Although I'm nervous to say this given your strong negative reaction... it doesn't bother me. Yes it's a red crescent but if you hadn't pointed it out to me, I would never have associated that shape with the Islamic crescent. I'm crazy about trees that turn red in the fall and think the strip of color would be awe inspiring and mirror the emotional intensity that's part of the site.

When the Vietnam Veterans memorial was built in DC there was a serious negative reaction to the winning design. After it was built many who hated it changed their minds because it's so beautiful.

Re, the Vietnam memorial, I was trying to say many disliked the design on paper and loved the real thing.

Alice:

Understand your reaction completely. Let me say this:

The Vietnam memorial was not in the shape of a hammer and sickle. This makes a huge difference. It was an argument about abstraction over realist art.

This is an argument over symbolism.

Please understand that symbols are extremely important. Especially in our struggle against the jihadists.

In America, where it's legal and quite fashionable to burn the American flag, the weight of symbols has steadily been eroded, thus we have been desensitized to their importance. But in the Muslim world, symbols mean, well, everything.

If this memorial goes up as planned, the Muslim world will see the Flight 93 Memorial as a victory for Islam and Jihad, as a sign that the 9-11 atrocity was, in fact, justified.

I know you might find this hard to believe, but you are thinking as a rational enlightened westerner. This, I believe, is a grave mistake.

Thanks so much for your valuable response.

I see what you are saying, but you could drive yourself crazy trying to manage their response, for lack of a better way of putting it. They, fanatical Muslims, see something nefarious behind everything.

If the trees had dainty pink blossoms there'd be Muslims claiming that the designer was implying that Muslims are homosexuals.

Alice:

I know what you are saying. When are we being rational and when are we being hysterical?

Good question.

I believe that in this case we are not overreacting. I truly believe that this is one of those tiny incremental steps where the jihadists will win a victory and we in the West will not even realize that we have been defeated. It's death by a thousand cuts.

Islam is and always has been an imperial religion. It was never spread peacefully, always through the sword and by stealth. Where Muslims live as a minority they are aggressive and dissident citizens. When they are in the majority they are oppressive and tyrannical to minorities.

We in the west must be on our guard at every cultural front, and make no mistake about it, this is a major front.

If there is any conflict,
as there is with the families,
then it is sick to pick
this design to be used
and an abuse to the memory
of the heroes of Flight 93.
It is a tainted design
as the Father said,
it is not a symbol
to honor those
who gave their lives
for the land of the brave
and the home of the free.

In situations such as this I err on the side of caution. Change the memorial- what harm does it cause to do so.

Robert,
Yes, I suppose that crazy people can read anything they want into something -- and Alice makes some good points along these lines. But isn't it interesting that these very same issues arose in respect to the morally neutral 9/11 memorial in New York City? There could be no doubt that the project had been hijacked by the morally neutral postmodern crowd.

And in respect to the Vietnam memorial: Yes, there was controversy there. And yes, many people ended up liking the morally neutral Vietnam memorial that we finally got. And what's the message of that memorial? It fits perfectly into the narrative that the Vietnam War was a complete waste, a shame, etc. -- not a sellout by Congress that snatched defeat from victory. This is the narrative that for years has become the accepted one in America and overseas -- and it's wrong.

Sometimes, even good people become so much apart of the poison around them that they no longer realize they are dying because of the toxin. Incidentally, Debra Burlingame has written a number of excellent in the Wall Street Journal and elsewhere about New York's proposed 9/11 memorial that was so controversial. She is the sister of the murdered airline captain whose jet was flown into the Pentagon.

I'm not trying to be difficult, promise.

Abstraction is a grand thing. It's much more open to interpretation. I suspect that's why designers who find themselves in the center of these storms go that way.

I'm reminded of the capital building in Raleigh, NC. The Vietnam memorial is three bronze soldiers, very literal and life-like, running across the lawn like they are under attack. Except that from the street the perspective gets all weird and it looks like tiny little soldiers are attacking the capital. Bad art. So bad.

