actually The Frauenkirche in downtown dresden was a heap of ruins made into a memorial, and the bombed out A Bomb Dome in hiroshima is still standing in the peace park.

I think a piece of twisted twin tower girder would make an ideal memorial... but the ENTIRE site, or a huge chunk of it, such as the proposed building footprints or some such, is crossing the line between commemoration and glorification of the destruction.

after kurt cobain died, i put up a sad picture of him with the quote, "your scent is still here in my place of recovery" hand written underneath.

kinda gay.

Rape me? Rape ME, bitch? I don't think so.



(a Kurt who would not have comitted suicide)

Best post on the board in a while. Holocaust Museum in DC has similar impact. Opening our minds and hearts to suffering does get us in touch with our humanity I think. OUR humanity... shared in community.

I'll never understand the "oh I refuse to let this into my consciousness" response about human suffering and misery. Maybe I just always need to react in a social justice mode... (I am working on this and trying to be the tolerance I prescribe for others)... but it is like not wanting to know about HIV in South Africa or starving families in Bangla Desh.. and South Bronx... and as if by excluding others' pain from our lives, it goes away. I think this makes it us less human. (Insert snotty comment about Republicans here).

Hearing this sensationalist recording, lewd and in poor taste, made me read Lump's post and do some serous reflection. Worth it.

On the other hand, putting up a picture of Cobain is totally gay.

Okay, but what about Shannon Hoon then?























snickers

I'm telling you, the Oklahoma City Memorial Museum should serve as the absolute model for some eventual 9/11 museum. With one major quibble, the way they present the narrative, the artifacts and the testimonies of the bombing couldn't be better handled.

You can get as much or as little info as you want--either follow the main path of the exhibit to get the basic throughline, or detour into many side areas which let you look deeper into the issues and experiences. For instance, one side section explores the 200 terrorist incidents in the U.S. in the 10 years before Oklahoma City (not just the first WTC attack, but also abortion clinic bombings, animal rights activist sabotage, etc.), with interactive computers giving you in-depth info about each incident. Or the computers that let you search out and view lengthy video interviews with survivors, rescuers and family members.

One especially sensitive area that I thought they handled just right is info about the capture, trial and execution of Timothy McVeigh. Many people, wanting only to remember and mourn the victims, would object to seeing McVeigh represented here, so most McVeigh info is shunted off into side paths, clearly separated from the rest of the exhibit, so you can choose to see it or not. Very smart layout.

The only thing missing that I thought needed to be there was any discussion of McVeigh's reasons for doing it. I understand why many people would object to the idea of giving him any kind of mouthpiece to justify mass murder, but I think it's too important an issue to avoid (in a "those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it" sense). Without understanding the thinking that allows someone to blow up 160-something strangers, you're not going to know how to stop the next one. The way the museum allowed you to avoid the other McVeigh material shows they could have kept it offstage.

I gave a pretty full description of the museum a year ago in Loog's 168 Seconds of Silence (OKC Revisited) thread if you want more portentuous blather.