At least the Buddhist ruins weren't destroyed to make a much shittier monument. Tȟuŋkášila Šákpe suffered not only the indignity of being brutally defaced, but of being defaced to blast and chisel the faces of slavers and genociders on it (and Lincoln, which we can say is equivalent to a rubble Buddha).
Both are still a massive cultural loss, of course.
Is this really any more depressing than Mount Rushmore?
At least the Buddhist ruins weren't destroyed to make a much shittier monument. Tȟuŋkášila Šákpe suffered not only the indignity of being brutally defaced, but of being defaced to blast and chisel the faces of slavers and genociders on it (and Lincoln, which we can say is equivalent to a rubble Buddha).
Both are still a massive cultural loss, of course.