FARK.com: (6935701) The National Park Service announced its plans to remove and change the inscription on the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. Obviously some people have a problem with this

If you can read this, either the style sheet didn't load or you have an older browser that doesn't support style sheets. Try clearing your browser cache and refreshing the page.

		The National Park Service announced its plans to remove and change the inscription on the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. Obviously some people have a problem with this (ajc.com)		130
		More: Obvious, Martin Luther King Jr., Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial, National Park Service, Maya Angelou, Washington Monument, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar

• • •

8946 clicks; posted to Main » on 11 Feb 2012 at 11:50 AM | Favorite | share:

more» |

Get this fabulous T-Shirt and impress the methane out of your friends!

shirt it!

Share this link:

URL:

http://fk.cm/go/6935701

Bookmark:

Article Comments close

130 Comments (+0 »)

View Voting Results: Smartest and Funniest

First | « | 1 | 2 | 3 | » | Last | Show all

Mugato

2012-02-11 08:29:27 AM

Did they ask Jabba first? It's his favorite decoration.

AbbeySomeone

2012-02-11 08:31:08 AM

There was an article last summer gave specifics on the race of people attending National Parks. Blacks had the lowest attendance.
While I agree with Maya Angelou, there is no money for this project.

JerseyTim

2012-02-11 08:47:08 AM

AbbeySomeone

2012-02-11 08:48:45 AM

JerseyTim: AbbeySomeone: There was an article last summer gave specifics on the race of people attending National Parks. Blacks had the lowest attendance.
While I agree with Maya Angelou, there is no money for this project.

Because the MLK memorial is only for the blacks.

Precisely.

Rusty Shackleford

2012-02-11 09:28:05 AM

When designing a monument to someone known for his eloquent speeches about the equality of human dignity, why would you paraphrase his words?

If the quote won't fit, use a shorter one, or a smaller font. Don't mess with it. Your committee isn't going to improve on his words, no matter how many drafts you put it through.

"You should be prepared to do something for your country." --JFK
"87 years ago this country was founded to promote freedom and equality." --Lincoln

Eddie Adams from Torrance

2012-02-11 09:48:42 AM

namatad

2012-02-11 09:50:45 AM

Rusty Shackleford: When designing a monument to someone known for his eloquent speeches about the equality of human dignity, why would you paraphrase his words?

If the quote won't fit, use a shorter one, or a smaller font. Don't mess with it. Your committee isn't going to improve on his words, no matter how many drafts you put it through.

"You should be prepared to do something for your country." --JFK
"87 years ago this country was founded to promote freedom and equality." --Lincoln

yup
how hard would it have been to include the full text of the I HAVE A DREAM speech?
tada

you wouldnt have even had to think about it ...
IDIOTS

namatad

2012-02-11 09:54:53 AM

ok full txt MIGHT have been too much
but

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."2

vudukungfu

2012-02-11 10:02:26 AM

"I didn't so it. It was like that when I got here." Tricky Dick Nixon

"Gorbie, trim your hedge" Ronald Regan

"You skeered? I ain't." Franklin Delano Roosevelt

"Because Business!" John Calvin Cooledge

"I hate this job" William Howard Taft

"you wanna smack?" Theodore Roosevelt

"There's light at the end of the tunnel" William Mckinley

"Brown people's problems" Benjamin Harrison

"Quit fibbin'." Cleavland

"Money talks. Bullshiat walks" Garfield

"I faked up" Grant

Shame on me if we get fooled again Lincoln

"I didn't want this job" Zach Taylor

"This job sucks" Polk

"If it wasn't for that horse, I'd never have gone to college." Tyler

The Bestest

2012-02-11 10:14:18 AM

AbbeySomeone: Precisely.

The hell are you going on about?

..as for the issue itself, the director is concerned it will scar the monument. Well, you farked up. Mistakes often lead to scars.
What should be done.. what I hope is being done.. is that the original inscription is kept to the side somewhere near with a plaque explaining why it was replaced.

