9/11

[novapsyche]

I'd just like to point out that, for much of this decade, the de facto symbol for America has been the Twin Towers, while at the same time I haven't heard much about the Statue of Liberty.

I'd like us to start talking more about the Statue of Liberty.

Comments

[custardfairy.livejournal.com]

She's a lady
Whoa, whoa, whoa
She's a lady

[novapsyche.livejournal.com]

No! Not Tom Jones! Don't want that earworm!

[the-leewit.livejournal.com]

She is technically a goddess. And French!

[novapsyche.livejournal.com]

A goddess? Really?

[quiet-flame.livejournal.com]

Hm, I feel like before 9/11, the Statue of Liberty was the American symbol. It seems like only after 9/11 did the Twin Towers become the beacon of the nation. I think there's a tendency to build it up and romaniticize it.

[novapsyche.livejournal.com]

Remember in the 80s, when there was that big to-do about the revitalizing of the Statue of Liberty? Now, it's like she doesn't even exist. People point to the flag and nothing more (which is frightening, because a flag can whip up nationalism [as the present administration taught us firsthand in 9/11's aftermath], while dressing oneself up in the Statue's garb is more difficult to manipulate to irresponsible ends--at least, that's my opinion).

There's a reason why the Statue of Torture icon is so compelling.

[fizzyland.livejournal.com]

Sure was nice of the French to give that to us.

[novapsyche.livejournal.com]

Wasn't it? (Wait. I don't know if it's safe to be a France-lover yet. I haven't heard anyone demand freedom fries for a while, though.)

[pstscrpt.livejournal.com]

It kinda seems like Christianity and the crucifix, doesn't it?

[novapsyche.livejournal.com]

I think I know what you're getting at. However, I meant that for the last six years we've been honoring a symbol of trade/money (wrapped in the guise of sacrifice) rather than a symbol of freedom. I'd be interested to know exactly how you meant your phrase.

[pstscrpt.livejournal.com]

That it's focusing on one of the darkest and most macabre moments to represent the whole. It doesn't seem healthy.

[gizelnort.livejournal.com]

The Statue of Liberty rocks!:

1) In times of national emergency it can turn into a huge anime style robot capable of defeating small navies.

2) The Statue of Liberty can be seen from space with the naked eye.

3) The Statue of Liberty is actually from Orion originally.

Sorry, I understand what you are aiming at but I could not resist the moment. :-)

But on a serious note, I concur with that the Twin Towers have become a symbol for the nation, but then again the Statue of Liberty as a symbol for the nation shares a common root, the commerical explotation of the icon. The meaning behind both has long since been crushed under a monolithic block of forced meaning.

Call me old fashioned but I'll take the symbols that our currency honor and no one looks at.

[dionysus1999.livejournal.com]

Hmm, I think the U.S. true symbol is a big pile of stinking rat feces. At least that's how I feel about the Republo-fascists and the Demo-cowards.

[novapsyche.livejournal.com]

This was never supposed to be a two-party system.

"They don't like our Liberty."

[sophia-sadek.livejournal.com]

Liberty, what liberty?

I saw a bumper sticker that says, "Freedom isn't free." (The intent is that freedom has a cost to it.) I immediately made the association that what is called freedom isn't truly freedom. It's the freedom to dominate, which is more of a form of bondage than it is freedom.

By the way, would you view the twin towers as a pair of phallic symbols, a vulvic symbol, both, or neither?