Spyke
lemmy.ml

That was intentional, the klansman who built it didn't choose a place that was culturally significant to the indigenous people by accident.

155
slrpnk.net

I'm not American, but the isopods that live with me under the same rock weren't aware that this was made by Klansmen

51
Beaconreply
fedia.io

iirc they ran out of money and weren't even able to make it look the way they intended. Like they planned for it to have a 5th face or wanted to do full bodies or something like that but they couldn't get it done

52
Nomecksreply
lemmy.ca

They didn't bother to check what the mountain was made of. The answer was granite.

41
H1jAcKreply
lemm.ee

They thought they knew what it was made of, but took their assumptions for granite

42
koperreply
feddit.nl

Are you saying granite? It's granted, with a D. Take things for granted. Did you actually think it was... Jesus Christ Rick, what are you a boulder, a rock person? How long have you been saying that wrong?

What, you can erase my memories?

5

It's a common rock pun, saying granite instead of granted.

1

From my understanding, they didn't do the planned 5th head because of structural integrity issues with the stone. But yeah there's probably something to that lack of funds situation as well.

🤷‍♂️

5
itslilithreply
lemmy.blahaj.zone

The boogaloo in question stems from the same meme you're quoting and is a second civil war. Fun stuff

11
kautaureply
lemmy.world

Yup that’s why I linked to it, for reference

8

Figured you're familiar with their ideology, I just wanted to point it out again to anyone with even the slightest bit of doubt as to what fascists are planning for the coming years

4
lemmy.world

I know this is an unpopular opinion, but statues of real people are cringe… and Mount Rushmore is basically maximum cringe by that measure.

100

Reminded me of this song (which is german) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aC872j2-PDw

Im gonna try translating the most relevant section:

Get the sledgehammer out, they built us a monument and every idiot knows that this destroys all love/charm. I will hire the worst sprayers(graffiti artists) of the city so that they may further deface the leftover rubble the same night.

28
TexasDrunkreply
lemmy.world

Or the Statue of Unity! Even Christ the Redeemer is taller than Mount Rushmore.

7
Crozekielreply
lemmy.zip

Wait. You're telling me they didn't even fucking finish it and people are still mad about the idea of losing it?

30

Ran out of money. It would have been cleaned when they did the bodies, but instead they finished the faces and said “better than nothing”.

Sucks that they were such racists that did this.

3
fedia.io

I've seen them before and they are ugly. None of them would have wanted their face there so who is actually being honored?

48
PugJesusreply
lemmy.world

While Teddy was the self-aggrandizing type who probably wouldn't have objected to having his face carved into a mountain, Rushmore wasn't even proposed until long after Teddy's political career was over.

34
lemmy.blahaj.zone

I dunno, Theodore was also a reknowned appreciator of natural beauty, so I could see it going either way.

55

Yes, he protected land like this from developers. He's the reason we have national parks. No way he would have approved this.

56

It should be given back to the natives, with reparations. I wouldn't be surprised if they wanted to remove the faces and attempt to restore it.

45
ealoereply
ani.social

We'll start by giving them back your house

-27
PugJesusreply
lemmy.world

Hey, guess what - wanting a historical wrong to be corrected by having a polity live up to its treaty obligations, however belatedly, by ceding a piece of land on which a rather ugly monument exists on and telling the original owners 'do what you want with it' is not the equivalent of volunteering for ethnic cleansing.

68

Might be a cool opportunity to build cohesion even. What if we (in consult with the Lakota whose land it annually is) build in a few cool people from other tribes too (e.g. chief Seattle, and others from all over the country). That could make it feel more like a monument to all of us.

Generally not a fan of defacing nature though. There's a joke in there somewhere but it's too early.

3
zaphreply
sh.itjust.works

If that's what it takes to make reparations happen I'll gladly give mine. Thankfully that isn't what reparations would require so you just look like a racist asshole.

42

Another example of why downvotes are sometimes necessary. All they'll care about is the six people that agreed with them

11
sopuli.xyz

I just went to the black hills area and I MUCH preferred the Crazy Horse memorial. If you hate Rushmore then I think you would love it too. It actually means something, looks cooler, and isn't funded by the government.

I find it interesting that nobody else had mentioned it.

39
PugJesusreply
lemmy.world

I don't mind the Feds funding art. I only mind them funding shitty art that violates local customs and treaties with sovereign tribes. Like, zero redeeming qualities here with Rushmore.

37

Not sure who downvoted you two times or why.

People down vote the strangest things

3
Sydreply
lemm.ee

The same guy designed both.

-1
Sydreply

You're right, I was wrong. He was an assistant to the sculptor of Rushmore.

1
lemmy.world

Me too. I went there when I was 10 or 11, and as a child all I noticed was how incongruous it was with everything. I wasn't awed by it, and my parents seemed sort of put out with how I didn't care for it compared to my sisters.

I'd like to pretend that's some kind of deep political sentiment, but really I think it's just aesthetically displeasing if you don't have a thing for monuments

28

I dunno, I have a thing for monuments and I still find it aesthetically displeasing. It's pretty ugly.

20
lemmy.world

Adults get weird when the indoctrinating they and society put so much effort into doesn't take hold. So much so, that they find some mental illness like Autism to label the child with.

16
lemmy.world

I did not imply autism doesn't exist. I implied that kids who don't fall in line with their social programming run the risk of being diagnosed with autism as it's easier then reflecting on where or not the programming is correct.

7
baggachipzreply
sh.itjust.works

“Neuro-divergent” seems to be the catch-all today. Though I guess that’s considered on the spectrum too? Anyway, the majority of these cases seem to be “diagnosed” by YouTube parents.

4

I was diagnosed by an over ambitious child study team member in kindergarten that convinced my mother I had a learning disability. What followed was 13 years of wasted public education because every success proved the program worked and every failure proved the program was necessary.

If it had happened today, I would have been diagnosed with autism and nothing would be better.

1
lemmy.world

Did I studder? If kids don't respond the way adults want them to, they get labeled as being a Problem.

4
WldFyrereply
lemm.ee

That makes more sense, I just didn't get why you mentioned autism in your first comment. Seems like an odd take to me.

5

Same here. If you have no attachment to the figures portrayed, it fails at the kind of gravitas that you'd think an entire mountainside would/should command. It's a strange thing.

2
kaboom36reply
ani.social

I remember one of the massive air compressors they had on display there better than the monument itself...

Though I am a giant nerd for that sort of thing so it might just be me

15
Dr_DOOM_reply
lemmy.world

Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!...... What kind of psi? You said massive, was it mobile? Did it have any mods?..... I need to know!

9

It was years ago so I don't remember most details, I can't remember anything about pressure, it was stationary, single cylinder, with a flywheel at least 6 feet tall and I don't think it had any modifications made I would have loved to see it running but I don't think it had been ran in at least a 70 years

5
lemmy.world

Even as a young child I was very disappointed seeing it in person. Very underwhelming. The only cool part I thought was looking through the binocular things and spying on other tourists. I was an odd kid whatever

33

Same thing with seeing the Mona Lisa in person. It's a very small painting against the a far wall in a special room, and that room is packed shoulder-to-shoulder, asshole-to-elbow shithead tourists. Kinda cool to see it in person I guess, but not really worth the effort

16

The only cool part I thought was looking through the binocular things and spying on other tourists. I was an odd kid whatever

Yes, that is indeed extremely strange behavior. I don't believe that it has ever been reported before /s

3
lemmy.world

Mt Rushmore is a very good symbol of the US in that way. Looks impressive in marketing and media, but tacky and small IRL

24
smbreply
lemmy.ml

i think its also a very good symbol of how the US just forgets about even their very own laws at a snap of a finger and that no nation in the world (not even the us itself) can ever trust them with anything. like for example the so called freedom of religion when we're at the Sioux Blackbhills anyway.

5

You have to park in a garage and walk down a narrow path lined with people trying to sell you shit. Its more like visiting a mall with aggressive salesmen than a national park. It was the worst stop I made during a cross country road trip.

4

even the entire story around its creation is fucking lame. if this were in any other country, it would be used in 80% of American action movies as a symbol of the oppressive foreign country that's about to attack the US.

20
lemmy.world

Controversial Opinion: Giant statues are cool and we as a species should make more of them.

20

100% agree, expect for this one, which was carved into mountains stolen from the local natives.

5
LwLreply
lemmy.world

Yep. Honestly while it doesn't look amazing it's still kinda cool. Its history is just fucked up and not something I'd wanna celebrate.

4

Yeah. I wouldn't make it now, but I don't want it destroyed either.

1
lemmy.world

I agree actually. There are tons of mountains. Not many have human faces. That's impressive. It's obviously pretty hard to get someone to allow you to carve a mountain not to mention how hard it is to carve a statue in the first place.

1
lemmy.world

Well umm... actually its sacred land to the native americans and the US government just did that anyway despite acknowledging it as indian land to this very day and repeatedly trying to buy it off them to give themselves retroactive approval. So less 'allowed to carve' and more like spraying graffiti on a church on an enormous scale.

8

Well being an atheist, I don't really concern myself with sweeping declarations of "spiritual dibs" on whole mountain ranges. I think it's just another way people use their religion/spiritually to restrict others.

What happened to their ancestors is done. Saying you have a particular attachment to a mountain that supercedes everyone else's attachment is bullshit.

2

We should give back that to the natives, alongside with some TNT in case they want those faces to go.

15
lemmy.world

When I first saw the Statue of Liberty I was genuinely amazed at how small it was 😂

11

It's not that small considering it was both free and had to be taken apart to fit on a single ship lol

18

What did you expect? I never saw it in person but looking at Wikipedia, that's a large-ass statue.

1

I bet if you fashioned a garrote out of dynamite, you could do some pretty funny modifications to this "art".

10

I thought they zoomed in on the faces so you could see them

8

Reminder, we have this "monument", but Thomas Paine is still without anything in DC.

6