DirtyDeadGhostofEbenezerCooke

2012-02-11 10:34:00 AM

I have a dream...

www.gatewayband.org

No...not that one.

Lsherm

2012-02-11 11:45:38 AM

The Bestest: AbbeySomeone: Precisely.

The hell are you going on about?

..as for the issue itself, the director is concerned it will scar the monument. Well, you farked up. Mistakes often lead to scars.
What should be done.. what I hope is being done.. is that the original inscription is kept to the side somewhere near with a plaque explaining why it was replaced.

When I lived in DC I used to walk around all the monuments for fun, and I can't recall a single monument where they have left a replaced piece nearby to explain why it was replaced. Considering the paraphrase was decided on by the planning committee and they didn't bother explaining it in the original design, I don't see any reason to explain why it was removed. It was a stupid decision in the first place.

HOWEVER, there's a lot of granite in that memorial. They could simply add a note to the existing quote that explains it is paraphrased, and then add the full quote in small text elsewhere.

I mean, they have tons of space:

img59.imageshack.us

Or, if that's actually a solid piece of rock (I'm pretty sure it is) they could literally grind down the stone to erase the inscription and write the full one somewhere else. You'd still have a weird area where you buffed it out, but it might look less obvious than cutting out a full plate and replacing it with a different cut.

Rapmaster2000

2012-02-11 11:54:51 AM

AbbeySomeone: There was an article last summer gave specifics on the race of people attending National Parks. Blacks had the lowest attendance.
While I agree with Maya Angelou, there is no money for this project.

While this is well-known, I think it's not entirely accurate to equivocate Grand Teton/GNP/Crater Lake with the National Mall. From my nonscientific observations of driving by MLK NP in Atlanta every day for 3 years, it seems like that park gets a lot of black visitors.

consciousNOT

2012-02-11 11:55:01 AM

And the stone is too white.

violentsalvation

2012-02-11 11:55:29 AM

I think they should dynamite that whole atrocity and give MLK a memorial/monument that isn't so goddamn hideous. It just looks BRUTAL. And come on, Chinese white granite mined using near-slave labor, how thoughtful.

Rapmaster2000

2012-02-11 11:56:53 AM

I see their point.

This:

"I was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness."

is not the same as this:

"Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter."

It's also a lot crappier. The full quote is significantly more interesting and insightful. Did this guy just get lazy?

chuckufarlie

2012-02-11 11:57:11 AM

What's the big deal? It's not like it is carved into stone... Wait? What?

Never mind.

Rapmaster2000

2012-02-11 11:59:33 AM

violentsalvation: I think they should dynamite that whole atrocity and give MLK a memorial/monument that isn't so goddamn hideous. It just looks BRUTAL. And come on, Chinese white granite mined using near-slave labor, how thoughtful.

LOL. You reminded me of Brutalist architecture - the preferred design of the Eastern Bloc.

Meanwhile at the Legion of Doom....

UNC_Samurai

2012-02-11 11:59:37 AM

He compared it to the Washington Monument, which has a visible line where the color of the white stone changes because construction of the memorial was halted for years during the Civil War.

And now that's part of the historical interpretation of the monument. The change to a relatively young monument is being done largely to improve accuracy.

Although I'm surprised the compromise wasn't a giant plaque installed over or in front of the monument.

vudukungfu

2012-02-11 12:02:07 PM

Lsherm: hey could simply add a note to the existing quote that explains it is paraphrased, and then add the full quote in small text elsewhere.

Or add the missing comma.

Shakes

2012-02-11 12:02:48 PM

Black people problems.

The Sybarite

2012-02-11 12:05:00 PM

put the quote on a bronze plaque and affix it over the horrible paraphrasing

MBooda

2012-02-11 12:05:14 PM

Are they going to replace it with this one?

