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It is astounding that this even needs to be said: "If Charles Krauthammer and Newt Gingrich think there is any comparison between what happened at Auschwitz and what happened at Ground Zero, then they are Holocaust deniers. Build 400 sets of Twin Towers, force an entire population into them at gunpoint, and then crash 800 airplanes into them-airplane after airplane, loaded with women and children, with the goal of exterminating their entire race-and you might begin to have something like Auschwitz.
Lower Manhattan is not Auschwitz."
So you can't have a "commercial viewing tower" by Gettysburg, despite the fact that that's probably the easiest way of viewing the recreated battles there?! Help me understand… In three sentences…
Also? "If you think David Paterson's endorsement makes a policy proposal more serious, you have disqualified yourself from any more discussions about New York. "
I love you, Tom Scocca.
It isn't at all relevant to the substance of the current debate, but the tower at Gettysburg presented a significant disruption to the battlefield's historic viewshed, which preservationists have sought to protect from development.
Yah, the only issue there was height (it would have been the tallest structure around). But it is relevant because it underscores how little people know about lower Manhattan. I suspect most think there will be minarets towering over the 'sacred footprints.' Given DCs fairly low cornice line requirement (which works about to about 11-13 stories), the '15-story mosque' probably sounds scary to the pundit and politicos who never made the 4 hour train ride to visit our hallowed site.
"It's so sacred that we'd rather have a Pinkberry there."
I mean… wouldn't you?
Opens mouth, places hand over it and giggles.
Do they sell t-shirts outside of Auschwitz?
No, no they do not. Auschwitz has, technically, two "gift shops" but they're mostly filled with the most heartbreaking books and memoirs ever written.
There is a concessions stand a short way away from the museum entrance that sells ice cream, which seems incongruous enough.
Of course Lower Manhattan is not Auschwitz. I did not hear a single Lower Manhattan joke during The Comedy Central Roast of David Hasselhoff.
Well done, Scocca.
Also, I would like to personally pay for plane tickets for every single person who thinks this comparison has even a grain of truth to it to go see Auschwitz for themfuckingselves.
Can I lie to get the free flight to Europe?
If you are willing to listen to me prattle on for hours upon hours about Poland during WW2, then lie away, good sir!
I would actually enjoy listening to you prattle on about Poland during WWII for hours upon hours, Cherri.
yes, sign me up also!
I would too.
Speaking of which, have you read "Berlin. The downfall 1945"?
FIELD TRIP!
@all – wow, I am incredibly flattered! thanks!
Also, I have not read "Berlin" but I've read parts of Stalingrad, by the same author.
Instead of Auschwitz and Poland, we could do a cheapie Ground Zero/Greenpoint trip.
I feel as though roasted peanuts would be in bad taste.
Deeply recommended for the chapters on How Ost Prussia, Pomerania and Silesia became, Warmińsko-Mazurskie, Zachodniopomorskie and Opolskie.
Oooh, will definitely look it up then. I spent a bunch of time in Zielona Gora and a bit in Olsztyn, and there's definitely a very different attitude in those places than in, say, Warsaw or Lodz.
What? I can't hear you over my iPod! Can I get another hot towel?
What is a permissible perimeter for sanctimony?
Sorry. Lost my Sanctometer in the Middle East.
You need a Sanctimonitor.
Rats. LAST. Nice one, KT.
It's all good; can't have a Sanctometer without a Sanctimonitor.
Does yours gently weep when you hit the "Find me" button?
Maybe Newt and Krauthammer saw Eat, Pray, Love this weekend and now assume that absolutely nothing compares to the tragedies located squarely within their frame of reference?
So you're saying we should call in James Franco?
Javier Bardem, preferably.
Speaking of, wasn't Abe supposed to review Eat, Prey, Love, or am I just imagining it?
Maybe! But maybe this will be a good primer for what we can expect from Abe:
http://www.pajiba.com/film_reviews/eat-pray-love-review-jump-up-my-ass-lady.php
Oh great, thanks. Now the anticipation is going to ruin my plans to actually work today.