I know, I know, I'm going to offend about eight million people in one city, New York City.
But I don't care.
I am speaking for much of the rest of the United States in why I am totally outraged about the people of New York City and their continuing bitching, moaning and whining about the 9/11 memorial and museum.
A lot of this fauxtrage is being fueled by a newspaper I generally like and recommend people to read, the New York Post.
What started the latest two rounds of fauxtrage is that people did not realize that this memorial and museum is not fully funded and endowed in perpetuity. Very, and I mean very, few institutions of this nature are. Thus, at the end of the museum portion, there is-THE HORROR!-a gift shop!
Yes, a gift shop somehow can not be had at the World Trade Center site where some of the 19 jihadists declared war on the United States and destroyed both the 110 story towers with large passenger planes.
It's sacred ground.
But you know what? The reason so many New Yorkers are up in arms is because this gift shop is selling a lot of items. A lot of FDNY and NYPD stuff. Oh yeah, they are selling scarves and dog vests and charm bracelets. Pretty much what any museum gift store sells.
According to many upon many that have commented, it's just not right.
Because it's sacred ground.
Of course what many of the opponents fail to mention is after the cost of having a gift store, such as paying for employees and merchandise, the rest of the money goes right back into the museum itself.
But the latest in the Fauxtrage express is that they are going to open a restaurant as well. It is going to be called the Pavilion Cafe and will seat 80 people. And the cafe is being run by a company called Danny Meyer's Union Square Events. And as a rep from the company told the New York Post, it is not crass commercialism but “(We’re just trying to) create a thoughtful experience and bring our hospitality [to the museum and visitors].”
But if people visiting the museum should not be partaking a horrible, commercial enterprise such as a gift store, surely they should not be eating there as well.
For it is sacred ground.
One would think that the unhinged reactions of the many commenter's to the gift store and the restaurant that the terrorist attacks only happened in New York City. Only to the Twin Towers as the World Trade Center was once known as informally. That there was not a successful attack on The Pentagon that killed people. Nor the heroic passengers of Flight 93 in Shanksville, Pennsylvania that crashed their plane to prevent an even worse assault. Nope, only Lower Manhattan, New York City.
First, let me explain something to the people expressing the irrational fauxtrage.
The 9/11 Memorial Museum cost money to build. The cost was $350,000,000. And while the federal government does provide $20,000,000 for the annual operating budget, that is just for the basics.
All museums have multiple revenue streams and not for profit. A lot of it is to keep the lights on. All museums that I have ever been to have at the very least a gift store and many have a restaurant.
Mrs. RVFTLC works at a very well known museum, botanical garden and research library all in one.
They are in the midst of a huge building project. It includes a new bookstore/gift shop, a coffee bar and a restaurant. Again all three entities get a percentage of money spent in the institution. And another revenue stream is memberships. Guess what? The dastardly folks running the 9/11 Memorial Museum sell tier memberships starting at $70 up to $2,000. There are incentives offered for people to become members. Even the Flight 93 Memorial site asks people to be "Friends Of Flight 93" and to donate. And it is ran by the National Park Service.
Like it or not New Yorkers, it is how museums are partially funded. ALL museums and some memorial sites.
Now let me get back to my earlier point about the fact that way too many New Yorkers not only take it as a personal assault to have a memorial museum, a gift shop and a restaurant. That somehow, what happened to them is the only thing that matters. That only they can grieve and the rest of the world just has to understand.
No, I will not understand it.
The arrogance of the average and majority of New Yorkers is on display.
And it is ugly.
I will never forget 9/11/01. I will never forget as my wife and our son were at Los Angeles International Airport as he was about to embark on his study abroad program in Paris. Hearing that the second plane hit the tower. Seeing it with my own eyes. Then the attack on The Pentagon. Then the take down of Flight 93. I will not forget that my wife and son literally had to escape the airport and they made it home. All while I was at work. I will not forget on that evening we went to church and prayed. And that at least I knew we would soon be at war.
New Yorkers, the rest of the United States, the fly-over country, the hick South, the Left Coast, we all felt like it was an assault on us as well. And many people from around the world felt the same pain. And three days later, then President George W. Bush standing on top of the World Trade Center rubble said what we were all thinking. That those who knocked the buildings down would hear from all of us soon.
We were all New Yorkers in those days and for a long time after.
But now you have ended all of that with your fauxtrage. Over a place where we can all take in what was once there. Where once we spend that time, we can purchase some memento or mementos of our visit. And maybe after a long morning or afternoon, grab a bite to eat. Knowing that all we do and the money we spend will go right back into the memorial museum. You don't get to hold it in your hearts only.
Again, New York City and most of its residents think that they are the world. Everything in this vast nation is New York centered.
Our politics, economy, media, sports and many other things.
As an aside, you know many of us don't really want to see the Yankees and the Boston Red Sox on every network that shows baseball games. For a change of pace, the Mets get thrown in. Yet I believe that the MLB Network is really the YES Network for that is almost all the games they will show. It is only an awesome Super Bowl if either the Giants or Jets are in it. If the Knicks don't get to the NBA finals, which they haven't for years, they guess the peons of Miami or Chicago can win it. And if the Islanders or Rangers don't make the Stanley Cup finals, then yuck! Some other team, maybe even a Canadian team, may win it all.
No New Yorkers, your arrogance is why the rest of the United States really does not like you. Since you look down on us, we can do the same to you.
The ridiculous reaction to the 9/11 Memorial Museum, the fauxtrage, is why many of us hate New York City.
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