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THE DISPUTE OVER a statue of General Lee in Charlottesville, Virginia, was central to the horrific scenes which subsequently unfolded in the past week. Meanwhile four Confederate monuments were removed in Baltimore by the City Council and protesters in Durham, North Carolina took down a statue themselves.
These actions reflect the political nature of monuments as symbols of ideologies and events. Their removal, lawful or otherwise, is also a political act.
The cultural landscape
Monuments are found in city parks, on roadsides, and capitals across the world. The statue of Lord Nelson towers over Trafalgar Square in London, the National Mall in Washington is shaped by its memorials, and every plaza in Rome seems to hold a stone figure. Statues and other monuments are prominent features of what is referred to as the cultural landscape, the collective character of an area’s natural, cultural, and political elements.
Through the erection of statues, communities and nations commemorate events, movements, and people in the landscape. In Ireland common examples are monuments to the 1798 Rebellion, statues of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and, more recently, memorials to cultural figures.
These physical markers are statements about the ideas and heritage which is most important for a society.
History is written and re-written in the pages of books
However, cultural landscapes are always open to interpretation and contestation. While there often is a consensus on the erection of a statue, it is nonetheless a political act.
These representations tell a story, but that story can be challenged and updated. This is the case in the US currently where Confederate statues are been called out as symbols of slavery and racism.
There is a comparable situation in Poland where Soviet era monuments now seen as representing the totalitarian regime are been removed, which has been met by Russian objections. We usually understand that history is written and re-written in the pages of books, but it also occurs in the landscape.
Irish history of monument building
The Irish history of monument building and destruction is primarily shaped by our relationship with Britain. From the eighteenth century statues to British figures were erected across Ireland as signifiers of British rule, a means of engraving it in the landscape.
These included Willam III on College Green in 1701 (removed in 1929), William II in the Boyne Valley in 1736 (destroyed 1922), and the Duke of Cumberland pillar, Birr in 1747 (statue removed in 1915). However, in the late nineteenth century an increasingly dominant Irish nationalist movement began to put up its own statues.
One of the most prominent was the 1882 Daniel O’Connell monument (on the then Sackville Street, renamed O’Connell Street post-independence) which asserted the position of this Irish Catholic political in the heart of the city.
Many monuments to British figures were destroyed or removed as they were seen as symbols of oppression. The blowing up of Nelson’s pillar, on O’Connell Street, in 1966 is the most acute example of the re-writing of the landscape.
A century earlier, in 1862, a statue of George II on the Grand Parade, Cork, was tumbled into the river, and later replaced by the Nationalist Monument. Also, a statue of Queen Victoria outside Leinster House was official moved in 1948, and since 1986 has stood in Sydney.
Representing ideas which no longer deserve prominence
The removal of these monuments was not to deny those aspects of history, but rather a statement that these symbols had come to represent ideas which no longer deserved such prominence. Although lawful removal or relocation is clearly more appropriate to destruction.
As societies change and understandings are refined, cultural landscapes are altered to better reflect these new positions. For Ireland this has meant an ongoing negotiation with our colonial past and the politics of independence. In the US, this process is happening at an accelerated rate within the political polarisation of the current climate, and it will continue.
Dr Richard Scriven is an Irish Research Council Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Geography, UCC. Follow him on Twitter @CorkGeog.
Black box data should be instantly transmitted rather than recorded and stored on the plane
Yes I was thinking the same, but can it be transmitted over such a distance from a plane? It must not be possible? But surely it is something which could at least be fitted with some form of flotation device so it can’t sink? At least if it floats, it can be traced easier.
Seeing as no one knows what happened to this plane isn’t every theory a conspiracy or is it just the theories that the media make up the real theory?
Some theories are more credible than others Nigel. For example:
The plane was likely crashed in to the Indian ocean in a tragic pilot suicide
vs.
The plane was likely hijacked, remotely, by the US Government
I’m waiting for Jim Corr to give his version of events…..
Has anyone searched Diego Garcia yet to put all the rumours to rest?
