard much from him lately.
I keep watching, reading. The present looks a lot like the past. I imagine good ol' electric Jimi-man was sitting in front of a TV, watching the news in 66' when he wrote "If 6 was 9"..."if all the hippies, cut off all their hair, I don't care."
It's gonna be a long hot summer Jimi...I believe you wrote a song about that too. Peace.
1) Old and boring.
2) Less likely to have an emotional reaction to current events.
I could spout my opinion on the statues and monuments coming down all over the country, but it's just an opinion at the end of the day. Opinions last as long as the next breath you take.
The fact is, the more history you read, the more you realize that statues come down all the time. Monuments rise and fall with the societies, regimes, dynasties, etc., that put them there...and then they're gone.
When Napoleon's armies arrived at the Sphinx, it was halfway buried in the sands of time, which is to say, forgotten.
The Nazi's destroyed countless statues and artifacts...hell they tried to wipe every evidence of the Judeo-Christian world from existence.
The words of Jimi Hendrix in his song "If 6 was 9" keep ringing in my head..."If the mountains fall into the sea, let it be, it ain't me."
And so, here we are today, two decades into the new millenium. Same as the old millenium. Statues are coming down, just like they always do.The consensus is generally that this latest round of statue toppling is because of their connection to a racist past full of slavery and violence. And there can be no doubt that the past is full of racism and violence. Slavery as well is an all too common theme in all of history, not just American.
With the recent, horrific, murder of George Floyd in my hometown of Minneapolis that was viewed the world over, the pulling down of statues has elevated to the level of frenzy. The energy of the masses swarming on anything connected(or thought to be connected) to racism is impressive to the point that it can't be denied.
President Trump has spoken out against some of these actions. The old political establishment seems to waver between support and complacency of these actions. The rest either watch on the news or debate it on facebook.
Amidst all the ruckus, a coming election gears up and the unfolding events will certainly be jostled back and forth among the candidates. On one side is Trump, who four years ago, did his own tearing down of the old monuments, namely, the Clintons, the Bushes, and the old establishment also known as "the swamp". On the other side Joe Biden, as old as the establishment itself, and up to his neck in the past four decades of it's dealings.
As the summer heats up, the rhetoric will inflame on both sides of the aisle. The noise will be deafening, bolstered by the crashing of bronze statues and the accompanying roars. Time will march on, if you believe in that sort of thing, and eventually the freshly minted history books will spill over with opinions and observations.The division bell is ringing loud in America right now. Trump has over eighty million twitter followers that tune into his opinion daily. Joe Biden...well we haven't heard much from him lately.
I keep watching, reading. The present looks a lot like the past. I imagine good ol' electric Jimi-man was sitting in front of a TV, watching the news in 66' when he wrote "If 6 was 9"..."if all the hippies, cut off all their hair, I don't care."
It's gonna be a long hot summer Jimi...I believe you wrote a song about that too. Peace.
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