Thursday, March 23, 2006

Jon Stewart, How Do I Love Thee?

Let us count the ways.

#1: On the proposed 1,776 foot Freedom Tower to be built on the site of the World Trade Center: "A stirring tribute to American subtlety."

Sigh.

6 comments:

Jess said...

Yes, that was a great line. He's terrific!

tully said...

I hate to start a debate on such a light post, but I'd like to hear your reaction to my thought that the freedom tower is completely inappropriate as a tribute. It will be completely out of place on the skyline, and it looks more Euro-post-modern artsy than American.

Frank Lloyd Wright would never have approved of this, and "Frankly" I don't see why they couldn't have picked someone from his school of architecture for this, to use his perfect balance of both complimenting his surroundings and standing out with unique integrity at the same time.

Andy said...

I have never wanted a building there. I think it should be a beautiful park.

DJRainDog said...

LC: What do you know about this city?! Have you ever even been here?! And furthermore, who gives a rip about Frank Lloyd Wright?! The Twin Towers were Minoru Yamasaki's creation, not his! For six months I walked past that site 6 or 7 days a week. Currently, I pass it at least twice a week. You and anyone else in your position do a disservice to the memory and the families of those whose lives were destroyed, in one way or another, by the events of 11 September 2001, as well as to anyone who lived in this city at that time or before or since, by presuming to have anything resembling a clue what is an appropriate installation at that location. Being a sensitive person who lives here now, but did not live here then, and who, unlike many of my friends, did not lose anyone in those attacks, despite the number and type of people I knew here, I feel very strange on the 11th of September each year. "I wear a scar that is not mine."

Andy: Yeah, I tend to think that a green space would be a better memorial than a building that's basically a stories-high tombstone; leaving the space alone takes serious guts, but I'm not sure it's a fiscally viable option.

Anonymous said...

DJRD, if you ever look back this far:

Recognizing that the experience was inherently more traumatic for people in or near NYC, the Twin Towers going down was recognized by the rest of the country and by the world as an attack on "America," not just an attack on those city blocks.

LC has a right to speak out. You do America/humanity a "disservice," by suggesting that only people who are in NYC are allowed to give a damn what happens to the WTC site.

Andy said...

I think I respectfully disagree. The attack was on America, but we here in New York are the ones living with the most vivid and horrific memories of that day, and I believe people who don't live here should BUTT OUT of the discussion of what goes in its place because you don't have to see it every day. New Yorkers have the right to object to some vulgar monstrosity of a building standing on hallowed ground.