Posted on 06/06/2002 3:50:27 AM PDT by fporretto
SINCE SEPT. 11, we have been authoritatively informed that buildings as tall as the World Trade Center will never be built again. A "consensus" quickly emerged among city officials to replace the soaring Twin Towers with some potty-little buildings and a park.
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But at a meeting to discuss the future of the site last week, hundreds of New Yorkers showed up and shocked the experts by demanding that the towers be rebuilt. One man, who worked on the 77th floor of 1 World Trade Center, said: "Please do not diminish the memory of all of the people who died there by building 50-, 60- or 70-story mediocre buildings on the site."
A little grassy park where people go to weep does lack something in the way of defiance. Instead of us crying, evidently many Americans feel there should be a lot of Arabs crying.
The reason liberals prefer a park to luminous skyscrapers is that they are not angry. Liberals express sympathy for the victims, but they're not angry at the terrorists. Instead of longing to crush and humiliate the enemy, they believe true patriotism consists of redoubled efforts to expand the welfare state. Sen. Hillary Clinton proposed a school for the site and Sen. Charles Schumer, a park. That'll show 'em!
Meanwhile, the construction workers clearing away the rubble vowed they would work without pay to rebuild the World Trade Center. Of course, now that we have 14 cows, that shouldn't be necessary. (In one of the most genuinely touching stories since Sept. 11, a tiny cow-herding village in Kenya that only recently got word of the attack on America made a special present of 14 cows to the United States this week.)
The attack on the World Trade Center ripped America's soul not only for the thousands of lives it consumed. Even if the towers had been empty, the destruction of those buildings would have been heart wrenching.
Skyscrapers are the hallmark of civilization. They are monuments to human brilliance and creativity. I'm sure there are some nice trees, but I note that no one ever talks about the "heavenly suburb." Philosopher Jacques Ellul said cities exhibit "all the hopes of man for divinity." St. Augustine said the "house of God is itself a city."
There have been many unsubstantiated assertions that no one would rent property in a rebuilt World Trade Center. But if fear of another terrorist attack were a major factor in New Yorkers' decisional calculus, they wouldn't be living in New York. The military has the technology to make the buildings safe from incoming missiles. Sept. 11 was a sucker punch. That particular trick doesn't work twice.
Moreover, this argument neglects to consider that by the time a new World Trade Center is built, Arabs will be about as threatening as the Japanese. Who would have imagined after Pearl Harbor that the Japanese were governable? Yet Japan hasn't shown a disposition to fight in 60 years. It is the rare individual who does not succumb to horrendous physical pain. Muslims feel humiliated now? We'll show them humiliated.
Aesthetes complain that the buildings were ugly. Perhaps. But the important thing is, they were really big. There can be a new design, but whatever goes up on that site has got to be bigger and better than the buildings the savages destroyed.
Erecting enormous buildings to replace the Twin Towers limns the distinction between us and the barbarians. We can ride elevators a quarter-mile into the sky and have dinner. What can they do? Multimillionaire Osama bin Laden lived in a cave (and is dead, under a daisy-cutter). Here in America, ordinary Americans consider 70-story buildings "mediocre."
As Donald Rumsfeld said of al-Qaeda, their specialty is "destroying things they could never have built themselves using technologies they never could have developed themselves."
The urge to destroy may not come from Islam, but creation is not Islam's strong suit either. In his immense book "The Creators," historian Daniel Boorstin explains the Islamic approach to innovation. While Judaism and Christianity begin with the Creation, Islam reveres a God who creates nothing. It is a central tenet of Islam that God did not even create the Koran. According to Boorstin, mullahs explain that since "the speech of God is uncreate, the words must be eternal uncreate." The world comes into being not by God's energy and initiative, but by fiat. As Boorstin says: "For a believing Muslim, to create is a rash and dangerous act."
And we wonder why they don't have chairs.
Not surprisingly, Mohamed Atta loathed skyscrapers. Newsweek reported that he viewed the emergence of tall buildings in Egypt as an odious surrender to Western values. The most fitting memorial to the victims of the World Trade Center attack is to build the most breathtaking skyscraper in the world on top of Mohamed Atta's grave.
The Consistent"Liberal"tarian is just that - a liberal. He also has some kind of hard-on for Ann Coulter. I think maybe she turned him down on a date for the prom or something. He shows up with his tripe on all her threads.
Anyway, if you like arguing with people who parse the meaning of words, quickly change the topic when beaten in honest debate and, in general, constantly argue in bad faith (you know, a liberal), then knock yourself out.
But in no way is this clown representative of those of us with truly libertarian feelings.
Sometime, far in the future, what was once the United States may be only a collection of filthy little backwater republics or fiefdoms, but we still have centuries of highly creative leadership in the affairs of mankind ahead of us. We need a bold and shining symbol, to signify the Infinite Justice of our way, and the example for all the world to follow.
What ever is built it should be magnificient and in thier face! But definately not a Hillary idea!
In other words, she couldn't figure out a way to get her hands on any of the funds........
Anyone want to bet that there will still be Arabs around to threaten the West in many years in the future? Anyone? I didn't think so. They better get their act together, or we'll do it for them. All we have to do is to launch a couple of ICBMs. That easy, yep.
