Nelson's Column is now racist.

a reply to: alldaylong

Like ordering a black and tan in an Irish pub!!



No offense meant at all. Just that my inner punk rocker seems to be just as valid in these modern times as it was back in my teen years. Had to share as it seems it is nothing new just that people are more excitable now a days. Used to be a young TEOT sitting around a turntable with some friends listening to songs and now it instant internet postings with instant reactions.

The times they are a-changing!

a reply to: SprocketUK

www.independent.co.uk...

I think the Grauniad employes Ms Hirsch to write inflamatory rubbish like this to whip up its flagging sales, or perhaps justify its alleged anti-UK 'grant' funding.

The link above goes to an article giving another cut of the Nelson story.

Quite where the deeply prejudiced Ms Hirsch gets here "15% of African heritage" form is a puzzle - the Navy in Nelsons time apparently did not record ethnicity.

There were French, Spanish, West Indians, and Americans serving in the fleet. The Americans could well have been freed black slaves. Or they might have ex-indentured white working class. We simply don't now. All we know is they served.

It is a fact however that a black sailor is carved into the base of the column.

So take down the column, and destroy a piece of black history.

Well researched Ms Hirsch. Perhaps we should take down the ivory tower in which you apparently live instead.

In the interest of historical accuracy the Nelsons Column in Dublin was partially demolished by the "IRA" in 1966.

Amusingly the completion of the demolition was carried out by the Irish Army who caused far more damage to the surrounding area than the initial attempt.

It's place has been taken by a stainless steel needle known to Dubliners as the "Spike" in an ironic reference to the heroin problem the city has suffered.

As to the Cultural Marxists and the ongoing attempt to rewrite history to conform to their ideals I hope this is seen for what it is.

The hijacking of Britains native strain of socialism by Soviet inspired and funded Marxists should not be accepted by any critical thinker.

Nelson was a Hero in the true sense of the word.

"Never have so many owed so much to so few" springs to mind.

The US and most of the Irish chose the republic over monarchy.

The Common Law is still the foundation.

Many Irish people were sad to see the Pillar destroyed.

Best wishes to our British cousins....

a reply to: SprocketUK

Horatio Nelson is certainly racist and should be torn down asap.

Why? Because .... what is black and greasy and slides down Nelson's column?

Why, Winnie Mandela of course!

I always knew that that joke would cause trouble one day, but it used to have the boys in fits...

Its about time the English government got 'trafel-gar' day onto the statute books, Dunkirk is celebrated, of all things, so why not a great victory ?

Judging history without context is the road to ruin. The ignorance of people who paint themselves "enlightened" by attempting to expunge history is sad to behold. Nelson was a product of his time, as was Wilberforce.

The African slavers who supplied the slaves (yes, the ones that were not white) appear to have been forgotten, as have the inter-slavery between different parts of Africa and across the Middle East in general. The attempt to simplify African slavery as an exclusive product of the Europeans and those in North and South America shows crass ignorance. In fact, one in 150 Africans in Sub-Saharan Africa today lives as a slave TODAY, but we don't see many do-gooders trying to solve that, so obsessed they have become with targeting historical figures.

The UK has a completely different history to the US. Some people in the UK really need to pause for thought. Take a deep breath and think about what they are saying.

a reply to: SprocketUK

This isn't about racism or cultural imperialism, its about people who do not want to be invested in our society and, furthermore, who want to get rid of every single thing they don't like...Well, I would like to propose that, instead of getting rid of statues in the UK, we just get rid of the sort of lame brain that finds them offensive, let them go live in Palmyra or somewhere, a nice, statue free place thanks to their intellectual kin in I.S.

That right there, is gold dust, and should be quoted by everyone who sees any commentary on this nonsensical crap being spouted by all these eejits who can't tell their rear admiral from their elbow, the fact that this behaviour is EXACTLY what the culture-destroyers of IS are doing, and indeed that it is the first stage in losing contact with one's heritage, destroying the first links in the chain to cultural, national & racial identity of their own forefathers, dagnammit..! There is nothing wrong, and many things right, with retaining statues to remind us of where we come from. We must always be willing to acknowledge & accept that these people were a product of their time, and that they lived life in a way which might be utterly alien to us should we ever stumble into a time machine & find ourselves transported back into their communities.

People who discriminate against others based on the fact that the others are of a different race are rare these days. Slavery is considered an aberration, rightly so. But even Jesus didn't try to ban slavery back there in 30 AD - he knew that the concept was as old as time, and that many years lay between then, and now. We cannot afford to sever our links with an uncomfortable past. Because the minute you let corporate media throw stuff down the memory hole, they will do it with as much might as they can exert - because it profits them that people remain in ignorance. Period.