I hate when I wake up to a giant duhhhhh! You know
one of those, don't you? When you have this epiphany
that says "What WAS I thinking, and why didn't I think
of that before?"
And I realize that some of you will be comfortable
when this thread is retired. But I had one of those
duhhhhhs this afternoon (which is jargon for "Gosh I
wish my brain worked better more frequently."), and it
has to be tied to this discussion. Duty, dictates.
Oh, and you can blame Fox News for this one. They
shook that cobweb loose, but, even then, they didn't
pick up on the essential piece.
During the flag waving discussion, there was much
allusion to the memorial at Iwo Jima and that there
was supposedly no substitution (though I've heard
differently recently). It was, however, interesting
to learn about the Pima Indian in the statue.
We all, sometimes, have a problem of judging the past
by today's standards. The Iwo Jima memorial was done
to honor those who fought there during WW II.
Well OF COURSE there wasn't any substitution! What's
the matter with that picture?
Did anybody remember--besides me just now--that this
was before Brown v. Board of Education, during the
time of the Jim Crow Laws and Red Lining, and before
the Civil Rights struggles of the 60s forward?
The military itself during WW II was segregated. Ever
heard of the Tuskegee Airmen? The races
just--generally--were not allowed to mix, so they
would not have put a Black face on one of those
statues even if an African-American were there because
IT WOULD HAVE BEEN unPC TO DO SO.
They wouldn't have put an Oriental face on one of
those in the Memorial either. For goodness sakes, we
were at war with the Japanese! Most anything Oriental
was looked at in a bad light.
So fast forward to the present. Looking at the
diversity the new statue (now back to the drawing
board to create) was going to recreate was
substantively better than the diversity of the NYFD.
Were they bad to inflate the numbers by a 1-in-3
ratio? Or was it just awful that minorities were
precluded from even getting employment for years due
to fear and prejudice?
Ok. Don't answer that. Just think about it.
But, to me, the whole substitution logic of Iwo Jima
flies out the door. After all, we White folks all
look alike, don't we? (being sacriligous again, I
know)
Sorry. I just had to infuse this piece of the duhh
into the puzzle about the statue that was going to be
and now isn't.
And now I'm going to bed. Seem to be relapsing again.
If I owe any of you a response to anything (and I see
a few), I'll try to pick them up in the morning.
=====
Indigo Nights
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