If one switches on the news it is impossible not to stagger upon some headline or another which features middle class privileged youths suffering from non purpose replacement syndrome doing something awful to a major city somewhere in the United States. Apparently the cause is defeating racism by the destruction of... well anything really. For those who aren't on the far left or far right it has become clear that these people have forgotten how to think with ideas... or only think with bad ones.
A prime example of the incapability to think about concepts like positive change, and how to go about it is the attack on statues. But as far as democracies and tyranny's go this isn't anything new. In fact the people who invented the concept of democracy also had codified the accountability of inanimate objects. In 5th century B.C Athens if you're idol, ship, plate, bowl, etc fell on you and killed you then it was given a trial. Normally this resulted in the destruction of the object or banishment. One of the most memorable examples of this law in the act was the trial and banishment of the statue of Theogenes of Athens in the 5th century B.C.
Theogenes was heralded as the greatest athlete in all of Greece, and widely celebrated with pride by the Athenians. According to Pausanias, Theogenes was undefeated in pancratium (think MMA ancient greek style), boxing, running, etc. Some claimed he was descended from Heracles and in many ways he was all about living up to that image. However success begets envy almost every time and in a world where excellence was practically a religious issue Theogenes accumulated rivals.
One of these whom Pausinias fails to mention the name of carried a grudge even after the death of Theogenes. On the island of Thasos a statue was erected to honour Theogenes excellence as a son of Greece. A statue that his rival would come to every evening under cover of darkness and deface by scouring and scratching at the bronze monument... well one evening he must have been a bit heavy handed as the statue fell on him and killed him.
The after effects of this oops were pretty straight forward. According to the code of Draco the statue had a swift trial of sorts, and then was taken by the Thasians and hurled into the sea. But the following year the poor old people of Thasos had a good run of bad luck. Poor crops lead to famine which in turn lead to disease and economic issues.
As was the way in the 5th century B.C the people of Thasos were certain a god had been offended somewhere along the line so they sent a delegation to the Oracle at Delphi to find out where they had cocked up. The Oracle consulted with them and basically said it was due to their treatment of Theogenes statue and memory. Well immediately the Thasians returned home and launched as many vessels as possible to recover the statue. Once found they placed it in the middle of the city and promptly began sacrificing to it and basically worshipping it.
When watching current events we could see a lot of the reasoning behind destruction of statues as something new and threatening. It isn't new but it is threatening as it tends to be symptomatic of bad times around the corner. I can't help but feel anytime we begin destroying history that eventually the very things we sought to annihilate later become a point of reverence. In an age of statism where the state has filled a majority of the roles of religion this is easy to see. Think backlash by the silent majority to current irrational, and oppressive behaviours of the extreme left and you end up on a slippery slope.
Though the ancient Greeks were known for the employment of logic at the time, they still had an animist world view that bound them to certain ways of seeing change and events. We have a lot of commonalities here whether we choose to admit them or not. Our current model for seeing the world is wrapped up in a number of adopted presuppositions that may go the way that many certainties have in history. Basically chances are good most will be labelled absurdities in the future.... think the earth being flat, our planet being at the centre of the solar system, etc etc.
The story of Theogenes statue is what comes to mind when I see statues pulled down and the idiotic zeal and falsely proclaimed purposes behind the act.... well a number of historical comparisons do, but those are for other posts. An absence of the ability to think with ideas to find a better way to design our future is what I see when I see the wanton destruction of history. The loss of history begets the loss of the lesson it provides the opportunity to impart. It also destroys the chance we have to feel collective sorrow at the mistakes of the past as well as be empathetic to our fellow man.
Well guys if you made it this far thanks for reading. Looking forward to checking out all the amazing stuff you great folks put out on Hive, and best of luck on all your posts and projects. :)
Image credits:
bbc
pintrest
wikipedia
giphy