Hmmm. I copied the article out when I started the thread. It appears to have gone... how odd.
~9/11 Families Scuttle ‘Freedom Museum’~
New York: Plans to build a freedom museum at New York’s World Trade Centre site were scrapped yesterday when State Governor George Pataki gave into pressure from the vocal families of September 11 victims.
The decision followed months of acrimony, with some September 11 families and politicians saying the proposed international freedom centre would over shadow and take space from the separate memorial devoted to the 2749 World Trade Centre
dead.
They said it would dishonour the victims by fostering debate about the attacks and other world events.
Mr Pataki said the IFC project had aroused to much opposition, to much controversy”.
Some families said the museum would not focus strictly on the terror attacks and might mount exhibits that could be judged anti-American.
The freedom centre, intended to celebrate ideals of freedom and tolerance, was to stand adjacent to a memorial for September 11 victims in the rebuilding of the 6.5ha site.
The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation had chosen the location in the “memorial quadrant” of the WTC site, with a view to presenting the September 11 story in a broader context of a global struggle for freedom over the centuries.
The IFC proposed exhibits on such leaders as Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luthor King Jr., as well as documents such as the Declaration of Independence and the South African Constitution.
But many families took the view that the catastrophic attack should not be made part of a dissertation on international liberation and civil rights movements.
The campaign by September 11 families to oust the freedom centre had grown to include police and fire unions, an online petition with thousands of signatures and several politicians including Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Mr Pataki said he had told the development Corporation, which is overseeing the development of the memorial and cultural buildings, to “work with the IFC to explore other locations”. But less then an hour later organisers of the planned centre said there was no other location worth looking at, since the memorial quadrant was
“the site for which the IFC was created”.
“We do not believe there is a viable alternative place for the IFC at the World Trade Centre site,” said the statement from the centre’s executives. “We consider our work, therefore, to have been brought to an end”.
While most families who expressed opinions were against the freedom centre, a few supported it, including the proposed museum’s vice chairman, Paula Grant Berry, whose husband died at the trade centre.
- The Australian, Friday September 30 2005
My view was that I found it hard to believe that people would view it as disrespectful, especially as it honored ideals of tolerance, freedom, peace and more importantly remembrance. A good museum and suitable memorial. And also what's wrong with debate? But then maybe I am wrong.
Also, what makes it Anti-American? Once again I would have thought something that inspires thought and consideration would be good if it helped the healing process and maybe went someway towards stopping something like this happening again, even if that means showing things that might seem unflattering to the U.S. But once again maybe I am wrong.
Originally posted by ElectricBugaloo
I don't think that's the right place for it, but I don't know if it's disrespectful.Though I like how one blog I read called it "UnAmerican". I love reading Conservative Blogs, especially the ones that say liberal blogs are biased
I don't really see how it is disrespectful. You know what IS disrespectful, though? Shitbags who spit on "the Wall".
You can't really be disrespectful with knowledge, maybe cold, heartless, maybe even cruel. But not disrespectful.
But as I said, musems are a waste of tax money. Besides, most "science" is grossly based on opinion. Human beings can't even agree on how the facts work when it comes to history, chemistry, or anything else in life. So what exactly would be the point of it all?
Originally posted by Spelljammer
You can't really be disrespectful with knowledge, maybe cold, heartless, maybe even cruel. But not disrespectful.But as I said, musems are a waste of tax money. Besides, most "science" is grossly based on opinion. Human beings can't even agree on how the facts work when it comes to history, chemistry, or anything else in life. So what exactly would be the point of it all?
Museums seem to be no larger a waste of tax payers money than is your education. Have you ever been to a museum?