It seems that anything these days will spark controversy. I see no problem with it, personally. It's not hurting anything. September 11 Museum Sparks Controversy Source: Washington Post Published: May 19, 2014 Videos in the source link above.
Maybe not for you, but for those who've lost loved ones on that day, they feel like 9/11 is something that is more commercialized with these souvenirs rather than something to remember as a sad memory. Now I'm not saying the museum should have no souvenirs, but you gotta look at it at a different perspective to see why others are hurt by this, and I can understand why some would be bothered by this.
I wouldn' t mind the museum, the souvenir store (provided they keep it sobre) nor the cafe. Just because someone you know died there doesn' t make the place nor the event yours. However putting the victims remains there regardless of their dying wishes does seem insensitive. I know they aren' t legally binding per se, but still ... I get why the state would say "no, you cannot put him there", but I didn' t know they could say "no, you have to put him there".
It is now an historic event, it belongs to anyone and everyone. Museums built to keep the memory of historic tragedies alive are commonplace and needed. As much as I' d like those places to strive on love and fresh air alone, they don' t. What about those souvenir shops they mentioned in the article ? The ones that have already sold shirts for a decade. Did those spark controversy ? They don' t seem to care much about history lessons. What about the numerous movies, comics, tv shows and documentaries that I' ve seen giving their spin on it ? Pretty sure those made money. Personally I never buy that kind of "souvenir", I find them utterly tasteless.
If it's actually serving a purpose then maybe, but the wishes of the bereaved effectively boil down to "Not here." Is that so much to ask?
Where would you put the twin towers museum, in New Jersey ? Seems to be the most pertinent place of all. What I gathered from the article is that having the victims burried in the freaking museum is the problem, and that I can understand. Did they run out of cemeteries or something ?
Welcome to consumerist culture America, I'm glad you've finally arrived. Is this a real surprise? Everything is sold im America, a museum gift shop is the least of anyone's worries. Pretty much, yeah. This is at least this is a non-profit business, but the money made by people selling their stories to the paper, writing novels, making Hollywood films, how have they never been an issue, since they are most assuredly making a lot more money than a gift shop? Biased and one sided views by the tabloid and families of the victims, it appears. I also have less sympathy for the Horning family, since they've sued over this issue. They're complaining about the city making money off their dead son, so their responses is to want a cut of it? That's more shocking to me.
You'd be amazed... I'm old enough to remember what happened right after 9/11... Families of millionaires were asking for funds that were supposed to help the families of the poorer victims. (I.E.: The janitors/small business owners/firefighters.) So their children can go to private school and they can maintain the mansion and five jaguars they owned. Basically, to have the lifestyle they had before their husbands died. Hell, even the Red Cross took advantage of 9/11 by using a ton of donations for other causes when specifically advertising funding for 9/11. (Though the Director had a good point when he said: "The world doesn't stop spinning when four planes crash." At least in my view.) Or the movie about the flight that crashed into Pennsylvania. No one protested about that, and that made a ton of money, and it was historically accurate. Or the books... Etc... An interesting fact: A firefighter claimed in a documentary after 9/11 that the biggest piece of debris that he found was a keypad to a phone. That's not very big when you talk about body parts being shown. Maybe there were bigger pieces found, but I rely more on a firefighter than someone who's angry about the museum. I understand the reason for a gift shop. These museums are hideously expensive to run, and I wonder why no one protested about the Holocaust Museum, or most likely the Boston Marathon bombing museum that probably will come at some point. It sounds like it's being tasteful and it's keeping the expenses down while not charging a fortune for people to go in, or taking tax payer dollars to keep it running.
No, I'd put it somewhere nearby, not on the damned site. We don't know if the souvenirs are tasteful without seeing them, but they don't sound appropriate to me. And displaying unidentified remains sounds several degrees less tasteful than that.
I hesitate to say "too soon" since we're approaching 15 years... but it feels too soon. Idk. Sure I guess not everyone feels this way, but I have a harder time understanding the person who wants to go to this museum than the person who wants to make it.
