In his column “Tear all the statues down?” (July 9, TribLIVE), Paul Kengor laments the removal of statues such as that of Stephen Foster, due to the perceptions some have of its meaning.
Well, no surprise there. How can you expect people that don’t care to learn history to know, care or understand the meaning of a statue?
Forget that he was from Pittsburgh and is known as “the father of American music.” It’s hard enough to get some folks to learn there were two world wars in the 20th century, when 9/11 happened, find the USA on a map, write a coherent paragraph or name the three branches of government (I bet we have people in Congress that can’t do that either).
His point is well taken (as I read it): If you want statues to display perfect people/events, you better take them all down.
As history seems to continue to be downplayed in public schools (notice there’s no “H” in STEM or STEAM) and selectively “used” in universities, more facts are lost or muddied.
Facts become irrelevant. In my opinion, the media promotes an agenda over truth, opinions as facts, and out-of-context words, photos and videos as “facts.” One only needs to read these pages to recognize its effectiveness. We are now free to recognize only the facts we like or change them to suit our needs. Emotion and feelings trump facts and rational discussion.
Under the “mob rules” of 2020 America, this is the new normal.
Tim Kaczmarek
Natrona Heights