I'm a small-l libertarian myself. I spent ten years trying to work within the LP, realized just in time to save my sanity that there were too many fringies and too few sensible, serious workhorses, and bailed out. These days, I'm unaffiliated -- and I find that I promote a lot more interest in the ideas of freedom if I style myself a "pro-freedom conservative."
CL is the sort of "Libertarian" who gives the rest of us a bad name. He and his like are likely to produce a net loss of interest in the freedom philosophy with their bad tempers and worse manners. Unfortunately, there's little to be done about them. Free country and all that.
Freedom, Wealth, and Peace,
Francis W. Porretto
Visit the Palace Of Reason: http://palaceofreason.com
Bump for the beautiful and brilliant Ann.
In his farewell address December 27, Guiliani envisioned "a soaring, monumental, beautiful" memorial. "And then if we do that part right," Guiliani said, "then the economic development will just happen."
Bloomberg, appearing at a January 3 press conference with John Whitehead, chairman of the Lower Manhattan Redevelopment Commission, noted Giuliani's statement, saying the commission "was appointed to look at all of the different possibilities." Both support using the site for a memorial, office space and other uses, according to the New York Times.
It was Whitehead's words which worry me. "I think there is a developing consensus - among everybody I've talked to - that it is not either practical or appropriate to build another 100-story building." (NY Times, Jan 4)
There are many reasons not to rebuild the Towers. Many say there is no practicality in anything over 80 stories tall. Others point out the attraction of a new building to terrorists. Besides, haven't you heard we're in a recession? How can we possibly ever fill all that space? And what kind of memorial will that be for those who died?
In my mind, we must rebuild the Center exactly as it was.
There is a gap in the skyline of Manhattan and in our hearts. It is the skyline gap which turns the most recognized skyline in the world into Generic City; the gap in our heart cries out to us when we least expect it, causing memories to all but overwhelm us. These gaps must be filled, and no "other uses", no mini-towers will do.
They say 100-story buildings aren't "practical" anymore. Since when is office space impractical in Manhattan, regardless of what floor it's on? Besides, with thirty-plus years of technology since the construction of the original Center, it can be rebuilt stronger and better than before. As for filling that office space, I would imagine there are many who would never set foot in a skyscraper again. I wouldn't blame them. However, for every one who can't, there will be at least one who would.
Also, two 100-story towers would eventually find tenants again, just as they have before. We have been in recessions worse than this in the past thirty years, and we didn't tear down the Towers then, did we? Rebuilding 10 million square feet of office space is a message to everyone: we expect these to fill because we expect our economy to recover and prosper again, as it has before, and we'll need the space.
Yes, the new Towers would be a tempting target, but it will take far more in the future to knock them down again. Hijacked planes won't do; there will never be another successful hijacking attempt again. The rules changed on September 11, and everyone knows it. I also believe anything larger than a pickup truck won't be able to get near the WTC without a thorough inspection. The new towers will be vulnerable - any building is - but not as much as they were. It would also serve as a message to the rest of the world: we will build great buildings because we can, because no one will dictate to us what we will and won't do, because we will not give in to our fears.
Finally, I can think of no greater monument to the dead than complete reconstruction. Who would be able to look at the Manhattan skyline, see the new towers and not remember the victims of that terrible day? I propose a few monuments at ground level: a life-size statue of the three firefighters raising the flag at a central flagpole with an eternal flame at their feet, lit from the fires which consumed the original towers, and another statue or memorial in the lobby of 2 World Trade Center, commemorating the firefighters, police officers and EMTs who died when the buildings collapsed. The largest monument would be at the top of Tower 2: the observation deck and perhaps a few floors beneath it, where all who died can be named. A place where we can see the grand city, see the last sights the victims saw before the buildings fell, and remember.
Rebuild the Towers, Mayor Bloomberg. Rebuild.
I must tell you Young Lady that I've admired your posts for quite some time now. You forced vodka/tonic up my nose again!
One Freeper's suggestion re: the redesign of a new Trade Center resembling a traditional American gesture of defiance facing Mecca also rated quite high. I just love this place.
Nam Vet
Or maybe a tribute to Sir Edmund Hillary who she was named after....
Or maybe a large stone dedicated to all the black churches that have been burned down in NY state.....
Okay, perhaps she could put that new 55,000 square feet of office she wants to make Sen. Chuckie feel even more inadequate....
There have been many unsubstantiated assertions that no one would rent property in a rebuilt World Trade Center. But if fear of another terrorist attack were a major factor in New Yorkers' decisional calculus, they wouldn't be living in New York.
..... by the time a new World Trade Center is built, Arabs will be about as threatening as the Japanese. ..... It is the rare individual who does not succumb to horrendous physical pain. Muslims "feel 'humiliated?" ..... We'll show [The (1300 years of rapings, forced-female-circumcisions, lootings, pillaging, death-and-destruction worshipping, false-fuerher-following -- and still at it!) nazi bastards!] humiliated.
..... the buildings were ..... really big. There can be a new design -- BUT -- whatever goes up on that site has got to be bigger and better than the buildings the savages destroyed. Erecting enormous buildings to replace the Twin Towers limns the distinction between us and the barbarians.
We can ride elevators a quarter-mile into the sky and have dinner. What can they do?
Here in America, ordinary Americans consider 70-story buildings "mediocre."
As Donald Rumsfeld said of al-Qaeda, their specialty is "destroying things they could never have built themselves using technologies they never could have developed themselves."
Build 'em better!
Build 'em BIGGER!
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