But then the Daily Mail gets a lot wrong as well. Plan for statue of 'lesbian' pirates at Devon beauty spot triggers uproar
Why you would want to honor pirates is beyond me. They were not romantic figures, and their antics are not a funny summer blockbuster from Disney. They were (and are) brutal criminals. And then there is the history.
Anne Bonny and Mary Read were pirates, but they were not lesbians. They were both sleeping with Calico Jack (John Rackham.)
Plans for a statue of two real-life female Pirates Of The Caribbean have caused outrage in a seaside community over claims they are 'totally inappropriate' and would 'glamorise' crime.
But apparently their flaunting of "gender roles" trumps the number of people they killed.
And the Daily Mail can't be bothered to get the rest of the history right either.
Anne Bonny and Mary Read were infamous pirates hanged in the Caribbean
Mary Read died in prison of a fever while pregnant. Anne Bonny, also pregnant when Rackham's crew was captured, was eventually released. While we don't know what happened to her, we do know she wasn't executed as the rest of Rackham's crew was. But history is boring, and the details are unimportant, less important than the violence they perpetrated around The Caribbean. And besides, all that is nothing compared to flaunting gender roles. Or something.
The concrete statues were designed to celebrate the pair, depicted here, for breaking gender boundaries during the 18th century
The objections of the population will probably be ignored in honor of "art." The South Hams District Council will decide at a later date.
Here is a story about what pirates are doing today. It was published last month. Nigeria: Pirates Kill One, Kidnap 15 Sailors from Turkish Cargo Ship
One sailor was killed in the raid, an Azerbaijani citizen, while those kidnapped are from Turkey, according to the respective governments and a crew list seen by Reuters.
The fifteen were released a few days ago and are now back in Turkey.
Here's a story from 2013 about the state of piracy in general. Top 15 Modern Day Pirates. In some locales, like Bangladesh and The Bay of Bengal, they take no prisoners. They are only after goods; people are killed out of hand.
So yeah, it is totally appropriate to celebrate this kind of depravity with "art."
I'm with you. it's hard to admire professional criminals, and in a cruel age (which that was) you tend to get cruel criminals. Captain Blood was a fictitious character.
ReplyDeleteThe pirates today are some of the worst ever.
DeleteCoupled with the plethora of countries who don't want common sailors to be armed, and you have oceans full of defenseless victims. All riding around in ships with lots of valuable cargo.
There were a handful of companies providing security a few years back, but I think most of them were ruled to be mercenaries and outlawed. Though I haven't looked in a while.