What if a president really loved NASCAR so much that a race track is built in his or her honor? What would that say? An article titled Hawaii Hopes To Be Survivor In Competition To House Obama Library, the journalists report the story surrounding the process of choosing a location for the president’s “lasting legacy”. The Obama Foundation is leading the decision making and it seems the list of possible choices include Honolulu, Chicago, and New York along with other unnamed locations. I start to think of other buildings, airports, etc. named after passed U.S. president’s and what they perhaps accomplish with their existence. Why is it important for a president’s name be on a national monument, historical building, library, or airport?
Let’s for the sake of this blogpost wrap all these difference things that are named after president’s and call them “locations”. These locations cast messages to the people who would visit them, study them, talk about them. If one were to visit the Barrack Obama library 100 years from now they would be totally disconnected from the man who is presented to the public every single day. Not here in 2015 to experience his decisions and his interviews in real time in the real context of the here and now. I would like to assume the United States would be around in 100 years, and hopefully these locations still exist and endure the test of time. Totally disconnected is somewhat of a stretch, they may have materials presented to them to help make sense of what they are looking at, experiencing, and visiting. I will most likely not be around in the year 2115, my control over what is given to youngsters visiting Barrack Obama library will be zero. But who will? What will they say? How accurate is it?
I am making the observation that these significant locations and creations that are in existence today will be interpreted by those who exist in the future according to their own standards, circumstances, etc. To build these locations resemble what perhaps the public (or what the government decides for its public) opinion of its leaders and what the present generation wants future generations to think. Whatever the present is meant to be is exactly up to the individual.
Article Credit: http://edition.cnn.com/2014/12/31/politics/obama-library-hawaii/index.html
Photo Credit: http://pixabay.com/en/mount-rushmore-national-monument-269490/
misconstructed fallacy 