mhaze,

"History is written by the victors".
You claim is often said, rarely true?

Well, actually it was true for at least some 22 people
who were put on trial at Nuremberg.

The quote has been ascribed to Winston Churchill but
it was reported to have been spoken first by Hermann
Goering at the Nuremberg trials. Who said it - the
victorious or the vanquished? Who knows? the English
translation of Goering's is - "The victor will always
be the judge, and the vanquished the accused".

With the allies being the judges (including the Soviets)
at Nuremberg this was certainly true for Goering and his
German compatriots.

Regarding the plaques on statues?

Of course they're not meant to be biographies but it
really would help if they did include in the identifiers
something like:

"John Howard refused to abologise to the Aboriginal
People. Not Happy John!".

Or -

"Tony Abbott was the first Australian Prime Minister
to publicly eat a whole unpeeled onion.
He believed in being prudent, frugal, and responsible".

People would get a better picture of the men.

Seriously though desecrating statues as you so astutely
pointed out would not affect the men - although in this
case it might because they're still alive. But speaking
about others - it would not affect the dead ones - simply
their memory and what they represented. So although not
fair, I think that's the whole point of doing it.

Individual,

Who are you referring to in your comment. There's so
many to choose from.

Is Mise,

So You think the protesters are political - not
frustrated, upset, or angry?
And you think that ISIS is a religious not a terrorist
organisation? And not political?

Is it because ISIS members are usually armed?
Do you associate religion with guns?

Interesting.

Foxy,

Of course, the protesters are political, remember that when a black policeman murdered a white woman in the same town in the USA none of them got upset or even a little bit angry.

ISIS are terrorists and political but, apparently, when they destroyed statues they were doing it as God's will and in accordance with their religious beliefs.

But my point was that when ISIS did it they were condemned by most of the World whereas the present statue defacement/destruction seems to be sanctioned.

pantifa (because they get their knickers in a twist) are the new left whinge Taliban.

Foxy wrote:"The quote has been ascribed to Winston Churchill but
it was reported to have been spoken first by Hermann
Goering at the Nuremberg trials."

Ascribed to Churchill but no evidence he ever said it. I looked into it many moons ago and found instances of the sentiment going back into the 18th century.
But the Nuremberg thing is an example of how people get it wrong. The trials were part of history but not THE history. The first draft if you like.
Because the history is never fully written or is always being written. The US won the revolutionary war but the poms still get a say. The Greeks won in 490bc but that history is still being written.

Indeed the only examples that I can think of where the victors wrote and utterly controlled the history were where the defeated were totally annihilated eg Carthage in 146BC and the Aztecs. Otherwise the vanquished always, eventually get a say.

So one of those pithy little sayings that sound smart but show a lack of thought.

"Tony Abbott was the first Australian Prime Minister to publicly eat a whole unpeeled onion.He believed in being prudent, frugal, and responsible".

How about..."an Australian PM who his opponents and the ABC (the same thing) said would never be able to stop the boats....and did it anyway."
People would get a better picture of the man.

Is Mise,

Black people live with murders, arrests, and
mistreatment every day because of their skin
colour in the US. It's part and
parcel of their lives. The norm.

So the murder of a
white woman would simply be regarded as a rare
occurrence - of something they have to deal with
regularly. Up until now - the murder of George Floyd
finally made them say - "Enough!"

As for ISIS being religious?

No! ISIS uses religion for their own political agenda.
Political fanaticism which is exemplified in aircraft
hijackings and terrorist bombings.

Islamic fundamentalism and why it has intensified needs
to be understood. We need to understand why some societies
instead of moving forward towards modernisation have chosen to
go backwards towards extremism. And become political.

Sociologists have observed that fundamental revivals,
extremism - in
whatever religion, take place in times when social changes
have led to turmoil, uncertainty and the erosion of
familiar values.

When people find themselves confused, threatened, or even
appalled at changing conditions, they may see a
"return to "basics" as a solution.

However, we need to start a separate discussion on this topic
this is not the place for it here.

mhaze,

If Germany had won the war the Nuremberg Trials would
not have taken place.

As for Tony Abbott "stopping the boats?"

That is questionable. An analysis by former Immigration
Department Chief John Menedue and Australian University
Migration Expert Peter Hughes shows
the drop-off occurred immediately after PM Kevin Rudd
announced in mid 2013 that asylum seekers who arrived on
unauthorised boats would never be settled in Australia.

Asylum seeker arrivals slowed dramatically after the
Labor government toughened its border stance,
suggests the Coalition "vastly overrated" its contribution.

According to an article in The Sydney Morning Herald:

"When Tony Abbott took power a few months later 'the flow of
maritime arrivals was well on its way to
being finished as a result of measures already
taken' by Labor, the analysis said, adding the Coalition's
role "was at the margins and vastly
overrated".

So perhaps on Tony Abbott's plaque your suggestions would not
be accurate. A vote would need to be taken.

Maybe we should stick with the onion after all.

Or something life -

"Tony Abbott - God's gift to Labor".

Or -

"Labor passes 500 pieces of legislation.
Tony Abbott's got a pamphlet!"