Tear down the Jefferson Memorial!

[astro]

This guy thinks it’s awful. Does he have a point?
Hate the Jeff!

The overall effect could not have been worse if he had stuck tailfins and chrome on a horse. Leaving aside the pure ugliness of the result, the open design ensured a perpetual chill wind off the Tidal Basin, a lot of rain damage and a shitload (literally) of pigeon droppings. Standing under the domed roof on even a calm day, the effect is as if you are standing in a wind tunnel, with various side eddies and dust devils stirring up scraps of paper and throwing dirt in the eyes of those trying to read the various inscriptions on the walls.

Misleading and Misquoted Writings.
What do you think of when you think of Jefferson’s philosophy? Individual liberty? Freedom from government tyranny? Governing best by governing least? Well, that’s not what the folks who picked the quotes for the interior walls of the Jefferson Memorial were thinking of.

----While wanting to give lip service to Jefferson’s role in the founding of the country, FDR did not want to highlight his own differences with Jeffersonian philosophy. So his folks dug up the following quotes to adorn the memorial, often running two or three different quotes together to distort their meaning. The following quotes and sources are from the official National Park Service Jefferson Memorial site:

What a perfect hodgepodge of quotes, put together by a president who was in the process of trying to pack the Supreme Court and impose federalism on our educational and welfare systems.------

You’d think this would be bad enough. But it gets worse. A lot of the quotes are, believe it or not, misquoted and misspelled. The Washington Post ran an article about 10 years ago detailing about 30 instances of misspelling, bad punctuation, and misquoting. There was a lot of hue and cry about the tackiness of the errors, but the NPS has never gotten around to fixing it. What kind of memorial is it when the honoree’s words are misspelled?

[Neurotik]

I like it better than I like the FDR memorial or the Korean War memorial. But I’ve got a weak spot for neo-classical design, so what can I say?

[SuaSponte]

I also like it better than the FDR memorial or the Korean War memorial, because I never sucked face with anyone at either of those memorials.

Sua

[Ukulele_Ike]

Who exactly is this guy? His snottiness about FDR’s presidency and cheerful acknowledgement that “I don’t know nuthin’ 'bout no art” don’t predispose me to take his political or aesthetic views too seriously.

[smiling_bandit]

Oh boy, I’m going to be so impressed by someone whining. I’ve seen it, and I very much like the place.

[Candlemas]

I like the FDR Memorial! Especially little Fala sitting next to him. I do agree however that his wheelchair should have been visible in the memorial. What a crock…

I also agree that the Jefferson Memorial leaves a lot to be desired. I personally think they should add a statue to Jefferson Memorial…a beautiful work (carved in ebony and ivory) of Jefferson having sex with his barely postpubescent slaves.

[pravnik]

I don’t get the business about the quotes. Jefferson considered founding the University of Virginia and authoring the Declaration of Independence and The Virginia statute for religious freedom his three proudest achievements. Why shouldn’t quotations of what he considered his best work be included? What specifically does this guy think was used out of context, misquoted, or misspelled?

[The_Peyote_Coyote]

Hell, no, Astro. I, too, like the Jefferson Memorial and think its design is very nice.

I find those quotes very inspiring, especially the one about swearing opposition to tyranny over the mind, in these days when the Bush Administration seems hell-bent on being Big Brother.

Sooner than change a beautiful memorial, I would see the writer wade the Potomac in concrete overshoes.

[kniz]

Not only that but I like the Korean Memorial.

[sup]I’ve been in the Washington, D.C. area on days I’ve prayed for a little breeze.[/sup]

[flex727]

[Emily Latella]
Why in the heck would we have a memorial honoring Jefferson Davis? After all, he was on the losing side and supported slavery.
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Oh. Nevermind!
[/Emily Latella]