Again, no disrespect to Alice, who is a Seraphic Friend and more importantly, one of the few people in the world along with yours truly, who publicly admits to watching, obsessing on, The Hills. But I have to say, this is an easy call for me. Why? Because of the crescent and what is symbolizes to our enemies. To me it would be like putting a swastika over a Jewish cemetery in Auschwitz.

Symbols are important, now more than ever.

Robert...YOU watch the Hills?

Cruisin Mom:

I knew The Hills would get a rise out of you:)

Don't get me started. I am so angry at Spencer. Karen says he's like a classic abuser, separating Heidi from Lauren, isolating her from all her friends. Laying all this guilt on her. Practically forcing her to move in. You mark my words, he's gonna beat up on her. Bad.

And what's with Audrina and Justin Bobby? How dumb is she? Okay, she's seriously dumb. She's also a bath mat. But his hair is lice-ridden for gosh-sake. We're talking shmutz. Euuw! I get itchy just watching him.

BTW, don't these kids have parents?

Just asking.

Like I said: Don't get me started.

Yes - and the important thing is how the enemy perceives the memorial, not how we see it. If we cave, it will be seen as further evidence of our weakness. I can see it being used as a propaganda tool, proof that the jihad is working. This will be a loss for us if it is not changed.

"I believe that in this case we are not overreacting. I truly believe that this is one of those tiny incremental steps where the jihadists will win a victory and we in the West will not even realize that we have been defeated. It's death by a thousand cuts."

Exactly right! Especially since the designer is part of the PC, multi-cultural, leftist intellectual fifth column that is in a tacit alliance with the jihadists. In this war, small battles count as much as the big ones.

In the aftermath of a such a horrific tragedy that was not isolated and not insignificant in its future ramifications for our country, the design seemed pretentious and so unrepresentative of the heroism of those on board Flight 93.

What's wrong with the simple suggestion made by one of Malkin's commenters of a granite stone engraved with those on board's names and 'Let's Roll' above the names? Standing next to this would be an American flag.

With the granite design, there is no question or suspicion or message or esoteric gibberish by a designer meant to take us to lofty heights. Just a solid, unyielding statement of quiet, enduring strength. This is how I want to honor people far braver than myself.

"The Vietnam memorial is three bronze soldiers, very literal and lifelike, running across the lawn like they are under attack."

With all due respect, that's not quite correct. Those three soldiers were added as an afterthought to the original memorial -- a black slab with the names of all the war dead. That slab reflected the Vietnam narrative to which I refer. The solders were added at the urging of those who disagreed with the narrative symbolized by the slab.

As to issues of rational vs. irrational thinking: I have been struck when traveling abroad -- or when dealing with criminal sorts -- that decent and egalitarian behavior can easily be interpreted as being a sign of weakness or of being a chump. I learned the hard way; I used to be a Democrat.

David- The first memorial I was talking about is the one in DC. Black stone with names.

The second Vietnam memorial to which I was referring is in front of the capital building in Raleigh, NC.

Robert, can you believe that even I don't watch the Hills? :) !!!!

CM:

What? You are missing the greatest show on TV. I'm talking genius! What is wrong with you? What, are you watching Ingmar Bergman movies?

Here's my message to the National Park Service - go and tell them what you think!

"Do NOT allow anything remotely resembling a "crescent", or any other shape that evokes, in any way, the religion of the four murderers of the passengers and crew of Flight 93.

To build the approved design is to spit on those who died, and in the faces of the loved ones they left behind.

Build a simple memorial to the heroism that prevented the loss of a major building in our nation's capitol, along with hundreds or perhaps thousands of lives. I have seen several suggestions on the Web, any one of which is better than the travesty that has been approved.

Stand up for America against her enemies....and militant Islam is, today, the enemy of America and every other freedom-loving people on earth.

No, NO, and "HELL NO!" to the memorial design that was recently approved!"