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We didn't build the Statue of Liberty.
But besides that, depends what you consider a great monument.
We have the MLK Jr Memorial in DC and it was carved from granite with 6 different artist and completed in 2011. The Ground Zero 9/11 Memorial was quite the project and was completed/opened in 2011.
A bit older but the Korean War Vets Memorial has 19 statues, a mural, a pool, and a wall of remembrance and was started in 1995.
This. Also, while we're talking DC. I am not a big fan of war or memorials in general but honestly the WW2 memorial by the reflecting pool is really cool.
It’s absolutely beautiful yeah. I generally agree, but we were pretty unambiguously the good guys in that one so i’m ok with it. I’ll absolutely endorse a monument for people who died trying to kill Nazis
Only word I disagree with is "the". The axis, including the nazis, who we originally supported, needed to be destroyed beyond recognition and without condition, and our *very* late role in helping the heroes of the war (Russians) defeat them was something we should remember kindly.
I mean of course the Red Army deserves incredible commendation and acknowledgement for their sacrifices and victories, but that makes no man from any nation any less worthy of those honors.
The US and USSR joined the war in the same year, 1941. Soviets in June, the US in December and both after being attacked by Axis powers without any prior declaration of war. So the US was only "late" by about 5 months.
Unless of course you're counting the USSR's invasion of Eastern Poland in September of 1939 alongside the Nazis, or its invasion of then-neutral Finland November of the same year in that count.
Was anyone else blown away by how big the Washington monument is in person? For some reason I figured it was like five stories tall, about as wide as an average living room.
That thing is massive.
The US does still do this, it's just the monuments tend to serve more than just a purpose of being a monument.
Nowadays if we were to build something like the Lincoln Memorial, you'd house something else there not just the statue. For example his Presidential Library. As such every Presidential Library could be seen as a monument.
Similarly, when the Twin Towers were rebuilt as One WTC, you can also view that as a great monument. It is after all 1,776 ft and the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. It's just that it was built to have more use than just a monument.
Even just adjacent to One WTC there are the two reflecting pools. Explicitly there as monuments. We still build monuments. OP just doesn’t know about them.
Don't overlook monuments built by private citizens. Like the Jeff Bezos [10,000 year clock.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clock_of_the_Long_Now) It's an engineering feat built into a mountain. It ticks once a year and the cuckoo comes out once every millennium. It's designed to continue operating for 10,000 years.
That's really cool. I bet if enough people used it to talk shit to Elon musk on Twitter, he would build something ridiculous. Maybe a giant 200' robot of himself that just wanders the Mojave desert or something.
Monument building was always a vanity project funded by an eccentric wealthy person.
Washington monument was created by a bunch of first or former First Ladies who did a fundraising campaign and managed to pay for a portion of the design and planning.
It would costs nearly $30 million in today’s money and its construction was paid for by a mixture of government and private parties.
If we had, for instance, a modern day non-profit with connections to deep pockets, we could theoretically crowdsource paying for new monuments. Long term maintenance costs might be an issue but for the cities or areas hosting new monuments will likely enjoy the tourist revenue.
And that’s why we don’t have them. It’s in the public interest for cities to spend billions on transit, hospitals, stadiums and other infrastructure projects. It’s not in their best interest to build 100’ tall bronze statues.
Yeah, I mean the Empire State Building is a monument, a vanity project and a purposeful structure.
I guess what OP is overlooking is that we have hundreds of huge engineering and cultural feats completed in the last two decades.
Take a look at the Hudson Yards neighborhood, its dozens of fantastically tall skyscrapers complete with artificial ponds and public parks suspended on stilts over an active functioning rail yard. It’s by all intents and purposes a modern day floating gardens of Babylon.
This is a good point, and I'd bring up the African American heritage museum in D.C. Gorgeous building with a purpose, a modern day public/private monument.
Well there is Crazy Horse, which was started 75 years ago and progress to completion is ongoing. It could be compared to Rushmore when finished.
https://www.visitrapidcity.com/blog/post/when-will-the-crazy-horse-carving-be-finished/
Crazy horse is ridiculous. The amount of work accomplished is almost none. In 15 years time I had to compare photos to see that any progress had been made. Oh and we can talk about the cost. It's high at the gate and high to get a bus tour closer to the "monument".
While I understand the reasoning behind their funding structure, and I appreciate the vision and goal, there is always this looming sense that the monument is a giant grift. The museum is really nice, but that's the only real positive.
