Ravenwood - 02/19/07 09:31 PM
Here is a short write-up on the Lincoln Memorial as a Symbol of Democracy. (emphasis mine)
What makes the Lincoln Memorial so unique? The fact that it looks as much to the future as it does to the past. One of the interesting things about monuments and memorials is that they often say more about the generation that built them as they do about the person or period they were originally intended to commemorate. Nowhere is this more evident than in the case of the Lincoln Memorial. The Lincoln Memorial really says much more about this nation in the wake of the Civil War.Who wrote this?The generation that designed the Lincoln Memorial essentially constructed a highly idealized, colossal white-marble memorial to American democracy. The period between 1865-1909 was a period marked as a time of incredible technological advances, rapid industrial growth, and imperialistic expansionism; of enflamed patriotism during and after the Spanish-American War; and a continuance of Jim Crow laws, the exploitation of the working class, and Tammany Hall-style politics. Perhaps it should come as little surprise that the predominately white, classically minded and university educated, upper-middle class generation of architects and engineers that built the Lincoln Memorial would stress the theme of National Unity over that of Social Justice.
Completed in the wake of the First World War, the Lincoln Memorial was seen by its designers chiefly as a victorious symbol of American democracy over the dark forces threatening the world at the beginning of the twentieth century, whether they be in the form of saber-rattling autocratic monarchs or fledgling bolshevism. It would be left to future generations of Americans to restore balance to the twin themes of National Unity and Social Justice. It seems fair to suggest that another thing that makes the Lincoln Memorial unique is its power to continue to evolve as a symbol.
1 - a misguided high school teacher
2 - an idealistic college student
3 - the taxpayer funded National Park Service
If you said 3, go to the head of the class.
"Social Justice." In caps, no less.
Sweet bleeding jeebus.
Posted by: Kevin Baker at February 20, 2007 9:53 AMLOL. Please tell me this is a joke. Even the website looks amateurish.
Posted by: mikem at February 21, 2007 11:36 PMAh, it's not a joke. I went through the nps website and found it. What a pile of leftist deconstruction writing. Like a first year student did it on a summer internship.
Worst, or best for leftists and racialists, is that this is what elementary students will learn about the Lincoln Memorial when they do a school assignment and go to the official source.
Posted by: mikem at February 21, 2007 11:54 PMSteve, If you're up to it, how about your take on the Zumbo fiasco. (I think he was wrong and stupid but he apologized, so leave him be.)
Posted by: mikem at February 23, 2007 12:28 AMAfter reading a bit more about what he said (and reading some of his supporters defending him), I'll join those who say good riddance.
mikem,
I posted a comment on another website (I think Geek's, but mebbe Countertop's) that when I read the first part of his comments (up until he got to the term "terrorist weapon") that he sounded like a gun snob. You know, those guys that look down their nose at you when you show up to the skeet range with your Mossberg 500.
What happened is tragic on both sides, but it just goes to show you that capitalism works. Zumbo pissed off a bunch of paying customers so his sponsors threw him overboard. What's so surprising about that?
Posted by: Ravenwood at February 23, 2007 9:48 AM(c) Ravenwood and Associates, 1990 - 2014
