# Insensitive Memorials **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 30, 2012, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insensitive-memorials/626824 "2012-06-30T17:28:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sinisterniik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/51bf81/32.png) [@Sinisterniik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sinisterniik)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2012, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insensitive-memorials/626824/1 "2012-06-30T17:28:14Z")
So after dying in a tragic car accident, apparently they thought it was a good idea to make a highway into a James Dean memorial, as shown in this picture: [File:James dean3.jpg - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:James_dean3.jpg) Are there any other instances of memorials (whether intended or not) that show insensitivity as to the way their memoree died? An Abraham Lincoln gun? A zoo named after Cleopatra? ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2012, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insensitive-memorials/626824/2 "2012-06-30T18:23:15Z")
The [Lincoln Theatre](http://www.lincolntheatre-belleville.com/). (Yes, it does seem to be directly named after him, and to be known locally as [Abe’s](http://www.lincolntheatre-belleville.com/?p=content&id=Abes+Gourmet+Popcorn).) ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2012, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insensitive-memorials/626824/3 "2012-06-30T18:27:25Z")
I don’t see it as being all that insensitive. Now maybe if they named it “Dead Man’s Curve Memorial Junction,” that would be in bad taste. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2012, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insensitive-memorials/626824/4 "2012-06-30T19:22:14Z")
> [@Sinisterniik](#): > > So after dying in a tragic car accident, apparently they thought it was a good idea to make a highway into a James Dean memorial, as shown in this picture: [File:James dean3.jpg - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:James_dean3.jpg) > > Are there any other instances of memorials (whether intended or not) that show insensitivity as to the way their memoree died? An Abraham Lincoln gun? A zoo named after Cleopatra? What that intersection needs is a large sculpture of his mangled corpse… THEN it would be an insensitive memorial. ---
**Author:** ![Sudden\_Kestrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2012, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insensitive-memorials/626824/5 "2012-06-30T19:30:20Z")
> [@Sinisterniik](#): > > So after dying in a tragic car accident, apparently they thought it was a good idea to make a highway into a James Dean memorial, as shown in this picture: [File:James dean3.jpg - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:James_dean3.jpg) I’m amazed they were able to do _anything_ after dying in a tragic car accident :D. If they named a sports car the James Dean Memorial Porsche, that might be in questionable taste, but IMO the memorial highway idea kind of makes sense, since he loved driving and since it wasn’t the road that killed him but human error. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2012, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insensitive-memorials/626824/6 "2012-06-30T19:39:25Z")
More insensitive, I would think, would be a James Dean Memorial Porsche dealership. I thought this thread was going to be about those tacky little plastic-flower-and-styrofoam cross memorials I see by the side of the road marking the place where so-and-so’s relative died because they were driving drunk and hit a telephone pole. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2012, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insensitive-memorials/626824/7 "2012-06-30T22:02:23Z")
> [@Sinisterniik](#): > > So after dying in a tragic car accident, apparently they thought it was a good idea to make a highway into a James Dean memorial, as shown in this picture: [File:James dean3.jpg - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:James_dean3.jpg) Not “a highway” – that’s where he died. Where else would you put it? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2012, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insensitive-memorials/626824/8 "2012-06-30T23:22:25Z")
> [@Sudden\_Kestrel](#): > > I’m amazed they were able to do _anything_ after dying in a tragic car accident :D. > > If they named a sports car the James Dean Memorial Porsche, that might be in questionable taste, but IMO the memorial highway idea kind of makes sense, since he loved driving and since it wasn’t the road that killed him but human error. The Porsche Boxster was marketed as a sort of spiritual successor to the 550, the car that killed Dean, and [even did the press launch for one version around the spot where he died](http://www.caranddriver.com/news/a-james-dean-porsche-car-news). Not sure if that counts. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2012, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insensitive-memorials/626824/9 "2012-06-30T23:24:34Z")
Did you know there’s a 9/11 memorial at ground zero? ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Mondegreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/91b2a8/32.png) [@Lord\_Mondegreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Mondegreen)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2012, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insensitive-memorials/626824/10 "2012-06-30T23:37:33Z")
