Here's the story:
One of my friends is an architect.
AZ wanted a 9-11 memorial.
He designed one.
His design was unanimously chosen by the legislature.

It was dedicated 9-11-06.
One of my other friends wrote the inscription.

Now it's a fucking scandal.
It's apparently "anti-American" and/or "anti-military."

The upper fragment of the memorial has words etched out of it, so that, during different points of the day, the sun will highlight different quotes and they can be seen on the concrete below. Moving in and out of view as the day moves on.

Apparently, some of the quotes aren't going over well.

What do you people think?

Here's a link to the angry people and photos.

I couldn't work the link to the inscription. But - if it is getting people so riled up - it must be touching a chord - must be hitting some truth somewhere. Makes me want to go back home to AZ to see it.

Wesley Bolin Plaza, downtown.

Better hurry before an angry mob destroys it.

It's balanced and presents reality as fragmented and multi-faceted.

To these people, that's anti-American - anything that doesn't corroborate their One true View gives them a bout of existential angst.

This is a monument to a tragedy.
It sounds like the Hot Air people wanted a rousing, feel-good glorification of Americana.

A tragedy like this, an explosion of hatred, doesn't make a pretty picture. This country had some reactions to it that weren't pretty. That's part of the story. It isn't all about crying widows of firefighters. It's also about angry young men getting drunk and beating up people who look middle-eastern.

After Pearl Harbor, we built Japanese internment camps, where we put loyal, upright citizens and their families, and that's part of the story of that war, and everybody knows it. I guess they didn't write about that on the USS Arizona memorial at Pearl, but maybe they should have, so we wouldn't forget that unpleasant part of the story with the passage of time, and do it again next time.

Because there's always a next time.

It already is the next time.

Uncomfortable truths are generally unacceptable in Disneyland America.

I think the work is grate and shows a more complete view of an ongoing tragedy.

Maybe a few more quuotes realted to the reaction should be added . . .

The design itself is so beautiful and thoughtful,
it blew me away when I saw the original CGI and explanation.
I was amazed at my friend's work.
He asked me to write in support of the memorial to a few local media outlets.
I told him I would as soon as I calmed down
enough to stop using phrases like "retarded assclowns" and "pompous, ignorant fucktards"

If it does not stir up a response it wasn't worth making.

Most of the comments I read were pretty lame.

Most of what this country has done since 9/11 is "anti-American", so why the fuss over a little free speech?

In my opinion, that appears to be one of an extremely few number of monuments to historical events in the US that seems to be pretty accurate. It simply seems to be a record of events, not some over simplified fantasyland portrayal of history designed to squeeze another drop or two of patriotism out of us.

I'd like to make a memorial to the squandered good will of the world following 9/11. After 9/11, Tehran's streets were filled with Iranians lighting candles in support of us. IRAN was supporting US! Look where we're at now! And we've got at least two more years of this completely wrong direction!

The other memorials I'd like to one day come across are the ones to the President and Vice President, so I can relieve myself on them.

You do, every time you use the toilet.

That's all the memorial george and his mob rate.

Shit, I'm going to have to get an outhouse. I don't want any memorial to those cocksuckers in my house!

Not everyone reaches a stage of moral development at which miltiple perspectives matter and the world of wrongness and rightness is sketched in shades of gray. Many content themselves with a black-and-white perspective. Moreover, they cling to it, especially in the face of peril.

One purpose of art is to make us think or feel. It is a purpose to which public (most especially publicly funded) art seldom aspires. If a work is controversial, it very well might be meaningful. It might even speak to posterity, which is what a memorial is meant to do.

If nothing else, that memorial reflects the full image of the zeitgeist.

Not that I know a thing about art, really. I just have a habit of sleeping with artists.

Your inscription link is burnt™. I would have liked to see that.

Hmmmm.
I don't know what happened.

Try this.

Forbidden

You don't have permission to access /wp/wp-content/uploads/2006/09/dsc00124x.jpg on this server.
Apache/2.0.52 (Red Hat) Server at hotair.com Port 80

Well, fuck.
Works fine for me.
It's a little big, so sorry.

...

Thank you.

I don't see what the big deal is. Sometimes people are just looking for something to be mad about.