It took much too long for a World War II memorial, but if you've been there and seen it you had to be impressed. It is a fitting way to recall the sacrifices of the millions during that epic struggle. And if you've visited The Wall, you may have come away depressed as I do with each visit.
We unveiled another landmark on the mall this week. My impression is that there is very much wrong with it. It is not America although it purports to honor a great and influential American.
Martin Luther King Memorial Dedicated
This is not the sort of visage on a monument which we erect in America. There is nothing wrong with honoring the man, but we know what this sort of a statue is reminscent of.
In a period of massive unemployment in America someone out-sourced the statue to China. The sculptor's greatest achievements were monumental memorials to Mao Tse Tung. This is the sort of art that typifies the repressive dictatorships of despots like Mao. You've seen the same sort of statue of Stalin and Lenin throughout the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc of Europe. You saw something similar in the center of Baghdad torn down during the Gulf War.
The entire monument is titled, "The Mountain of Despair"! Really? Is that a fitting tribute to equality, opportunity and the American Dream? Within a few hundred yards of the Lincoln Memorial we have a Mountain of Despair? That must be wrong.
And the statue of the man himself? "The Statue of Hope". It doesn't look like Hope. It looks like a huge mistake and an aberration in the center of a nation which symbolized so much more in the years not long past.
6 comments:
I watched this on Fox last night and your impression was the same as mine. I expected to see the sickle and hammer etched some where. To bad they missed a good opportunity to honor a Great man.
I actually expect someone to erect such a monstrosity with the Current Presidents visage on it....The idea I think should have been that the message was bigger than the man, in this case we see the man bigger than the message. Very sad.
I thought we lived in an era of "audacious hope"?
The past 30 years of PC and multiculturalism are exposed: the Left employing the instrument of "Cultural Marxism" to get us to fight with each other. Divide and conquer.
The statue is an abomination to the vision and faith of MLK, to our cultural traditions and national aspirations, and to the men and women who gave their lives figthing against socialism in WWII, Korea and Vietnam.
The state is offensive on all counts and it should be torn down.
...not "state" but "statue", that is.
Statues that dont capture the essence of those they commemorate stand as gravamens against those that erected them.
If this eyesore lasts, let it do just that.
Is it just me or is there a distinct "asian" appearance about his face?
Steve
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