The Statue’s Fault

Published in El Universal
(Venezuela) on 26 June 2020
by Jorge Sayegh (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Kaitlyn Diehl. Edited by Elizabeth Cosgriff.
It's supremely stupid to cast judgment upon those who lived under the precepts of their society for half a century using today's moral standards, which are, without a doubt, more humanitarian.

While the United States is contaminated with a new virus, feverish crowds devote themselves with untamed passion (worthy of a worse cause) to the task of executing statues. They Irresponsibly excuse themselves with the justification that they're condemning racism, and began by tearing down monuments of several Southerners who defended the right to own slaves during the Civil War, but they ended up knocking down George Washington himself. He certainly had slaves, but in an age when the majority of societies on the planet considered it normal.

The demolition of shameful symbols is a constant throughout history. Each time a dictator falls in real life, the statues and paintings with which these narcissistic tyrants typically "adorn" the country that is victim to their abuse also fall like dominoes. But that's an immediate and logical reaction by a citizenry opposed to a person who has ruled at the expense of one’s dignity, liberty and life itself. What is the obsession with Christopher Columbus these days? It's undeniable that he was the battering ram in a historical process fatal to the inhabitants of this continent, but he belonged to a different, much crueler civilization than ours. It's supremely stupid to cast judgment upon those who lived under the precepts of their society for half a century using today's moral standards, which are, without a doubt, more humanitarian. It's not about idolizing a piece of brass. It's not even about complaining about the destruction of public property, which is already enough and instigators should be prosecuted. It's about resorting to "fixing" structural problems with symbolic solutions. Although this phenomenon more fully involves violence and vandalism, in essence, it is equivalent to the stupidity of rectifying racism by calling Black people “Afro-descendants” and correcting sexism by referring to both men and women. The fault does not lie in words, nor do problems lie in a sculpture.


En Estados Unidos, como contagiadas por un nuevo virus, muchedumbres afiebradas se entregan con una pasión indómita (digna de peor causa) a la tarea de ajusticiar estatuas. Excusándose irresponsablemente tras la justificación de condenar el racismo, comenzaron derribando los monumentos de algunas personalidades sureñas que defendieron el derecho a poseer esclavos durante la Guerra de Secesión… pero han terminado dando de bruces contra el suelo al mismísimo George Washington, quien ciertamente tuvo esclavos, pero en una época cuando la mayoría de las sociedades del planeta lo consideraban “normal”.

El derribo de símbolos del oprobio es una constate en la historia. Cada vez que cae un dictador en la vida real, las estatuas y pinturas con las que estos tiranos narcisistas suelen “adornar” al país víctima de sus desmanes, lo imitan en un efecto dominó. Pero esa es una reacción lógica e inmediata de una ciudadanía contra la pata que tuvieron montada a costa de su dignidad, su libertad y la propia vida. Ahora, ¿cuál es la obsesión contra Cristóbal Colón? Es innegable que le tocó ser el ariete de un proceso histórico fatal para los habitantes de este continente, pero él pertenecía a una civilización distinta y mucho más cruel que la nuestra. Es soberanamente estúpido juzgar con la moralidad de hoy, definitivamente más humanitaria, a quien vivió bajo los preceptos de su sociedad hace medio siglo.

No se trata de sacralizar un pedazo de bronce. Ni siquiera de quejarse por la destrucción de propiedad pública -que ya es bastante y los instigadores deberían ser enjuiciados por eso-, se trata de volver a “arreglar” problemas estructurales con soluciones simbólicas. Aunque más violento y vandálico, en esencia este fenómeno es igual que la estupidez de enmendar el racismo llamando a los negros “afrodescendientes” y corregir el machismo diciendo “todos y todas”. La culpa no yace en las palabras, ni los problemas en una escultura.
This post appeared on the front page as a direct link to the original article with the above link .

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