"We have moved into a new era, which must be an era of revolution...The whole structure of American life must be changed...We are engaged in the class struggle."

jaytkay

2012-02-11 12:05:43 PM

AbbeySomeone: There was an article last summer gave specifics on the race of people attending National Parks. Blacks had the lowest attendance.
While I agree with Maya Angelou, there is no money for this project.

Good point. If you let them into the DC parks, next thing you know they'll get all uppity and want to see Yosemite and the Grand Canyon.

RedPhoenix122

2012-02-11 12:07:00 PM

Rapmaster2000: It's also a lot crappier. The full quote is significantly more interesting and insightful. Did this guy just get lazy?

He was paid up front.

Smurfme

2012-02-11 12:08:54 PM

You do not add the explanation in with a quote stupid people! A quote is supose to provoke thought. If they do this it's because they think blacks are dumb.

inflatedKarma

2012-02-11 12:12:04 PM

Removing the inscription now will amount to "defacing" the memorial or "scarring it for life" because any new granite added to the memorial would be a noticeably different color, said Ed Jackson Jr.

doesn't being concerned about it being a different color kind of go against his message?

Smokin' Mirrors

2012-02-11 12:12:20 PM

Moodswings - Spiritual High (Part 3)

Link (new window)

gweilo8888

2012-02-11 12:13:20 PM

Rapmaster2000: Did this guy just get lazy?

He was a drum maj. for abbr.

ThrobblefootSpectre

2012-02-11 12:13:26 PM

I don't recall Mao ever saying anything about being a drum major. They should replace it with something he actually said.

zamboni

2012-02-11 12:14:40 PM

Lsherm:

I mean, they have tons of space:

[img59.imageshack.us image 640x480]

Or, if that's actually a solid piece of rock (I'm pretty sure it is) they could literally grind down the stone to erase the inscription and write the full one somewhere else. You'd still have a weird area where you buffed it out, but it might look less obvious than cutting out a full plate and replacing it with a different cut.

There's a lot of room there still. If they even put something like "Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that" above the existing inscription. It would be a lot closer to the quote and more accurately reflect King intent without destroying/defacing it. Still not exact, but a compromise, if you will. Hey, they compromise on truth and reality all the time in Washington DC.

/Not sure there's enough room below it to put "And all of the other shallow things will not matter."

PsiChi

2012-02-11 12:15:51 PM

He was a great man, who deserves the full respect of this country, and that includes the way we present his memorial. I say the full quote is much better, and more fitting. Why don't we just make Tim Geitner pay his back taxes, and do the whole thing over?

I mean, FFS, we throw money at scumbags like George Bush and Dick Chicanery, through their pensions, shovel money at crooked banksters for ripping off the American people, and finance idiot energy companies that can't find their asses with both hands. WHY CAN'T WE FIX ONE FRICKIN' STATUE, PEOPLE?? IT'S NOT ROCKET SCIENCE!

/Channeling Sam Kinison, rest his screaming soul.
//Wow, he still has an official website: Link (new window)

Jefferson Biatchmagnet

2012-02-11 12:18:01 PM

PLUSH SAFE HE THINK

Ima4nic8or

2012-02-11 12:18:18 PM

This is an idiotic debate. Which is more important? That our momuments are accurate and truthful in their portayal of historical figures speech or that the colors match? Is that the actual question here? You are farking kidding me, right? As someone commented about the concen about the colors not matching is a bit ironic given the context.

jaytkay

2012-02-11 12:18:21 PM

MBooda: Are they going to replace it with this one?

"We have moved into a new era, which must be an era of revolution...The whole structure of American life must be changed...We are engaged in the class struggle."

I see you're pining for the good ol' days.

I_Can't_Believe_it's_not_Boutros

2012-02-11 12:20:08 PM

consciousNOT: And the stone is too white.

