In Animal Farm--an Orwellian fantasy of disturbing predictive accuracy, a farm "rebellion" leaves a group of pigs in charge of an animal led government. The pig's power is to be guarded by a set of rules, written on the barn. Because the animals are ignorant, and because they do not remember the past, the pigs are able to slowly alter the rules to take more and more power, eventually placing themselves as the ultimate dictators of the farm animals, and removing the freedom of other animals. It it interesting to note Oswell's argument--that freedoms are lost not in one brutal blow to mankind, but in a slow poisoning of our values and history.I follow with some interest the caretaking of our national memorials and historical sites for a similar reason. It seems to me that those who would destroy freedom would be hard pressed to do so if all around us are the reminders of the prices we have paid to stay free. That is why I was surprised to find read this article in the Wall Street Journal.
It seems that our history is being changed.
(A note here. The memorial is run by private donors, as was pointed out by Riley.The president is not directly responsible for it, and it is not, thankfully, administered by the government.As such, I have removed wording that would have directly blamed the current Administration for the incident.)
Now, I am not entirely convinced that our world is bent on the destruction of the American system, but it does make me wonder what exactly he is up to when Stalin makes it onto the D-Day memorial. A few reasons that this never should have happened: 1) Stalin atrociously killed millions more than Hitler in a brutal campaign to bring communism, which is dynamically opposed to democracy, to Russia
2) The Russians had nothing to do with D-Day. In fact, Russian troops never even touched the beaches of Normandy--ever--much less in 1944.
4) He's not American, and he was only an Ally because of convenience.
Yet despite this and other glaring reasons this should not have even been considered, there it is, a statue of Stalin, standing in the middle of the D-Day memorial next to some of the greatest and most heroic leaders of that era. To me, this is a warning sign.
Liberals, including the Obama Administration has always shown an odd contempt for the great leaders of that war. not long after Obama's entrance into the White House, Winston Churchill quietly slid from his place of honor there and into a storage compartment on Dover Street, but the addition of Stalin to the D-Day memorial is a tacit rewriting of the History of D-Day. It worries me that we could loose our history so subtly. It worries me more that the man we have elected to the greatest seat of power in the free world is erecting tributes to one of the greatest oppressors of that same world. My only hope is that there is still some of old Benjamin and Clover among us, and that they will speak up in time to protect this land I love so deeply.P.S. I've found that this blog is is also a great post on this idea.
Stalin bust Photo Courtesy of Jill Nance/the News Advance
All Animal Farm Photos Courtesy of http://hrsbstaff.ednet.ns.ca
Stalin? what is the rational behind it? I certainly don't see much of a connection.
ReplyDeleteOn a somewhat related note I am coming to the conclusion that Israel and Palestine represent very well the two issues facing America. Israel seeks security and Palestine seeks freedom. Both are good causes but unfortunately they often seem to contradict. I think we've discussed the line before.
As who ever it was once said "anyone who is willing so sacrifice freedom for security deserves neither." Since this is your blog I'll let you verify the quote.
Back to Stalin, I'll have to read the NYT article now
Ok, I did some reading. The bust is sinister in design and is not intended to glorify Stalin but to tell honest history. In my view honest history is for textbooks not memorials but whatever.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to copy a quote from the artist as well
“You do get to know these characters very well,” Pumphrey said. “I was angry every day I worked on him … Knowing how bad a guy he was, you’ve got to reveal it … you should feel the figures in addition to seeing them. You should sense their nature just by looking at them.”
(http://www.dday.org/index.php?page=showFullArticle&module=pressroom&id=290)
Also the memorial is actually private, it isn't a government memorial yet so I'm not sure we can blame this one on Obama. It is funded mostly by donors.
I also looked up my earlier quote. It is attributed to Ben Franklin (what a guy!) I found a couple different versions though. So this is what he really (maybe) said.
"They that can give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
"Those who sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither."
"He who would trade liberty for some temporary security, deserves neither liberty nor security."
"He who sacrifices freedom for security deserves neither."
"People willing to trade their freedom for temporary security deserve neither and will lose both."
"If we restrict liberty to attain security we will lose them both."
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both."
"He who gives up freedom for safety deserves neither."
"Those who would trade in their freedom for their protection deserve neither."
"Those who give up their liberty for more security neither deserve liberty nor security."
Riley,
ReplyDeleteyes, I Realized today that the memorial is funded by private donors, so I guess it comes off of my "reasons Obama fails" list. The idea that Stalin would be placed in such a memorial is rather odd to me, though. I just keep wondering, Why would they put Stalin there if he had nothing to do with the Invasion?
Ben Fraklin, though, He was a stud... He said some great things, though, Didn't he?
ReplyDeleteI have spent a lot of the morning looking at tapes from the Israeli raid last week, and thinking about those same things. From what I have seen, the Israeli troops got hammered pretty hard as they boarded the ships. I have seen a large number of camera angles that suggest that the commandos were attacked with everything from metal poles (which i buy) to flash bangs(which i find unlikely). While the leaders of the ship were not Palestinian, it is interesting to note that their argument is basically that they can supersede international law because Israel is mean. I am not sure everything Israel does is right, and I know for a fact that some of it is flat out stupid foreign policy, but here they seem to be 100 percent on the side of the law, even if people were killed by the commandos during the raids. Whether it was a politically smart move in a time when the United States has been markedly cold to the Israelis is another question. But then again--who are they trying to look good for, if the United States will not defend them in international circles, who will?
Josh, long time buddy. Nice to find you on here. Not headed to camp this summer? Going as an adult is a whole new experience. I think you'd really like it. You can see the young new staffers experiencing the same camp magic that you once did. Jodi and I will be up there briefly in August (10 and 11th)
ReplyDeleteI really have been dying to go, but the financial and political world kind of is forbidding it right now... I would like to come down for a visit at least once during the summer.
ReplyDeleteHow are you and Jodie doing by the way? It's been a long time--too long--since i have heard from you.
Jodi and I are good. We are living in Shanghai, China for the summer while I work at the Chinese Academy of Science. It's pretty rad. check our blog for all the stories.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise we are just living in Boston. The east coast is different, but nice. There's nice mormon people everywhere you go that you can be instantly friends with.
I really loved Boston whenever i have been there. Shanghai is amazing, too I have heard. we will certainly have to catch up. I'll check out your blog.
ReplyDelete