Diego Garcia is an ETOPS emergency landing site and as such covered by commercial radar so if it did fly there someone would have noticed, that and it’s last known position based on satellite data and the distance it had all ready travelled puts it out of range of Diego Garcia
MSM has been told to keep a lid on it..
Not mention of it even in the rags.
@Frank, been reading your comments and responses to this over the past few weeks and across various articles but have never replied .You have had some very valid points and the comments aimed towards you have been unfair in my opinion.
The US government has been known for creating many false flag events over the years, 9/11 was a prime example with many many signs pointing towards such…A good source of documented information can be found across many websites and in various documentaries like ‘ZeitGeist’ for example (can be found on Netflix).
Over the past year we have seen the US and various EU states move towards control of the internet-(also well documented) and whistle-blowers like Mr. Snowdan have helped those of us who have our eyes open to see what we are being force fed through the general media is a lie.
The ‘War on Terror’ is a farce and was created to instill fear in the general public, and it would hardly surprise me if there was not some of the same bullshit involved with this incident.
Security has already been bumped up on airlines right around the globe but more-so in the states where people civil liberties are being broken while passing through these airports.
Could this possibly be a similar situation to allow the US and allied EU states gain some control over the ever free internet?
A top hacker recently showed at a conference how planes can easily be hacked and controlled without anything the pilot can do, same as Iran did when it took down a US drone with similar methods.
I cannot speculate exactly what happen to flight MH370, but one thing seems to be very sure and that is there some form of cover up going on and the families and media are not being told the truth.
I have also mentioned the Netflix Movie Dirty Wars 2013 by Freelance Journalist Rick Rowley ….It gives you some insight to how evil the US Government has got under the Obama Administration. After watching it one can well understand why people become so sceptical about the US Global agenda.
Two tards
I just find it unbelievable that a plane can fly for 7 hours unnoticed, After 9/11 I thought the skys were monitored and secured because as this stands anyone could take a plane and fly it wherever they want and not be detected and cause any amount of damage
Was the plane commandeered by hijackers or terrorists?
Yes ……Remotely by the US Government…
Never change Frank, if nothing else your comments never fail to make me laugh!
The shills come out in force..
Yes Frank, I work for the US government and have been planted here in the comments section of thejournal.ie to steer people away from the real truth.
Well done, you got me.
Certain events will always mark time periods for people. This is one event that I will always remember. Yes became its a major tragedy for all involved, but mainly for the mystery involved. It really is like something out of the twilight zone.
Aussies on verge of sending down underwater vessel to look for wreckage: http://ab.co/1stOcnW
If they are from MH370, what happens next? ……
….Iran gets blamed and the War starts…
I know what you mean about shills frank but sounds like sheep is more appropriate. I said to a mate at the weekend that i’m skeptical about 9/11. I was jeered at and labelled jim corr.
Did MH370 become a ‘ghost plane’?
Never in this day and age with such sophisticated surveillance and communications… It can certainly become a ‘ghost plane’ if the cockroaches in Western powers want you to believe it that way.
Frank are you really Mel Gibson?
Frank trolling only works when you drop the odd bomb. But when ya commenting over and over we know your just taking the mickey :)
Have to say I had thought no chance of that pinger working but there you go. Go on the us navy
It’s funny that even though we live in such a technological world where information is emerging 24/7 from all angles, the media all over the world still insists on being carbon copies of each other and reporting and emphasizing the exact same stories. There are far more important matters that are being neglected, but why??? Are we incapable of any originality?
It’ll be one hell of a movie……
One damn good propaganda movie….
Frank what are you going to do if they find the plane you seem to be loving the conspiracy theory’s
Even if they did pull something out of the water I would take it as a lie.
Frank what happened to the plane and why?
Anything could have happened to it… Most alternative media and CT point to Diego Garcia military base.
My speculation is that it was a botched false flag attempt by the West intended to draw Iran into conflict.
Either the passengers were all bumped off or else they never existed in the first place. The US Government has hired professional crisis actors in the past.
Coincidentally ex Malaysian Airways clone of this missing plane has been sitting in a hangar at Teliviv airport since November. Whether this had anything to do with a botched spectacular also leaves questions. https://2012thebigpicture.wordpress.com/2014/03/27/why-do-the-israelis-have-a-777-identical-to-mh370-in-a-hangar-in-tel-aviv/
So you’re saying all the relatives that we see on tv crying with pics of their families and kids and their backgrounds are made up?
