Althouse: "Here is essentially our tomb of the unknown. To sell baubles I find quite shocking and repugnant."

May 19, 2014

"Here is essentially our tomb of the unknown. To sell baubles I find quite shocking and repugnant."

"I think it’s a money-making venture to support inflated salaries, and they’re willing to do it over my son’s dead body."

Related: "Man Feeling Guilty About Chowing Down At 9/11 Museum Café."

23 comments:

cassandra lite said...: For years I've been expecting the Auschwitz Café, and have so far been delighted by its absence. Something either is or isn't hallowed ground.; 5/19/14, 5:46 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: They're right - it's sick and repugnant.; 5/19/14, 5:48 PM
Fandor said...: The word sordid comes to mind.

The horror! The horror!; 5/19/14, 5:59 PM
Gahrie said...: It is a museum, not a cemetary. It's not hallowed ground, it's a business park.; 5/19/14, 6:35 PM
Irene said...: Stalin World: if it takes amusement park rides, glasses with tyrants' images, or an interesting menu to draw people and remind them of what happened, then so be it.; 5/19/14, 6:52 PM
jimbino said...: Religious folks keep on trying to foist their "hallowed" and "sacred" nonsense on the rest of us.

They have holy water, bless their cars, pollute the planet with cemeteries and maintain all sorts of superstitious activities.

We non-believers cannot desecrate with gift shops or anything else that which was never sacred in the first place. Let the superstitious maintain their sacred sites in their own churches, where they belong, and stop inflicting their religion on the rest of us.; 5/19/14, 7:02 PM
Anonymous said...: Unless the names of the dishes are puns about the attack I have no problem with being able to buy food at a public place. I sometimes need to keep my blood sugar up even if I go to a museum. Creating employment and perhaps helping pay the expenses of the museum by providing a service people will pay for are worthy ideas, too.; 5/19/14, 7:06 PM
Ann Althouse said...: I'm more offended that it costs $24 to get into the museum.; 5/19/14, 7:13 PM
cassandra lite said...: @jimbino said: "We non-believers cannot desecrate with gift shops or anything else that which was never sacred in the first place. Let the superstitious maintain their sacred sites in their own churches, where they belong, and stop inflicting their religion on the rest of us."

So you're good with the Auschwitz Café?; 5/19/14, 7:41 PM
Jane the Actuary said...: I agree with you, Ann. What kind of bells and whistles, or million-dollar administrators, do you get for that price?; 5/19/14, 7:57 PM
m stone said...: This is not a religious exercise jim. Far from it. It is a secular altar, nothing less.

Christian altars point to God, only to God.; 5/19/14, 7:57 PM
Illuninati said...: I one of those who can't get worked up because the museum is selling a few trinkets as souvenirs.; 5/19/14, 8:43 PM
MadisonMan said...: $80 for a family of 4 to visit. And for what?

I wonder what the yelp reviews will show.; 5/19/14, 8:50 PM
Bayoneteer said...: I imagine that the family's of all those buried in the military cementary along my daily commute probably feel the same or worse. The young vets I see at the VA likely feel used and used up too, but they're mostly too classy to say a word. But this America where honor, a sense of duty, are looked upon as the traits of saps and dumbasses who's lives and limbs are a commodity for profit and political advantage.; 5/19/14, 9:14 PM
JAFC said...: Full disclosure: I am a volunteer at the museum. Years before the memorial opened on 9/11/11, there was a gift shop at the memorial preview site. Once the memorial opened, there was a gift shop for the memorial at 90 West Street. This is not new. You may like it or not, but you cannot say it just happened.

The museum will cost $60,000,000 a year to run. Admission fees are expected to cover 2/3 of that. If you have a plan to cover the costs going forward, by all means bring them forward and detail your plans to implement them. Otherwise you're just complaining, and nobody likes a complainer.; 5/19/14, 10:00 PM
CWJ said...: JAFC wrote -

"The museum will cost $60,000,000 a year to run. Admission fees are expected to cover 2/3 of that. If you have a plan to cover the costs going forward, by all means bring them forward and detail your plans to implement them."

If you've got an itemized justification for the $60,000,000 figure, by all means bring it forward. We can talk about revenue schemes afterward.; 5/20/14, 12:34 AM
FleetUSA said...: Mausoleums don't offer a food court and tourist shop. This is offensive, but I guess it is "New York, baby".; 5/20/14, 5:18 AM
Chris said...: Ann Althouse said: "I'm more offended that it costs $24 to get into the museum."

You are right, they should have charged $9.11; 5/20/14, 6:26 AM
CStanley said...: I think it's tacky, but it's interesting to consider that even in secular culture people can understand the need to carve out sacred spaces.

If this were an instance of religious people taking offense at the profane, wouldn't we hear the argument that "If you don't like this, then don't do it?" If you don't think it's appropriate to buy 9/11 chatzkis, then don't buy them, right?

But of course refraining personally doesn't address the environment of sacrilege.

On a separate note, a $60M operating budget sounds rather high, but why didn't the deal with developers include covering most or all of those expenses? And since that apparently didn't happen, it's still hard to believe that those ticket prices won't cover it. They don't expect over 3 million visitors per year, really?; 5/20/14, 6:34 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "If you've got an itemized justification for the $60,000,000 figure, by all means bring it forward."

Maybe it's security. The place is such an obvious terrorism target.; 5/20/14, 7:10 AM
Nichevo said...: The whole sacralizing (is that the wird?) of the site as was done should never have happened. They should have built right atop what was, with plaques and maybe a statue or such. Giving up that much New York downtown real estate to commemorate the handiwork of Neolithic savages was the biggest victory the terrorists will ever win.; 5/20/14, 7:57 AM
CWJ said...: Althouse wrote -

"Maybe it's security."

That's a good guess. But ground zero generally is an obvious terrorism target. So I'm not sure how much of that cost can be legitimately allocated to the museum alone.

Actually, the point of my coment was not so much to get a direct answer as to challenge the earlier commenter's cost-plus mindset.; 5/20/14, 8:32 AM
Xmas said...: Just thinking about the Museums-of-Terrible-Things I've visited.

The Holocaust Museum in D.C. does not have a gift shop. Though, the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg does have a gift shop. Oddly enough, they sell T-shirts emblazoned with the Apartheid-era "Whites Only" signs...

I was a bit gobsmacked at that one.; 5/20/14, 1:50 PM