"Can the New York Times editorial staff name another mass
grave site with an “arts & cultural center” built on top of it?"
Not Here, Not on This Site
By Robert on Take Back The Memorial
According to a New York Times editorial today (free reg. req’d) Governor Pataki, and by extension the over 1000, 9/11 families members, 18,000 of their fellow Americans and friends around the world that have signed this petition, are being accused of trying to turn Ground Zero “into a place where only grief is acceptable, where the vital impulses represented by the arts are handcuffed in the name of freedom.”
The editorial takes issue with the Governor having delivered a strong warning to the “cultural” groups that have space at Ground Zero, primarily The Drawing Center. The writer calls this warning a violation of free speech. We call it reaffirming a commitment to what Ground Zero means to most Americans.
The writer also makes this completely outrageous statement:
But by bowing to some of the survivors’ growing hostility
to any version of 9/11 except their own, Mr. Pataki is
doing a disservice to history and to the very idea of
freedom.
Get real. There is no “version” to 9/11. We all saw the planes slamming into the towers. We all saw the same people jumping to their deaths to escape the fires. We all watched as the firemen and police who responded to the calls for help were crushed and incinerated with nearly 3000 of their fellow citizens. We heard the frantic and heroic phone calls from a plane over Pennsylvania and we were all moved and inspired by the words “Let’s Roll!” as they thwarted the plans of the terrorists. We all saw the same gaping hole in the side of the Pentagon and the American flag unfurled against the building as the bodies of the dead were pulled from the wreckage. And we all watched for months as rescue and recovery workers risked their health and their very lives to bring the dead home to their families.
What “version” of 9/11 does the writer of this editorial think should be told?
We have some very simple questions for the editorial staff of the New York Times. Do you really think most Americans would find “art” such as this an acceptable version of the events of 9/11, to be told on the hallowed ground where 20,000 body parts were collected?
The Drawing Center’s ‘A Glimpse of What Life in a Free Country Can Be Like #6? - is this the “version” of 9/11 that they believe should be told?
nydailynews.com
Or what about this work, “Homeland Security,” which shows a plane diving toward a spread-eagled, naked woman. Is this what they feel is appropriate story-telling at Ground Zero?
nydailynews.com
Just what exactly does this type of artwork have to do with telling the story of that day?
The 9/11 Families are trying to prevent the rewriting of history, an attempt to turn that sacred ground into a “blame America” monument, and this entire editorial is indicative of exactly the type of thinking that would do just that.
Governor Pataki did not tell The Drawing Center they could not display their work at their current location nor did he go after the artists and try to have them arrested. He is not censoring them.
He just said one very simple thing that the vast majority of Americans are sure to agree with:
Not here, not on this site. That isn’t censorship - it’s called respect.
Can the New York Times editorial staff name another mass
grave site with an “arts & cultural center” built on top of it?
**UPDATE** 4:32 PM Eastern 6/27/2005
We should also point out, all this sudden interest from the New York Times editorial staff in The Drawing Center is really meant to give cover to the larger problem - the IFC itself. From NRO’s The Corner:
“What those lives stand for now is American freedom,
in its full implication and all its contradictions.”
Ah, those contradictions! You can be sure we’ll be
hearing plenty about those at the International Freedom
Center! In fact, of course, we shall hear about very
little else.
Don’t lose site of the true problem - the IFC must not be built - not there.
takebackthememorial.org
nytimes.com
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nypost.com
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