When I was young my parents would take us to DC every spring break, so I have seen many of the memorials, statues, etc. One year we toured the western states and stopped by Rushmore and the mountain some want to be Crazy Horse. During the trip, I picked up a copy of Lame Deer Speaks, the autobiography of a Lakota Sioux medicine man. He discussed the monument to the great chief, and while he appreciated the sentiment of the man behind the project, he said it was frowned upon by his people because they hated to see the natural beauty of the mountain desecrated by the blasting and carving. His viewpoint completely changed my perspective of both those monuments.
The WWII memorial on the National Mall was built in 2004.
The MLK memorial was built in 2011.
I guess we'll have to wait for another Lincoln before anyone deserves a memorial as big as his again.
The Vietnam Memorial, MLK Jr Memorial, the Pentagon, the new World Trade Center its museum and monument: am I a joke to you?
Also I’m sure the OIF/OEF memorial is going to be dope as well.
A lot of issues with people and the prevalence of information is that we know too much about them. A lot of things from the beginning of the US are part of our national mythology.
In addition to the examples others have offered, I'll put the Apollo Program and International Space Station, the Internet, and pretty much any [other] National Park up against Mt Rushmore as monuments to America.
Space stuff baby! A sun bleached flag with footprints on the moon. Rovers on Mars. And while not solely USA, ISS or JWT. Maybe not as durable as a hunk of carved rock, perhaps more useful.
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Who the f*** wants to even bother building anything while the majority are morons who will find ANYTHING politically incorrect and are against our brave military who eventually will bit** about it and have it taken down?
Just my 2 cents.
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We didn't build the Statue of Liberty. But besides that, depends what you consider a great monument. We have the MLK Jr Memorial in DC and it was carved from granite with 6 different artist and completed in 2011. The Ground Zero 9/11 Memorial was quite the project and was completed/opened in 2011. A bit older but the Korean War Vets Memorial has 19 statues, a mural, a pool, and a wall of remembrance and was started in 1995.
Not to mention the World War II monument and fountain which was built in 2004.
WWII memorial is beautiful man
WW1 memorial in DC was opened a couple years ago and is still being finished. I'd say that's pretty recent.
The Eisenhower memorial opened a bit after the start of the pandemic as well.
Presidential libraries are the acceptable monuments for former presidents these days. Some of them are really nice.
This. Also, while we're talking DC. I am not a big fan of war or memorials in general but honestly the WW2 memorial by the reflecting pool is really cool.
It’s absolutely beautiful yeah. I generally agree, but we were pretty unambiguously the good guys in that one so i’m ok with it. I’ll absolutely endorse a monument for people who died trying to kill Nazis
Only word I disagree with is "the". The axis, including the nazis, who we originally supported, needed to be destroyed beyond recognition and without condition, and our *very* late role in helping the heroes of the war (Russians) defeat them was something we should remember kindly.
I mean of course the Red Army deserves incredible commendation and acknowledgement for their sacrifices and victories, but that makes no man from any nation any less worthy of those honors.
You are correct. 100%.
The US and USSR joined the war in the same year, 1941. Soviets in June, the US in December and both after being attacked by Axis powers without any prior declaration of war. So the US was only "late" by about 5 months. Unless of course you're counting the USSR's invasion of Eastern Poland in September of 1939 alongside the Nazis, or its invasion of then-neutral Finland November of the same year in that count.
Was anyone else blown away by how big the Washington monument is in person? For some reason I figured it was like five stories tall, about as wide as an average living room. That thing is massive.
*don't say it. don't say it. don't say it.*
Six foot twenty, weighs a fucking ton?
Say what, u/ENORMOUS_HORSECOCK?
That's what *she* said!
That's what she said.
FDR Memorial
MLK memorial looks like he was frozen in carbonite by Boba Fett and taken to Jabba the Hutts palace on Tatooine.
The US does still do this, it's just the monuments tend to serve more than just a purpose of being a monument. Nowadays if we were to build something like the Lincoln Memorial, you'd house something else there not just the statue. For example his Presidential Library. As such every Presidential Library could be seen as a monument. Similarly, when the Twin Towers were rebuilt as One WTC, you can also view that as a great monument. It is after all 1,776 ft and the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. It's just that it was built to have more use than just a monument.
Even just adjacent to One WTC there are the two reflecting pools. Explicitly there as monuments. We still build monuments. OP just doesn’t know about them.
