Orf with her head!!!!!

SIMPSONS DID IT!

"Whatever one's views on Baroness Thatcher's politics, she is a unique and important part of the recent history of our country," though this seems like a good argument for busts of Hitler all across Germany; "acts of vandalism against works of art" makes the unlikely assumption that the vandal was annoyed with the statue as artwork as opposed to its subject; I mean granted, granted, these are the obvious and true things to say, and if our commemoration of history was based on everyone liking everything we would never commemmorate anything, and busting up statues is Not Nice -- I just get impressed by the flaks who go out and strike a principled tone and say "clearly this is unacceptable" while thousands chortle or seethe ... they're asked to focus on this apolitical principle of "don't bust up statues" whereas clearly the real news is "screw Thatcher" sort of humorously broadsiding "luv Thatcher."

Q: What do you all think of this sort of commemoration, this very "historical" act of statue-building which seems to want to strip the actual meaning from political and historical figures and just sort of say "yes, they are a part of our history" (but in the most cursory and uncritical manner possible)?

NB when I needed to kill an hour in mid-town Manhattan I on a lark hopped into the craptastic Tussaud's there and was amazed to find myself having hugely visceral reactions to some of the figures in their hall of statesmen and politicians, so I completely understand this: I turned around at one point and came face to face with Reagan and he was lifelike enough that my gut instinct was to punch him. (Later I came up to Nelson Mandela and wanted to hug him.)

this is the same stuff Alabama politicians come out with when challenged on the Stars and Bars - they likely often have a vague feeling in the pit of their stomachs that something is happening here but they don't know what it is - probably one of the worst feelings a lizard can have. so to pre-empt that uncomfortable and familiar foolish feeling they, according to their character, either relapse into muted snuffling or very forcefully say not much at all, the latter of which often translates to content-free history lessons for us irrationally inflamed sneaker-wearers

wow, the lizards really DO explain everything!

"The damaged statue has now been withdrawn from view" = "acts of vandalism against works of art"?

Hopefully we'll get into decapitating flesh and blood next so this is a welcome development. Blair could be the first for the chop.

Ahem (sorry, something stuck in my gizzard), I love any kind of statue. A wax replica of Ronald Reagan has to be just about the least profound work of art ever conceived; I think I'd be afraid of being swallowed by the infinite vacuity of it, as if it were the black hole at the center of the universe. That's why I love these kinds of things.