Posted on 02/05/2002 6:02:28 AM PST by Jeff Head
As I type this, the:
DEPICT THE WTC FLAG RAISING AS IT ACTUALLY OCCURRED
petition has surpassed 150,000 signatures. It was three weeks ago today that this petition was started in response to plans by the city of New York and the Fire Department officials there in New York to create a memorial to the fallen fire fighters of 9-11 that included an altered depiction of the flag raising that occurred at ground zero on that fateful day. The alteration attempted to change the ethnicity and physical appearance of those that did the flag raising to a "culturally diverse", "politically correct" version of events. It was a blatant attempt to project what some thought "should" have happened and what the event "should" have represented over what actually took place.
This attempt has struck a raw nerve in many tens of thousands and now hundreds of thousands of citizens across this nation and the world (,hundreds have signed from Canada, England, Australia, Germany and many other places). I am sure of it were more widely known, it would do the same in tens of millions.
Revisionism of this nature occurred in totalitarian nations such as Stalin's Russia, or Hitler's Germany or Mao's China .... not in America. The liberty we enjoy in America is based on virtue and the truth. In order to make the responsible free will decisions that we make in this nation every day, we must have access to the truth and then act as moral agents on it.
Those politicians and planners and ideologs who proposed such an alteration are completely out of touch with the liberty and principles that make us all Americans. There attempts subvert the very foundational principles our Republic rests upon. Those three men who raised that flag did not do so as "whites" or "males" or any other descriptive term other than this one ... AMERICANS. The flag they raised represents us all, of all creeds, of all parties, of all ethnicities and races, of all genders. They raised it as a message to all, a message about our liberty and determination to maintain it in the face of the most appalling horror and dastardly attacks.
We have made progreee in this effort. The city announced over ten days ago that they would not raise the altered statue. They have indicated that they now have other plans. There is no official word on what those other plans are as of yet.
According to the second point of the petition, the petition will continue until plans are announced that portray a memorial with no political agenda and that is historically accurate.
I am moving forward with plans to deliver the first 100,000 signatures to New York in the next week or so. I have formatted 40,000 names for print and will complete the formatting on the next 60,000 in the next day or two and then have them printed, bound and shipped to firefighters there in NYC who will present them to the mayors office. I will follow this up with the second 100,000 as they are completed, and so forth ... as long as I can and as long as needed.
I want to thank everyone involved. Those who have signed, those who have spread the word, those who have unrelentingly kept the threads and the reoprts up here on FR and elsewhere on the internet, those who have prayed, and all of those who have donated any time or sent funds to help get these signatures to the City of New York.
If you want some heart warming, hope inspiring experiences .... spend a few moments browsing the comments on the petition.
I will close with my favortie comments to date, from signature 11497:
"WHAT A PATHETIC NATION WE HAVE BECOME when we have to alter history, and the TRUTH, to accomodate bleeding heart liberal, blood sucking interest groups. I am of hispanic origin, my parents were born in Puerto Rico, but i was born here, in the land God himself chose to be America. So what if the firemen who raised our glorious flag were white, they were AMERICANS, showing cowards we cant be pushed around. If you poor unloved, misunderstood crybabies want to be represented in the monument, take a close look and see that you are, in the flag itself. The glorious flag that will wave long after we're all eaten by worms. Political correctness has become morally and politically incorrect. Wake up and smell the coffee before we destroy ourselves. signed, an AMERICAN."Would that we all had such conviction and willingness to state and share it.
FRegards
DON'T REWRITE HISTORY!!!!! If you do will be as guilty as Japan and China when they rewrote their history regarding WW2 and Korea just so their people would feel good about themselves. History was never ment to be "politically correct". If you permit this change, then you have allowed the terrorists to win. How can we assure our children that the stories they are told about history are true if we permit "political correctness" to take our focus off of what actually happened on 9-11.
We must stay true to the events if we want to ensure the integrity of all the other historical monuments in america. All people of color, both genders and americans of all races were proud of the day that flag was raised. I don't believe a single individual looked to see if a particular race or gender was responsible. We were all americans at that instant....regardless of who did the flag raising. Are we to rewrite history and tear down other monuments because people of color and both genders were not represented?"
Getting ever closer to another milestone ... 175,000!
Those 3 firefighters did this, it should be them. Has nothing to do with race or politics, just 3 proud American Firefighters in mourning. Honor them.
173,600 BUMP.
175K in an hour or so.
Gotta go take a Jr, High'er to basketball practice, back later.
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