Credit: Zombie
Posted on 09/10/2005 9:52:12 AM PDT by hipaatwo
Credit: Zombie
Tons of you are stunned, outraged, and sickened by the new Flight 93 Memorial, the "Crescent of Embrace." I called the architect responsible for the redesign, Paul Murdoch of Los Angeles, yesterday for comment. He did not return my call, but he did speak with the Johnstown, Pa., Tribune Democrat, as quoted in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.
Neither Murdoch nor his supporters see any problem with the red crescent wrapped around the crash site near Shanksville, Pa., where 44 innocent passengers were murdered at the hands of Islamic terrorists:
"This is not about any religion per se," Murdoch said in a telephone interview with the Tribune-Democrat in Johnstown. "It's a spiritual space, and a sacred place, but it's open to anyone."
The word "crescent," he said, was used as a generic architectural term for a curved line.
"Sure, there is an Islamic crescent," Murdoch said. "Theirs is a lunar crescent. Ours isn't based on that."
Per se.
The Post Gazette attempts to marginalize and minimize critics:
Almost immediately upon seeing the design, online bloggers suggested that it is inappropriate to use a red crescent in the memorial.
To many, that shape represents Islam, and the symbol is used on the flags of several Muslim countries, including Turkey, Pakistan and Uzbekistan.
The four men who hijacked United Airlines Flight 93 on its way from Newark, N.J., to San Francisco were Muslim.
But the architects who created the winning design say their design has nothing to do with Islam.
The article states that family members of the Flight 93 victims do not find the crescent objectionable. And how's this for fair and balanced: Five people who support the memorial are quoted, including one who calls the criticism bigoted, disgusting, and repellant. By comparison, only two opponents are quoted, including a "street evangelist" who is described as a "self-proclaimed bishop."
So, the plan is dismiss those of us whose eyes are not blinded by political correctness as racist cranks with imaginations run wild. But we're not the only ones objecting. The Tribune-Democrat article quotes a professor of Middle East studies and a local Muslim leader who see the obvious--and reports that jury members who chose the winning design were cognizant of the offensive overtones.
“Given the political ramifications, it’s not an apt name,” Professor Bernard Haykel said Friday, a day after a Somerset County street preacher declared he is considering filing for an injunction to stop the design.
“I could see a Muslim taking offense to this by saying this could be a slight to Islam. It could cut both ways.”
...In Islam, the crescent moon symbolizes the beginning and end of a calendar month. Crescents are prominent on mosques and are used on ambulances similar to red crosses in America.
“It is the symbol of ritual and religious life for Muslims,” Haykel said.
“The name (of the memorial) itself is not bad, but people can read into it all kinds of things.”
Murdoch has said the word is used generically in an architectural sense to describe the walkway around the bowl-shaped depression surrounding the plane’s point of impact. He maintains no religious implications were intended.
But even the second-stage jury that selected the design recommended changing its name to steer clear of religious overtones. Rather than crescent, the jury suggested using circle or arc of embrace instead.
Fouad El Bayly of Somerset, leader of the Islamic Center of Johnstown, has said Muslims immediately would recognize the symbolism in the design.
The crescent is a symbol of Islamic faith, El Bayly said.
“You pick something to be identified with,” he said.
The gentlemen at Junkyard Blog and an astute commenter at Captain's Quarters cut through the architectural b.s., too. Rich at CQ writes:
This was not mere ham-fistedness. There is no group more attuned to symbolism and the "meaning" of structures than architects. It is their business to take drawings and, ultimately, wood, glass, and stone, and create meaning out of it. That this design is in some way accidental or coincidental is preposterous.
Bryan Preston at JYB cuts to the chase:
Look, this was almost surely conceived innocently by an idealistic liberal as symbolic of "peaceful Islam" healing and bonding with those slaughtered for Allah, but this shifty artiste doesn't want to say that outright. He may think that's a noble cause, but he would also think think CAIR has a noble cause. By not admitting any honest intent here, it raises the possibility that the mockery is intentional. It does almost feel like a big practical joke.
And a very sick one.
***
Reader Simon Tan writes:
Dear Michelle,
The winning design for the Flight 93 memorial ‘Crescent of Embrace’ is extravagant, wasteful and ultimately does not convey the spirit of the resistance and defiance of the passengers who made the ultimate sacrifice that their plane would not be used to attack their own countrymen. Surely that is the enduring legacy of the men and women of Flight 93, that there will be no surrender in the face of terrorism.
How would you stop this travesty of a memorial from blighting the Pennsylvania landscape? This is the intellectual masturbatory fantasy of an architect for the benefit of his peers.
I propose a single block of unfinished granite, representing the enduring and unvarnished legacy of Flight 93 with the immortal line, “Let’s Roll” hewn into it in 5’ high letters. A panel below should be smoothed and polished and the names of the fallen engraved there along with a description of their actions that day. In front of this would be a simple paved plaza with one flagpole facing the monument in their honour. Let the memorial be simple and straightforward, uncluttered by the baggage of others and with a clear and unambiguous message for all who would stand before it.