Frank, you wouldn’t happen to be a friend of Jim Corr would you?
Jaymie There are such things as crisis actors, a phenomena among corrupt Governments that stoop so low to push their agenda’s by playing on the minds of people.
This is a brilliant 10 minute documentary on the Boston Bombing that shows you exactly how actors and special effects were a major part of this hoax.
…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03UMewFYD6w
I would well believe crisis actors were used in this incident and if so it won’t be too long before all the discrepancies start cropping up on UTube.
Frank I know a victim of the Boston bombing your comment is digitising and out of order!
We know f**k all,let’s be honest,
Hope relatives get closure soon,how
I don’t know.
If the pings aren’t from the black box then what are they from?
An orange box with flight data recorder writing on it?
Written
One truth is that the plane was carrying employees from a company,called Freescale,who,invented a component,that would make the plane undetected.They were about to make TRILLIONS,from this,another businessman had a share too,The 20 of them,were in that plane!! A few days later the Patent,came through, they missed out on Trillions, only the business man,will get the money,the component will be invaluable in war zones,because planes wont be detected.I looked up Freescale,and yes,20of their employers were on that plane!And they. .
According to Forbes magazine Bill Gates is currently the worlds richest man, worth $76 billion. However, according to you this business man no one has heard of is about to top Bill Gates, and is worth thousands of Billions? He is going to be worth more than 25 times what Bill Gates has earned with one business deal. Nonsense.
The pilot flew the plane into the remotest part of the Indian ocean he could find-end of !
End of for you but not for the families of 239 people on board the plane. Or for anyone else who is interested in the fact that a plane (most of us fly in them at some point) can vanish – id certainly like to know what happened so lessons could be learnt
What will the black box tell us? Whoever hijacked it wouldn’t be giving much away to the black box would they?
Black Boxes are not Gospel and have been substituted, doctored and interfered with right down through history.
http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/general_aviation/read.main/1519470/
The box will record voice and every input and system settings as well as what instruments were reading for last few hours before impact.
So yeah they will reveal everything. If someone throttles up or makes an adjustments the boxes will tell and we know it was suicide or not. It will reveal a huge amount
Give it a rest Frank, or I’ll drive around to your basement apartment and give you a right whack on your noggin with my ivory handled cane!
I’d say Frank’s been interfered with.
Im sick a hearin about dis bleedin plane at dis stage, its bleedin gone
Ah jaysus, yeah, georgie burgess!
Ah jaysus, dats right, georgie burgess!
Ah jaysus, georgie burgess!
Gone where Jacinta?
Honest Tom,it was nice of you to send me a link to some classified info!!!
Honest Tom, I wont be naming anyone,here,go find out for yourself, its easy.
Orla. Freescale semiconductors had 20 employees on the flight. From that fact you have jumped to the conclusion that those people were the patent holders of some new amazing technology. Are you saying there was 21 people who owned the patent, Those 20 plus the 1 other patent holder who wasn’t on the flight?
I am employed by a very large American software/technology company. It doesn’t mean I own any of their patents.
Orla. Further to above, the patent does exist. However if you look it up you will see that none of the owners of the patent were on the passenger list of the flight.
Four of the chinese employees were patent holders,Tom.Il say no more.
Orla. I wasn’t suggesting it was classified info. If anything I was showing how easy it was to see the patent and check the facts. None of the owners of the patent were on the passenger list of flight MH370.
Four of the Chinese employees were patent holders, you’ll say no more. So basically you have nothing intelligent to say. None of the names listed on the patent were on the passenger list. You carry on though, don’t let the facts get in the way if your crazy conspiracies !
On the conspiracy theory note,i dont think this is one,but 9/11 has some smoking guns,the level of misdirection it takes to manage to make the third wtc building go so unnoticed,in spite of the fact that it fell demolition style,after some localised fires,now i could at a stretch believe that two buildings would fall like that,but three is pushing credibility,especially when the third building didnt take a hit!
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