Arizona's 9/11 memorial has received national publicity and, in many cases criticism, for its inclusion of inscriptions that are more of a political statement than a memory of the dead.
In contrast, one reason why the Vietnam War Memorial is so effective is it can be comfortably embraced by supporters and opponents of that conflict and it contains no jibes at the nation itself. That wall would be far less powerful if it included angry statements made during that war. It would be even worse if it tossed in stuff from the general culture so amid the names of the departed we'd be reading the wisdom of Abbie Hoffman or Jefferson Airplane.
Arizona's 9/11 Memorial is, to put it bluntly, tacky. It includes sentiments likely to appeal to the anti-American crowd ["FEAR OF FOREIGNERS" "FOREIGN-BORN AMERICANS AFRAID" "YOU DON'T WIN BATTLES OF TERRORISM WITH MORE BATTLES" 06-03-02 CONGRESS QUESTIONS WHY CIA & FBI DIDN'T PREVENT ATTACKS]and more hawkish sentiments [PATRIOTISM PEAKS "MUST BOMB BACK"].
Those are bad enough, but then there are lines such as WELCOME TO AMERICA; GRACE OF PHOENIX MADE KIDS GIGGLE AGAIN; and 11-YEAR-OLD SOLD T-SHIRTS TO BUILD MEMORIAL IN GOODYEAR.
Picture the equivalent of those timeless words inscribed on the Lincoln Memorial or the Washington Monument: THEY CALLED HIM A GREAT APE. WOODEN TEETH.
The critics of Arizona's 9/11 memorial missed the target.
They frothed over its hand-wringing political tone.
They should have hooted at its lack of style and sensitivity. As memorials go, it's a velvet Elvis painting.
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