I’ve posted these before, but Australia has: [ul] [li]In Melbourne, the Harold Holt Swim Centre, named after a Prime Minister who drowned[/li][li]In Sydney, Kingsford Smith Airport, named after an aviator who died in a plane crash[/li][li]In Canberra, the suburb of Fairbairn, which is home to the Canberra Airport and is named after a Government Minister who died in a plane crash (there was also formerly the Fairbairn Air Force Base - now closed)[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2012, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insensitive-memorials/626824/11 "2012-07-01T00:12:36Z")
There’s also Wiley Post-Will Rogers Memorial Airport up in Barrow, Alaska right by where they had their fatal crash. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2012, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insensitive-memorials/626824/12 "2012-07-01T00:30:57Z")
Similarly, the [guy for whom O’Hare Airport was named](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_O%27Hare) was shot down during WWII. But it makes sense, as it’s an appropriate memorial. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2012, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insensitive-memorials/626824/13 "2012-07-01T00:52:33Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > Did you know there’s a 9/11 memorial at ground zero? If you tell the agent when you are making your reservations that you are going there when you visit NYC you automatically double your “sky miles”. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2012, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insensitive-memorials/626824/14 "2012-07-01T01:13:32Z")
In Los Angeles, a few freeway interchanges are named after policemen who died in the line of duty at that location. The only thing insensitive about it is that _only_ cops get memorialized, as if they are somehow better than the rest of us. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2012, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insensitive-memorials/626824/15 "2012-07-01T02:03:21Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > In Los Angeles, a few freeway interchanges are named after policemen who died in the line of duty at that location. The only thing insensitive about it is that _only_ cops get memorialized, as if they are somehow better than the rest of us. :rolleyes: It has nothing to do with being better. I’ll make you a deal. As soon as you die while (and as a result of) serving the public I will do everything in my power to get something named after you. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2012, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insensitive-memorials/626824/16 "2012-07-01T02:11:03Z")
Jimmy Dean Sausages? Or is that a different James Dean?😃 ---
**Author:** ![Myrnalene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@Myrnalene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myrnalene)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2012, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insensitive-memorials/626824/17 "2012-07-01T02:42:46Z")
> [@Sinisterniik](#): > > So after dying in a tragic car accident, apparently they thought it was a good idea to make a highway into a James Dean memorial, as shown in this picture: [File:James dean3.jpg - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:James_dean3.jpg) Huh? That’s just like putting a cross or other marker up where someone died in a car crash. James Dean is famous so his is more permanent, that’s all. Not getting the insensitive. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2012, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insensitive-memorials/626824/18 "2012-07-01T09:30:12Z")
> [@Lord\_Mondegreen](#): > > In Canberra, the suburb of Fairbairn, which is home to the Canberra Airport and is named after a Government Minister who died in a plane crash (there was also formerly the Fairbairn Air Force Base - now closed) Virtually every U.S. Air Force base named after someone follows this convention. The now deactivated base here in Austin, TX was named for a flyer named Bergstrom who was killed in an air crash. He was stationed at the airfield that became the base. ---
**Author:** ![Ashley\_Pomeroy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c68b51/32.png) [@Ashley\_Pomeroy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashley_Pomeroy)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2012, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insensitive-memorials/626824/19 "2012-07-01T15:09:54Z")
There’s [this blackly comic classic tombstone](http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=19899). “Here lies Lester Moore / four slugs from a 44 / no Les no more”. There’s a long list of joke tombstone inscriptions that has been passed around longer than I have been on the internet but this is a rare example of one of them being _real_. Or at least the tombstone exists; whether it actually dates from the 1880s or was built recently, I have no idea. Rare example of a Reverse Postal, in the sense that Moore was a postman shot dead by an angry customer (who he then shot dead - but in self-defence). And of course you could take a leaf out of Bill Hicks’ routine and cite the Christian cross - as if Jesus would want to see _that_ again. ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2012, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insensitive-memorials/626824/20 "2012-07-01T15:37:25Z")
> [@Sinisterniik](#): > > So after dying in a tragic car accident, apparently they thought it was a good idea to make a highway into a James Dean memorial, as shown in this picture: [File:James dean3.jpg - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:James_dean3.jpg) Ironically, I was there last weekend. There’s a private memorial about 900 yards west of that spot. Not seeing insensitive part. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insensitive-memorials/626824.md?page=2)