Fellow Listers,
I agree wholeheartedly with Jay. The photograph is the final authority and
if they wish to have a statue honoring the firefighters and their ethnicity
then let them hire a sculptor to develop an appropriate statue. I frankly
admit I have had it with changing the facts of history to fit the latest
fad in "correctness," political or otherwise.
Tim
Timothy S. Bottoms
Museum Registrar
Cape Fear Museum
814 Market Street
Wilmington, North Carolina 28401-4731
910.341.4350 x 3011
910.341.4037 (fax)
Jay Heuman
<[log in to unmask]> To:
Sent by: Museum [log in to unmask]
discussion list cc:
<[log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Bronze statue a
LSOFT.COM> moving tribute or PC run amok?
01/13/2002 03:51 PM
Please respond to
Museum discussion
list
Hi All:
As a member of two different 'minority groups', I find the notion of a
so-called "politically correct" version of reality sickening.
In many cases, the participants celebrated by a monument are unknown.
Most monuments, as another article (by Kimmelman, forwarded by Indigo)
indicates, are not erected until long after the event(s) unfolded. By that
point, truth gets clouded. That monuments are seldom historically accurate
implies, sadly that our society values and chooses to commemorate falsehood
over truth. [Should we accept that?]
Now is an inappropriate time to debate the 'subjectivity of truth' as,
in this case, everyone knows who raised that flag. Let the monument be
truthful in representing the three who performed this act. If people are
offended by a realistic -- not "politically correct" -- monument, they
ought to be shown a photograph of the event. That's undeniably true.
Additionally, there will be no negative result to African-American or
Hispanic firefighters in representing the truth. Three firefighters, who
happen to be Caucasian, performed this patriotic act. It's an open and
shut case . . . clouded, as is so often the case, by those who wish to be
"politically correct."
Sincerely,
Jay Heuman, Visitor & Volunteer Services Coordinator
Joslyn Art Museum, 2200 Dodge Street, Omaha, NE, 68102
342-3300 (telephone) 342-2376 (fax) www.joslyn.org
-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
Behalf Of Piper Severance
Sent: Saturday, January 12, 2002 7:33 pm
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Bronze statue a moving tribute or PC run amok?
While it is easy to see PC run amok in the creation of this
statue, we must remember that images such as this are seldom historically
accurate (at least not in that way). The image of the flag raising on Iwo
Jima was staged and restaged. It was entered into the popular lexicon and
been manipulated endlessly and yet for most Americans it retains an
authenticity.
While I personally find the reworked statue a bit sickening, it
reveals far more about our nation and our society during the time of
tragedy then the photo does.
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