Who should be next on Mt. Rushmore?

[Cattledog]

15 votes, 11 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	Barak Obama
	6 (40%)
	FDR
	8 (53%)
	JFK
	1 (7%)
	Donald Trump
	0 (0%)
	Ronald Reagan
	0 (0%)
	11 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
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[JonLP24]

1. I think we should leave it up to the locals with what to do with the mountain

[leftieNanner]

2. None of the above. Shave it down to bare rock

And let the Native American tribe have it back.

[2naSalit]

6. +1

[spooky3]

15. Agree Nt

[CrispyQ]

18. This.

It's a blight on the land in multiple ways.

[RT Atlanta]

19. my thoughts have evolved to this position as well

Thanks to the guidance and listening to our Native sisters and brothers, especially the Lakota.

[dchill]

20. There you go.

[LakeArenal]

21. Yes.

[essme]

24. *This*

Hire some really good photographers, go out and record everything-- hand the photos and footage over to the Smithsonian archivists, and then ask the tribe that owns the land what they want us to do next.

[Newest Reality]

29. +1000

[csziggy]

33. [phone] nt

[lame54]

34. Can't get on board with that...

Sounds very Talibanish

[leftieNanner]

35. Yeah. Maybe not the shaving down part

I wish we hadn't done it in the first place.

[genxlib]

42. I am curious

Do you think this is true of Stone Mountain in Georgia?

More controversial due to subject matter
Same controversy of desecrating natural beauty
Less controversial due to not be Native American land

Honest question.

I agree that I would not scrub Rushmore but would like to find a way to make it right with the NA community.

However, I would like to see Stone Mountain gone.

[lame54]

44. Although I lived near there and heard of the monument...

I have never seen it

I don't think it is world famous like Rushmore

I don't have an opinion on that at this point

[genxlib]

45. I confess my family took me there when I was a kid

I thought it was neat because I didn't know any better.

There is a pretty good article about it up at Slate right now. The Taliban comparison comes up a lot in the comments.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/07/stone-mountain-georgia-confederacy-history.html

[JonLP24]

48. I hate these comparisons to the Taliban

The ideology of those sects they twist no idolatry to mean prevent idolatry.

Saudi Arabia Bulldozes Over Its Heritage

Though the Saudi rulers have a long history of destroying historical sites, activists say the pace and range of destruction has recently increased. A few months ago, the house of Hamza, the Prophet Muhammad’s uncle, was flattened to make way for a Meccan hotel, according to Irfan Al Alawi, executive director of the Islamic Heritage Research Foundation. There have even been rumored threats to Muhammad’s tomb in Medina and his birthplace in Mecca.



A 61-page report, published recently in Saudi Arabia’s Journal of the Royal Presidency, suggested separating the Prophet’s tomb from Medina’s mosque, a task “that would amount to its destruction,” Alawi says. “You can’t move it without destroying it.” Moreover, he alleges, plans for a new palace for King Abdullah threaten the library atop the site traditionally identified as the birthplace of Muhammad. Even now, signs in four languages warn visitors that there is no proof that the Prophet Muhammad was born there, “so it is forbidden to make this place specific for praying, supplicating or get [sic] blessing.”

Wahhabism, the prevailing Saudi strain of Islam, frowns on visits to shrines, tombs or religio-historical sites, on grounds that they might lead to Islam’s gravest sin: worshipping anyone other than God. In recent years, the twin forks of Wahhabi doctrine and urban development have speared most physical reminders of Islamic history in the heart of Mecca. The house of the Prophet’s first wife, Khadijah has made way for public toilets. A Hilton hotel stands on the site of the house of Islam’s first caliph, Abu Bakr. Famously, the Kaaba now stands in the shade of one of the world’s tallest buildings, the Mecca Royal Clock Tower, part of a complex built by the Bin Laden Group, boasting a 5-story shopping mall, luxury hotels and a parking garage.

Saudi officials did not respond to interview requests, but in the past, they have said that the expansion project is necessary to cater to the ever-growing number of pilgrims to Saudi Arabia, a number forecast to reach 17 million by 2025. When it’s done, the expansion of the mataf, the area where the faithful circumambulate around the Kaaba, will treble its capacity, to 150,000 people; the Great Mosque will be able to hold 2.5 million.

https://time.com/3584585/saudi-arabia-bulldozes-over-its-heritage/

I could explain more in detail but it isn't worth it. Apples & Oranges.

[lame54]

50. What are they going to build in South Dakota?...

Mt. Rushmore is the only reason people go up there

It's not even populated enough to build a Trader Joe's

[JonLP24]

51. I wouldn't do anything to it

I would just leave it up to local tribe.