Ace and Allahpundit cheekily propose their own redesign.
***
Write the National Park Service, which must approve the final design here.
Call the Superintendent of the Flight 93 National Memorial at (814) 443-4557. Or fax (814) 443-2180.
***
Update: Mark S. says the NPS contact page isn't working:
Thanks again for your and other bloggers efforts to spread the word about the design for the Flight 93 monument. I tried to send the following message to the National Park Service via the link provided from your site, but received a "URL not found" error--after several attempts--when I confirmed my e-mail address and tried to submit the message. So it looks like phone or fax are our best bets at this point.
I'm calling Rendell's office Monday.
I suppose we all should write our representatives. This is simply sick.
What they need is a small park with a simple monument that has the inscription "Let's Roll".
Why they need red maples I don't know. If it were just pine trees in that shape it might not be as offensive.
The Crescent of Embrace????
Is this some kind of bleeping joke???
Un-friggin-believable
It goes past insanity and enters the realm of evil.
It goes hand in hand with the hate America memorial they want to build at ground zero.
The new eleventh commandment is "Honor thy murderer and fatwa"
Get the chainsaws oiled and at the ready.....
I need to head out
But I did email this one out to a few locals here ... hopefully they will pick it up
This is what happens when you allow artsy-fartsy Lefties to run the show. They'll probably have to have a "peace garden" with a plaque commemorating "the racist bombing of Nagasaki" too.
Have fun.
I'll e-mail it to the locals too.
Totally unbelieveable!! Whether or not it was intentional (and one HAS to wonder) our enemies would look at this as a recognition and celebration of the sacrifice of the terrorists, not the celebration of those who fought and died.
People can talk all they want about President Bush being out of touch, but the people who designed and chose this park are in outer space.
My jaw is on the ground
The Crescent of Embrace ???
I am just speechless
Outrageous! There is simply no excuse for this crap!
I know a lot of architects, so I can vouch for the truth of this comment. Some of them spend more time thinking about symbolism and aesthetics than they do about structural integrity. The only thing more important than "meaning" is the almighty dollar.
Don't get me started. I hate architects. Present company freeper architects excluded. Grudgingly.
I wonder whether Paul Murdoch of Los Angeles has any association with TRoP.
I'd bet there is an association that is much than than 6 degrees of separation.
This is just like the museum at the WTC ground zero...no mention of a terrorist attack just all the wars we had to fight for our freedom but no mention we were attacked.
It's is the blame America crowd we have to get to the law makers this an outrage I am livid...I do want any part of any Islam...period, as they do not want any part of my religion Chritianity "There is only one God" I have that right or at leaset we used to I don't think the framers ever thought we would be bowing to a religion of hate.
If they are so willing to be helpful let's put up a large Christian Cross...Our society is being over run with a religion that is not what it perports, the so-called Koran that is sold in America is a watered down version from the one you get in say...Iran.
Call the lawmakers in PA and complain loudly.
abletruth
Whadaya wanna bet most of the people on that airplane were Christians? Of course, using a cross in the memorial would be intolerant and a violation of non-christians rights. Are the stars and stripes anywhere to be found on the memorial?
This is an abomination. But it comes as little surprise. The Leftists have been desecrating the memory of our patriot dead for years now. This is just icing on their anti-American, multicultural cake.
...healing and bonding bombing
That is a load of BS
This so called memorial looks like they are honoring the terrorists more then it does the people on that plane who gave their lives to saved the Capital Building in DC
What the (bleep) is that? It might as well say: "Allah Akbar".
Now, this is a "ham-fisted" memorial.
Interesting that the red crescent is shown as relatively insignificant, muted, on the Murdoch website:
http://www.paulmurdocharchitects.com/projects/flt93.htm
There is also a group of trees planted in the exact same position relative to the crescent as the star shown in many of the flags of Islamic countries.
This country is dying.
Don't give them an inch...
BUMP
This is evil. This architect should never work again.
I love the line "this is not about any religion per se..." Let's try this line when we propose putting up a large cross on the site and see if it works. Since we're all coming together, can't we do it under a symbol that represents the victims?
An "I can't believe it" bump!
Who hired these idiots in the first place?
I am aghast!
A 15-member jury made up of family members, community members and design professionals was tasked with making a final recommendation on the design. Five finalists were selected from 1,011 designs. Murdoch's design still must get the approval of the director of the National Park Service and the secretary of the Interior.
The heads of the NPS and Interior approved this?!
And just exactly who were those judges?
I just sent off an email...
To be fair, on another thread, a surviving son of a man killed on flight 93 states that he has no problem with the design, and it does look like some family members of those killed on the flight had a voice in this.
My gut reactionn was one of disbelief that something so emblamatic of Islam should be such a prominent feature in this memorial.
Apon reflection, it has changed to dismay and sadness that someone saw fit to include something so potentially divisive in this memorial when it could have easily been avoided.
Reminds me of this you can see for mlies when appraching Nicosia Cyprus;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:BesParnakFlag.jpg
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