Can we erase the past .... or should we learn from it ?

[Henry7]

... Brunel's best known photograph originally showed him with a generously sized cigar in his mouth - usually, now, images of him show exactly the same picture, but sans cigar.
I don't object really to that, I'm a confirmed, lifelong NON-smoker, but - it does somehow change the image from how he would be seen in his own time, doesn't it?

This seems simply stupid to me - some folk seem to be far-too-easily offended.

As for smoking, I read about some recent research in France which seemed to show that nicotine smoke wiped out the covid virus. As a pipe-smoker for fifty years, I just hope it's true.

[Kevin Burrell]

Personally I am sick of the whole thing. It is not acceptable for us non-black people to use the n****r word, but it is okay for them to call each other that, and it is ok for them to call some of us white n****rs. Todays society needs to grow a pair.
This whole BLM thing going on now is, as far as I am concerned racist since it suggests the lives of people of any other colour do not matter. Yet the  mainstream media push it

[Kiltpin]

This seems simply stupid to me - some folk seem to be far-too-easily offended.

 

This is so true.   

When people say "That is offensive.", what they are really saying is "In my opinion, that is offensive." For every person who thinks that something is offensive there is at least one other person who thinks exactly the opposite.   

I find all those who are easily offended to be the most offensive. 

Regards 

Chas

[Maiden Stone]

Henry Reply #54. Nicotine "wiped out" is an exaggeration. It's complex and more research is needed. I read an abstract of the findings a few days ago.
Item on "Inside Science" on Radio 4 today about pros & cons of research findings being published on internet (known as pre-print) before being peer-reviewed and published in a reputable medical or scientific journal. An advantage is that it's open to a wider range of experts to comment. Drawback is that media pick it up and publish with misleading headlines and without caveats.
I've been watching "Mrs America" drama series about feminism in U.S.A. in 1970s. Several characters smoke.
Also watched "Being Beethoven" on BBC 4. (250th anniversary of his birth). Musical genius with serious character flaws.   
 

[Maiden Stone]

  And I, personally, totally DISAGREE with attempting to change the facts of the past.  It was what it was - whether we, in the present, like it or not, or whether we agree with it or not - it HAPPENED.

Events don't change but attitudes to them might. Fresh information may come to light or existing information reassessed. Remember the saying "History is written by the victors".
What happened was seen from different angles at the time but it may be that one viewpoint dominated and was passed down to later generations. Epithets of 2 Tudor monarchs "Bloody Mary" and "Good Queen Bess" might be objected to by English Catholics. The same goes for the "Glorious Revolution" of 1688.
There are 2 versions of Irish history depending on one's upbringing.
The "Dark Ages" weren't dark metaphorically; there was more to "Vikings" than raids and pillage; William the Conqueror committed war crimes as did some of his successors.

[Erato]

"That is offensive.", what they are really saying is "In my opinion, that is offensive."

Really, Chas?  The aforementioned American in-law went into to a prolonged rant against Blacks and foreigners.  Given that my own mother was a foreigner, that we lived in a foreign country and thus were foreigners ourselves, that there are Black people in my extended family and that my father was born in and grew up in an African country, I think I was quite right to feel offended.  And I let him know it, too.  He slunk away but I'm sure he was unrepentant and unreformed.

The English woman and the South Americans were just as vile, although their targets were different.

[Henry7]

I'm sure we've all come across some narrow-minded and stupid people.

But they aren't much of a reason for banning a word from the language. 

What about that wonderful book by Mark Twain - Huckleberry Finn?  Will reprints now be filled with asterisks, just in case someone chokes at the mere sight of those letters printed on the page?

[Kiltpin]

"That is offensive.", what they are really saying is "In my opinion, that is offensive."

Really, Chas?  The aforementioned American in-law went into to a prolonged rant against Blacks and foreigners.  Given that my own mother was a foreigner, that we lived in a foreign country and thus were foreigners ourselves, that there are Black people in my extended family and that my father was born in and grew up in an African country, I think I was quite right to feel offended.  And I let him know it, too.  He slunk away but I'm sure he was unrepentant and unreformed.

The English woman and the South Americans were just as vile, although their targets were different.

 

Really, Yes Erato! 

Offensiveness and to what degree is all opinion and subjective. What offends you, might not offend me. People tend to get offended by things that they disagree with, or that don't fit with their beliefs or worldview. 

I admit that I don't understand your post, but I believe that you were insulted rather than offended.   

Regards 

Chas

[Erato]

Thanks, I'll remember to give the Highlands of Norfolk a pass.