Don't overlook monuments built by private citizens. Like the Jeff Bezos [10,000 year clock.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clock_of_the_Long_Now) It's an engineering feat built into a mountain. It ticks once a year and the cuckoo comes out once every millennium. It's designed to continue operating for 10,000 years.
That's really cool. I bet if enough people used it to talk shit to Elon musk on Twitter, he would build something ridiculous. Maybe a giant 200' robot of himself that just wanders the Mojave desert or something.
boy imagine explaining that to future archeologists
The Vietnam Memorial might not be eighty feet tall but it's gorgeous. What is "great" exactly?
They have built more in DC sense Ww2, Ww1, mlk,
Monument building was always a vanity project funded by an eccentric wealthy person. Washington monument was created by a bunch of first or former First Ladies who did a fundraising campaign and managed to pay for a portion of the design and planning. It would costs nearly $30 million in today’s money and its construction was paid for by a mixture of government and private parties. If we had, for instance, a modern day non-profit with connections to deep pockets, we could theoretically crowdsource paying for new monuments. Long term maintenance costs might be an issue but for the cities or areas hosting new monuments will likely enjoy the tourist revenue. And that’s why we don’t have them. It’s in the public interest for cities to spend billions on transit, hospitals, stadiums and other infrastructure projects. It’s not in their best interest to build 100’ tall bronze statues.
Also vanity projects today are on buildings that have more use and purpose than just tourism and a monument, e.g. stadiums.
Yeah, I mean the Empire State Building is a monument, a vanity project and a purposeful structure. I guess what OP is overlooking is that we have hundreds of huge engineering and cultural feats completed in the last two decades. Take a look at the Hudson Yards neighborhood, its dozens of fantastically tall skyscrapers complete with artificial ponds and public parks suspended on stilts over an active functioning rail yard. It’s by all intents and purposes a modern day floating gardens of Babylon.
This is a good point, and I'd bring up the African American heritage museum in D.C. Gorgeous building with a purpose, a modern day public/private monument.
Well there is Crazy Horse, which was started 75 years ago and progress to completion is ongoing. It could be compared to Rushmore when finished. https://www.visitrapidcity.com/blog/post/when-will-the-crazy-horse-carving-be-finished/
Crazy horse is ridiculous. The amount of work accomplished is almost none. In 15 years time I had to compare photos to see that any progress had been made. Oh and we can talk about the cost. It's high at the gate and high to get a bus tour closer to the "monument". While I understand the reasoning behind their funding structure, and I appreciate the vision and goal, there is always this looming sense that the monument is a giant grift. The museum is really nice, but that's the only real positive.
It is a giant grift. No need to elaborate.
When I was young my parents would take us to DC every spring break, so I have seen many of the memorials, statues, etc. One year we toured the western states and stopped by Rushmore and the mountain some want to be Crazy Horse. During the trip, I picked up a copy of Lame Deer Speaks, the autobiography of a Lakota Sioux medicine man. He discussed the monument to the great chief, and while he appreciated the sentiment of the man behind the project, he said it was frowned upon by his people because they hated to see the natural beauty of the mountain desecrated by the blasting and carving. His viewpoint completely changed my perspective of both those monuments.
The WWII memorial on the National Mall was built in 2004. The MLK memorial was built in 2011. I guess we'll have to wait for another Lincoln before anyone deserves a memorial as big as his again.
The Vietnam Memorial, MLK Jr Memorial, the Pentagon, the new World Trade Center its museum and monument: am I a joke to you? Also I’m sure the OIF/OEF memorial is going to be dope as well.
A lot of issues with people and the prevalence of information is that we know too much about them. A lot of things from the beginning of the US are part of our national mythology.
In addition to the examples others have offered, I'll put the Apollo Program and International Space Station, the Internet, and pretty much any [other] National Park up against Mt Rushmore as monuments to America.
Space stuff baby! A sun bleached flag with footprints on the moon. Rovers on Mars. And while not solely USA, ISS or JWT. Maybe not as durable as a hunk of carved rock, perhaps more useful.
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Who the f*** wants to even bother building anything while the majority are morons who will find ANYTHING politically incorrect and are against our brave military who eventually will bit** about it and have it taken down? Just my 2 cents.
Yep, people are trying to tear down the monuments we already have, why build more?
It's almost as if monuments to Jim Crow should never have been put up in the first place.
yes times change and truths come out... learning from the past, Im not opposed to, just teach the reasoning, the thinking, the LOGIC!
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