This is the same logic as, "why are my keys always in the LAST place I look?!?" From Einstein to Feynman to Jesus Christ to Bagwhan Shree Rajneesh, those people are famous because their ideas got popular. Not because they were the ONLY people that could have had those ideas. If it wasn't Einstein or Feynman, it would have been someone else because the base principles were sitting there to be identified by a sharp intellect. Nothing JC or Rajneesh said was new or original. All of the ideas they shared were old by the time they said them. Lionizing/deifying a human for an idea is illogical and unproductive, and is surprisingly defeating to young people's development. (See: Loewen) Turns out that raising an individual person on a whitewashed pillar - as opposed to elevating their few good ideas - shows the child that some are born to greatness, and they (the child) are not. "You are just a person; not great, like Einstein. He was special. You don't have that." Statues as art? Great. Statue of Liberty. Lady Justice. Hell, even statuary of the four horsemen of war, famine, pestilence, and death, have more conversational and educational value than a statue of a person. Separating the idea from the individual is, in fact, the best way to get the most out of the idea. Then, in a sociology elective in college, the student can dig into the various people behind ideas, and how/why people with serious issues can have good ideas, too. Creating statuary of human beings to glorify their ideas/deeds is problematic. So why continue in this way? There are far better ways to raise ideas and ideals on pedestals... The Liberty Statue in Budapest: The Book Fountain in Budapest: Fallen Firefighter statue in Seattle: The Shoes on The Danube (memorial to Jews killed in Budapest during the Holocaust): I Viaggiotori There are men and women of their age that were singular and provided value and ideas that no others could have.
