WARMINGTON: Father of Confederation's statue history but his legacy can't be erased

C

Curious Cdn

Hall of Fame Member
Feb 22, 2015
37,070
8
36
Hoid said:
Is that what the statue is doing?
Click to expand...

The statue was already there, put there by people who are now all dead and buried ... probably a whole lot of people approved of it.

Along comes Hoid and Co. who declare:
"Those people were misguided. I have the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth and they were all wrong and so are most if you."

I'm sure that you know better than all those people who raised the statue. You are an enlightened one and none of them were. People back then were stupid but not now, not Hoid.
 
H

Hoid

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 15, 2017
20,408
4
36
Curious Cdn said:
The statue was already there, put there by people who are now all dead and buried ... probably a whole lot of people approved of it.

Along comes Hoid and Co. who declare:
"Those people were misguided. I have the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth and they were all wrong and so are most if you."

I'm sure that you know better than all those people who raised the statue. You are an enlightened one and none of them were. People back then were stupid but not now, not Hoid.
Click to expand...
I certainly seems to be all about me.

The statue was removed by a democratic vote - unlike the way it was put there.


Cling to your bias. What eles have you got?
 
JLM

JLM

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 27, 2008
75,301
548
113
Vernon, B.C.
Dixie Cup said:
Who cares where we came from and how we became who we are!
Click to expand...


You have to be careful, if you ignore history you might be in danger of repeating it. Judging stuff 150 years old by today's sentiments doesn't work very well. By the same token should we be making decisions based on how they might be perceived 150 years from now? MacDonald was a great man who did a lot of things, some good, some bad, some ugly. You can't change them and you can't clean them up! :)
 
Mowich

Mowich

Hall of Fame Member
Dec 25, 2005
16,649
998
113
76
Eagle Creek
Cliffy said:
Paying tribute to assholes is our historic legacy. Instead of tearing down statues we should be rewriting history books to reflect the truth. But the west has always made heroes out of scumbags.
Click to expand...


Germany erected statues to Hitler. Russia erected statues to Stalin. But to you, the West is in your bad books because they erected statues to people who actually tried to do some good for their people. You have a strange way of seeing things, Cliffy.

Cliffy said:
MacDonald initiated residential schools: beat the Indian out of the Indian. Starved treaty Indians into giving up their land for settlement and the railroad. He was a racist scumbag and a drunk. You don't see much of that in the history book propaganda being fed our children.
Click to expand...


Funny that, Cliffy. I learned all about John A's drinking problem whilst I was in high school. He still managed to get the railroad built without which you would not be living here in Canada pontificating with little to back up your words except innuendo and misinformation.
 
JLM

JLM

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 27, 2008
75,301
548
113
Vernon, B.C.
A lot of people seem to be focused on one aspect of his Prime Ministership. What do these people know about the exploration, planning, surveying, R/w acquisition and construction that went into the completion of the C.P.R.?
 
justducky

justducky

Electoral Member
Aug 2, 2018
429
0
16
JLM said:
A lot of people seem to be focused on one aspect of his Prime Ministership. What do these people know about the exploration, planning, surveying, R/w acquisition and construction that went into the completion of the C.P.R.?
Click to expand...

My great grandfather was one of the contractors who answered the call and built a bit of track somewhere in Ontario. Tenders went out to probably every contractor in the country at the time. I don't know if they bid or not.
 
Bar Sinister

Bar Sinister

Executive Branch Member
Jan 17, 2010
8,252
19
38
Edmonton
Let's face it, folks. All 19th Century politicians were flawed characters. They were also part of their time. MacDonald's anti-First Nations policies could not have taken place without the consent of the governing majority. I suppose we could simply eliminate all historical references to every politician who has offended a racial minority, but that would be a complete distortion of history. It appears that a single mistake by any politician means that all of the good they achieved is immediately cancelled. That is a form of historical revisionism I cannot agree with.
 
White_Unifier

White_Unifier

Senate Member
Feb 21, 2017
7,300
2
36
JLM said:
You have to be careful, if you ignore history you might be in danger of repeating it. Judging stuff 150 years old by today's sentiments doesn't work very well. By the same token should we be making decisions based on how they might be perceived 150 years from now? MacDonald was a great man who did a lot of things, some good, some bad, some ugly. You can't change them and you can't clean them up! :)
Click to expand...

The Sermon on the mount has been around for anyone to read for the last two thousand years or so. Macdonald's time came long after that.

Bar Sinister said:
Let's face it, folks. All 19th Century politicians were flawed characters. They were also part of their time. MacDonald's anti-First Nations policies could not have taken place without the consent of the governing majority. I suppose we could simply eliminate all historical references to every politician who has offended a racial minority, but that would be a complete distortion of history. It appears that a single mistake by any politician means that all of the good they achieved is immediately cancelled. That is a form of historical revisionism I cannot agree with.
Click to expand...

I actually agree with you. leave those statues there, but maybe erect other statues alongside them of their contemporaries who might have challenged the popular sentiments like Dr. Bryce for example.

Oh my mistake, they weren't contemporaries. But I'm sure some contemporaries whether in the newspapers of the time of opposition MPs would have challenged some of the popular sentiment.
 
C

Curious Cdn

Hall of Fame Member
Feb 22, 2015
37,070
8
36
Hoid said:
the railroad was not completed on time.
Click to expand...

Do you have any idea what sort of engineering problems they had to solve as they went when they built that railroad?

"the railroad was not completed on time."

Clearly, you have nary a clue.
 
H

Hoid

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 15, 2017
20,408
4
36
The railroad was completed late.

That isn't an opinion or a judgement. That is just a fact.
 
justducky

justducky

Electoral Member
Aug 2, 2018
429
0
16
JLM said:
Does anyone alive today really give a f**K? :)




What was the date stipulated in the contract? Was the railway deemed null and void at the time and unfit for use because there was a breach of the contract?
Click to expand...

Like I said above it was many small contractors who built it. At least in Ontario. Many ways it could have been delayed if that was the case.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom