Show Me The Outrage

More than two weeks after the Wall Street Journal ran an op-ed by Debra Burlingame about the IFC and their left-wing agenda (published June 7, 2005), the NY Daily News finally wades into the fray. They have a problem with one of the other cultural groups that will be occupying the cultural spaces at the World Trade Center.

The group that draws the Daily News' ire? The Drawing Center.

There's a place in the world for informed political dissent. For that matter, there's a place for uninformed dissent. There's even a place for deep thinkers who can say things like "a death of otherness" with straight faces. But Ground Zero isn't that place. And The Drawing Center doesn't belong there.

The group is one of four cultural organizations that were designated for places on the 16-acre site in the thinking that they would bring life to the area. The plans put The Drawing Center at the heart of the site, in a building that would also be occupied by the International Freedom Center, a museum designed to commemorate man's march toward liberty.

Some 9/11 families are urging Pataki to remove the Freedom Center from Ground Zero, arguing that it's destined to become a venue for contentious political debate. We have pressed the Freedom Center's organizers to quickly clarify how they intend to fulfill the mission of creating inspirational, appropriate exhibitions. Pending further information, and hopeful that they succeed, we've withheld judgment on whether that museum belongs in the memorial.

We need no further information to reach a conclusion regarding The Drawing Center. The works it displays are already a matter of record. You've made a mistake, Governor. Fix it, please. Show these people the door.

Welcome aboard. Nice to see you.

Where were you more than two weeks ago when this mess first hit the press through an op-ed. This wasn't some investigative journalistic piece that took weeks to assemble. It was a story blown open because someone involved in the process took the time to look and see what was happening and realized that the cultural component of the project would dishonor all those killed.

But, while we're at it, where is the outrage of the Daily News, or any of the other local papers (NYT, NYP, Newsday) about the lack of progress on building anything of permanence at the WTC? Four years later and we still have empty promises, temporary structures planned or recommended, and nothing to replace the hole in the ground (or sky for that matter).

It is that story that should outrage everyone alike.

Technorati: World Trade Center, WTC, Pataki