That stone should be judged not by its color, but by the content of its characters.

raanne

2012-02-11 12:20:38 PM

JerseyTim: Because the MLK memorial is only for the blacks.

qft

one of my pet peeves is when people think that someone who was the figure head for a movement that made the entire country better, somehow has nothing to do with them. Do you live in this country? Do you agree that this country is better after the civil rights movement? Then it has to do with you.

Barfmaker

2012-02-11 12:22:40 PM

She had served on a panel of historians to select inscriptions for the memorial before they were hand-carved into stone, but she did not attend meetings about the inscriptions

I can't get past this sentence, can I get a little help here?

DirtyDeadGhostofEbenezerCooke

2012-02-11 12:28:01 PM

raanne: ...Do you agree that this country is better after the civil rights movement?...

See, you are assuming that everyones' answer will be 'YES!', demonstrating that you just don't understand the bottom-feeding cracker demographic.

Therion

2012-02-11 12:35:18 PM

"biatch mangled my quote."

Lsherm

2012-02-11 12:37:04 PM

zamboni: Lsherm:

I mean, they have tons of space:

[img59.imageshack.us image 640x480]

Or, if that's actually a solid piece of rock (I'm pretty sure it is) they could literally grind down the stone to erase the inscription and write the full one somewhere else. You'd still have a weird area where you buffed it out, but it might look less obvious than cutting out a full plate and replacing it with a different cut.

There's a lot of room there still. If they even put something like "Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that" above the existing inscription. It would be a lot closer to the quote and more accurately reflect King intent without destroying/defacing it. Still not exact, but a compromise, if you will. Hey, they compromise on truth and reality all the time in Washington DC.

/Not sure there's enough room below it to put "And all of the other shallow things will not matter."

Actually, that's probably the best solution. You should email the park service, since I'd bet 10 bucks no one has thought of that yet. The park service wasn't full of geniuses when I was living there, so they can probably use the help. I remember when the Korean War memorial opened the design and care for it was so shiatty they had to close it for a few months a year after it opened.

jack21221

2012-02-11 12:37:22 PM

Am I the only one that can't really tell any substantive difference between the full quote and the paraphrase?

stiletto_the_wise

2012-02-11 12:37:31 PM

Eddie Adams from Torrance: [i236.photobucket.com image 320x231]

existens.org

maxheck

2012-02-11 12:37:40 PM

Rapmaster2000:

I see their point.

This:

"I was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness."

is not the same as this:

"Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter."

It's also a lot crappier. The full quote is significantly more interesting and insightful. Did this guy just get lazy?

More to the point, out of all the possible quotes from a rather quotable preacher, why did they choose to fark up this particular one?

jack21221

2012-02-11 12:39:58 PM

Rapmaster2000: It's also a lot crappier. The full quote is significantly more interesting and insightful. Did this guy just get lazy?

The full quote is virtually identical to the paraphrase! Can you please point out the differences, other than one has more words?

PsiChi

2012-02-11 12:41:31 PM

Rusty Shackleford:
If the quote won't fit...

If the quote won't fit, you must fix it.

/The statue, not the quote. Who approved the lame paraphrase?

Red Shirt Blues

2012-02-11 12:43:06 PM

Therion: [img823.imageshack.us image 466x237]

"biatch mangled my quote."

planes

2012-02-11 12:44:35 PM

I still think they should use a quote from the FBI surveillance tapes in that motel room," I'm farking for God tonight!" would be a good one.

MBooda

2012-02-11 12:44:58 PM

jaytkay: MBooda: Are they going to replace it with this one?

"We have moved into a new era, which must be an era of revolution...The whole structure of American life must be changed...We are engaged in the class struggle."

I see you're pining for the good ol' days.

1917-1989?

douchebag/hater

2012-02-11 12:47:09 PM

Besides the fact that the monument doesn't look like MLK the inscription is an edited version of what he said.

Farking allah, at least use the exact quote and if you have a problem using his exact quote you'rre a moran.

Displayed 50 of 130 comments