"Our statue is totally not reminiscent of black people! What? No, nobody said anything, we just want to be absolutely clear that black people most certainly don't look like monkeys!"
If you see a monkey and the first thing you think is "black person," it's not the monkey, the owner of the monkey, or the creator of the monkey who's racist. It's you.
Maybe just a lame way for town council to excuse spending a few dollars on a brass plaque, because locals get sick of being asked why there's a statue of a monkey/chimp there in the first place ..
I don't think towns need an excuse to waste money on plaques.
I once passed by a town that had a commemorative plaque eulogizing and celebrating... A different commemorative plaque. Which celebrated a tree. Which was planted to commemorate... The building of the city hall!
Oh, I remember hearing about this story long ago. It isn't just that they hadn't ever seen a monkey before, they obviously had no idea what Frenchmen looked like, either.
And I'm not sure why such a tourist attraction wouldn't have a plaque for visitors to read about as to why it's there in the first place. I mean, think of future archaeologists who might mistake the monkey for some kind of idol or something .. :P (And it would just seem to be SOP and common sense.)
Legend states that the animal was the only survivor of a shipwreck off the northeast coast of England and because the villagers had never seen a monkey before, they mistook it for a Frenchman and convicted it of being a spy --- That's hilarious, they thought a monkey was a Frenchman. Just stinky anyways! I kid, I kid...
What a cheeky bugger.
"Our statue is totally not reminiscent of black people! What? No, nobody said anything, we just want to be absolutely clear that black people most certainly don't look like monkeys!"
And Orangutans are, as the name implies, orang(e)-haired, they're gingers!
"That's not a monkey, he's just French!"
If you see a monkey and the first thing you think is "black person," it's not the monkey, the owner of the monkey, or the creator of the monkey who's racist. It's you.
Is it racist if you see a black person and the first thing you think is monkey?
no, it's flimsy pretext to attack a piece of local culture because it wasn't made under their orthodoxy
Maybe just a lame way for town council to excuse spending a few dollars on a brass plaque, because locals get sick of being asked why there's a statue of a monkey/chimp there in the first place ..
I don't think towns need an excuse to waste money on plaques.
I once passed by a town that had a commemorative plaque eulogizing and celebrating... A different commemorative plaque. Which celebrated a tree. Which was planted to commemorate... The building of the city hall!
Does city hall have a commemorative cornerstone?
Oh, I remember hearing about this story long ago. It isn't just that they hadn't ever seen a monkey before, they obviously had no idea what Frenchmen looked like, either.
And I'm not sure why such a tourist attraction wouldn't have a plaque for visitors to read about as to why it's there in the first place. I mean, think of future archaeologists who might mistake the monkey for some kind of idol or something .. :P (And it would just seem to be SOP and common sense.)
I love it.
Monkey hangers! LOL.
Legend states that the animal was the only survivor of a shipwreck off the northeast coast of England and because the villagers had never seen a monkey before, they mistook it for a Frenchman and convicted it of being a spy --- That's hilarious, they thought a monkey was a Frenchman. Just stinky anyways! I kid, I kid...