Whatever is going on with this question about statues, likely has nothing to do with the actual statues or the people immortalized by them.
Whether the statues are of horses asses (and lots of them have horses in them) or of persons deemed worthy of being revered, they are all mostly stone, steel, brass or other materials longer lasting than the people could ever be themselves.
I personally cannot imagine wanting a statue of Mussolini or Rommel in my back yard, but having such a statue in itself means no more than the meaning we place on it.
If these objects incite persons to do bad things, there are laws in place to punish those scofflaws.
Statues can be reminders of how great the persons were or what crooks or horses’ asses they were. Most probably do both things–depending on the viewer.
Regardless of who the statue portrays, not a single one is likely without sin, and birds shit on them all indiscriminately as they stand in the hot sun, rain, sleet and snow.
We should all be as birds and not take them so seriously.
The stories people create around statues is both an opportunity for discovery and awareness, but they can also exacerbate discord as they bump up against other people’s stories.
It is the stories that are the problem, not the statues.
History can teach, but only if we are willing to be students.
Guess what happens when you walk by a statue and ignore it?
Nothing happens.
Sometimes it is important to ignore ignorant people as well.
Charles Buell