There are many decisions, people at responsible positions make, where it is not easy to find an acceptable justification. Even with difficulty, many of those choices may not qualify as a rational one. The proposal for a gigantic statue is one such. Making a memorial for a rebellion against the state is another one. One about correcting long standing history text books too, is a fit here. Or being quite OK with teaching evolution, but not at all comfortable about teaching its medium, sex. Or another one about the reluctance to teach evolution, but quite progressive and totally at ease, when it comes to sex.
I think we need to judge such decisions, from a point beyond the confines of national borders and other limits. The fact is that humans everywhere are constantly behind the irrational, for certain reasons. They are always behind the uncommon, the mysterious, or the esoteric, giving rise to fresh concepts, explanations, theories, and many other products of imagination.
Some of such ideas happen to become true, sooner or later; and that becomes accepted as science.
Some happen to become enjoyable, pleasing, or soothing. These become art, literature, and a whole lot of other common and uncommon facets of our society, which we celebrate as distinct marks of humans.
But the ideas that enamour us with its irrational content, get treated in a lofty manner. Those are the entities that happen to be valued the most, are always held in awe, and are revered. These appear in different forms, essentially, extremes of all those distinct marks, just mentioned. Such as new vistas of art, different practices of relgion, new reflections in theology, twisted political aspirations, etc.
We can very easily question the first, where, in many cases, we may even be rewarded. When it comes to the second, we can question here, though not with the same ease. But, no one can dare to mess with the last.
(My book, The Unsure Male, discusses the manifestation of this issue in its many and varied forms. And provides a simple answer.)
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