GICOP
Four Star General
- Joined
- Oct 16, 2008
- Messages
- 28,304
You couldn't make it up :rolleyes2: 
Queen's Zulu painting is given 'colonial' warning | Daily Mail Online
Queen's Zulu painting is given 'colonial' warning | Daily Mail Online
You couldn't make it up :rolleyes2:
Queen's Zulu painting is given 'colonial' warning | Daily Mail Online
I didn't know BLM was in the UK too.Lucky you.:rolleyes2:
Mark
You couldn't make it up :rolleyes2:
Queen's Zulu painting is given 'colonial' warning | Daily Mail Online
I detest revisionist history and the application of current moral / ethical standards to historical events that take them out of context.
Equally though history should inform and educate.
Headline screams it gets a 'colonial violence' warning but have you looked at what the description actually says?
8 words (right at the bottom) that say "This work is connected to colonialism and imperialism".
I think it is informing / educating and not revisionist in any way.
Newsrag creating noise because they have to write something, other than covid and Brexit
I am sure my Britains AZW display is safe (for now) :smile2::smile2::smile2:
Gazza
Here it is in full.
The battle of Rorke's Drift was fought in the Anglo-Zulu war in South Africa in 1879. Rorke's Drift was a mission station, originally a farm owned by James Rorke, an Irish trader. The station, part of which had been turned into a small field hospital, was defended by 141 British soldiers against an attack from about 4,000 Zulu warriors under the command of Prince Dabulamanzi, half-brother of Prince Cetshwayo. The defence of the station was commanded by Lieutenant John Chard of the Royal Engineers. In recognition of the heroism displayed by the defenders 11 Victoria Crosses were awarded.
Elizabeth Thompson, Lady Butler was a specialist in military subjects, influenced by French military painters, particuarly Detaille. Her 1874 painting The Roll Call, RCIN 405915, which depicted a battalion of wounded and exhausted Grenadier Guards lined up for a roll call following an engagement during the Crimean War, enjoyed phenomenal success when it was exhibited at the Royal Academy, turning its painter into a national celebrity. The painting was subsequently acquired by Queen Victoria, who went on to commission this painting from the artist.
The defence of Rorke's Drift captured the public imagination and when the soldiers returned to England they first visited Windsor, before being sent to Lady Butler. She went to Portsmouth, where the regiment was quartered, and they put on a representation of the battle for her 'dressed in the uniforms they wore on that dreadful night …the result was that I reproduced the event as nearly to the life as possible'. The artist stated that she had 'managed to show, in that scuffle, all the V.C.'s and other conspicuous actors in the drama'. In the painting the Zulu soldiers are attacking the north-west corner of the station. In the background the roof of the hospital is on fire.
Lieutenant Chard is in the centre, pointing with his left arm, next to Lieutenant Bromhead who is holding his sword. When Queen Victoria saw the painting she noted: 'All, officers & men, are portraits, & everything is painted from descriptions, & just as it was, down to the very smallest detail'. The painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1881.
This work is connected to colonialism and imperialism. Like all Royal Collection records, this work is subject to ongoing research as Royal Collection Trust seeks to present fully the narratives represented in the Collection.
I don't have a problem with history, context discussions, I have always agreed with the study of history. The devil is always in the details, what I do not agree with is revisionist history and a lot (not in this case apparently) of it is just pandering to the current PC wave. There is no denying that. You have to look at all sides and I am sorry, but that is a reality.
Case in point and I have said this many times, there are and have been continually attempts to minimize the Holocaust. It is happening, while it is usually universally and quickly condemned, it is happening. Real example, my son is a junior in AP US History this year. What he is being taught curriculum wise is flat out "bent". I don't know how else to describe it and even his teacher is highly upset. The Holocaust is a brief mention, the American Civil War is taboo and here is the kicker. The Japanese Rape of Nanking was REMOVED from the curriculum as it was deemed bias. WHAT? ***?
I am a skeptic albeit I think an intelligent one when it comes to this topic. If the example above doesn't scare you, it should. I know it worries the heck out of me. I believe in facts, good bad and ugly and that is what should be taught and learned. NOT opinion and looking at the times through modern lenses, that is horsecrap.
On another note, the US House just passed a resolution to remove Robert E. Lee from the National Park at Antietam. Rather than taking the NPS suggestion of putting into context and using his monument as a teaching aide, it was attacked successfully for political points. The assault continues, as I previously indicated, where else do you put monuments than on battlefields. This IMO is ridiculous.
Tom
I agree with you Tom and I also agree that taking down Lee's statue from a battlefield Park or museum is wrong.
My company did a lot of business in Germany. We had offices in Frankfurt and Munich where I visited often. I talked to my employees and associates about Nazi Germany and they told me that it was a significant part of their curriculum including visits to concentration camps. They were taught
about how Hitler came to power and the atrocities that were committed. Most of them agreed that being taught the brutal truth, as painful as it was, was important to developing a better society. Unfortunately we don't always learn from history and repeat our mistakes.
On the other hand I visited Japan close to a hundred times for business and dealt with all their large semiconductor companies. I became very close friends with many of my Japanese associates. All were either too young or not born during WWII.
They admitted that their education was sorely lacking in the truths about Japan's aggression and brutality. They learned from traveling and speaking with foreigners as well as the internet. Their parents and older relatives were reluctant to talk about
the war. To this day they downplay the genocide in China, Korea and other Asian countries.
I detest revisionist history and the application of current moral / ethical standards to historical events that take them out of context.
Equally though history should inform and educate.
Headline screams it gets a 'colonial violence' warning but have you looked at what the description actually says?
8 words (right at the bottom) that say "This work is connected to colonialism and imperialism".
I think it is informing / educating and not revisionist in any way.
Newsrag creating noise because they have to write something, other than covid and Brexit
I am sure my Britains AZW display is safe (for now) :smile2::smile2::smile2:
Gazza
I don't think we need to be constantly beaten over the head with reminders of Colonialism/Imperialism connected to art. The movie Zulu portrayed both sides with respect. Will that now be banned due to Imperialistic connections? Just my thoughts. Chris
I detest revisionist history and the application of current moral / ethical standards to historical events that take them out of context.
Equally though history should inform and educate.
Headline screams it gets a 'colonial violence' warning but have you looked at what the description actually says?
8 words (right at the bottom) that say "This work is connected to colonialism and imperialism".
I think it is informing / educating and not revisionist in any way.
Newsrag creating noise because they have to write something, other than covid and Brexit
I am sure my Britains AZW display is safe (for now) :smile2::smile2::smile2:
Gazza
I don't think we need to be constantly beaten over the head with reminders of Colonialism/Imperialism connected to art. The movie Zulu portrayed both sides with respect. Will that now be banned due to Imperialistic connections? Just my thoughts. Chris
Bringing back memories.....I saw the movie "Zulu" when I was 16 years old. I was into history but knew little about this period and battle. I walked away feeling that both sides showed a lot of courage. The British were outnumbered but the Zulus had few modern weapons.
I really didn't think about the politics of Colonialism or Imperialism at that time of my life, it was just a great story and entertaining. If I was taught some context before hand I might have thought differently, that will always be the challenge of teaching history.
they still haven't figured out a name from the NFL team formerly know as the Washington Redskins...
welcome...:rolleyes2:
I think context matters. If you name a public building or park after someone or place a statue in those areas, it is meant to honor that person. And the public has the same right today to rename those places or remove those statues as the public did decades ago in erecting them. If they are placed on battlefields to educate, then they are neutral symbols of events that happened in those places. So it's a much different matter to have a Robert E. Lee statue in a public park than on a battlefield.