[HotTeaBag]

56. The Black Hills area of South Dakota is one of the most beautiful places I've seen

in this country.

And there are plenty of people there, people who couldn't care less about Mt. Rushmore - or Trader Joe's.

[mantis49]

37. +1

n/t

[jeffreyi]

41. Indeed. And with a big apology. To people, to the earth.

[txwhitedove]

47. Exactly, thanks.

[Mossfern]

49. Ding ding ding!

Correct answer.

[GeorgeGist]

52. +1

[Voltaire2]

55. this

[PaulRevere08]

3. I would not be in favor of desecrating that site any more than

we already have.

[diddlysquat]

4. No one.

Return it to the native Americans.

[llmart]

5. No one.

I don't like bespoiling any land.

[Spider Jerusalem]

7. No-one

Mount Rushmore is as much a monument to the broken treaties and general fuckery of the United States toward Native Americans as it is to "great presidents". (Ask the Lakota how they feel about it.)

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

8. Nobody. They've already studied it and determined

that the remaining areas on the mountain are too unstable for another carving. Anyhow the Six Grandfathers belongs to the Oglala Lakota Nation and they should decide what, if anything, is to be done with it.

[Mike 03]

13. That's very interesting info.

I don't think much of Mt. Rushmore, but I voted for FDR, in the spirit of the post.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

9. How about we just leave it alone?

[JenniferJuniper]

11. plus 1000

[Greywing]

61. I concur!

[dflprincess]

10. Red Cloud.

Though he probably wouldn't approve.

[MyOwnPeace]

27. Have you gone the 17 miles to see Crazy Horse?

Quite amazing!

https://crazyhorsememorial.org/

[dflprincess]

32. The Lakota are divided about the Crazy Horse monument

Some like it, some do not.

As Crazy Horse spent his life trying to protect his people many do not think he would approve of the sculpture being carved into sacred land. Also, he never allowed his picture to be taken so no one knows what he looked like and so no one knows who is being carved into the mountain.

There are Lakota elders who think Crazy Horse's spirit will not let the monument be finished and, given that it was started in 1948 and is no where near complete, they may be right.

[MyOwnPeace]

43. Interesting - thank you!

This, like so many other things these days, certainly can take on many different concerns and ranges of thought.
Or, as you said, "some like it, some do not."

Again, thanks!

[niyad]

12. Nobody. Give The Six Grandfathers back to the Indigenous peoples.

And could we spell Pres. Obama,s name correctly?

[flibbitygiblets]

17. +2 (one for each point made)

[quickesst]

40. Uh-Oh....

"And could we spell Pres. Obama,s (Obama's) name correctly?"

Probably an innocent mistake. I read the latest threads several times a day and I have to wonder, does anyone use the preview feature before they post? I preview every one of mine because a glaring error in the preview is easily overlooked in the post. I just previewed this one.

[niyad]

60. I have several very annoying features on this machine, including a very weird spellcheck,

which does some very odd things.

[quickesst]

65. I have to be careful....

... with the tablet I use because I use speech to text for everything. It can come up with some pretty weird crap, but I do like the simplicity of the tablet.

[Siwsan]

14. Nobody

The desecration of that sacred mountain needs to stop.

[cayugafalls]

16. No one. It is not ours to decide anyway.

It belongs to the Oglala Lakota Souix based on the treaty of 1868.

We need to honor that treaty and let them decide what happens to the mountain.

[Budi]

22. No one. There's no place to put another face due to unstable rock formations

They already tried that but couldn't do it because of the unstable ground.

[PTWB]

23. We should try to return it to it's natural beauty.

Barring that, we should erase the white leaders and replace them with native Americans and persons of color.

[gollygee]

25. Let it revert back to nature

I wouldn't take it down but I wouldn't do any upkeep either. Eventually it'll look like a rock again. It can never look like it originally looked.

[NightWatcher]

26. Stop vandalizing sacred Native lands

[The Wizard]

28. Father Guido Sarducci.

[leftieNanner]

30. "finda the Popa inna the pizza."

[greenjar_01]

31. Nobody...tear the whole monstrosity down

Dynamite it and let nature take over.

Double that for fucking Stone Mountain.

[niyad]

62. The Six Grandfathers Mt. Is sacred to the Oglala Lakota Sioux. We have no more right to

Blow it up than we had to desecrate it in the first place.

[Caliman73]

36. No one.

That land belongs to the Lakota. We broke several treaties to steal it when gold was discovered. It needs to be returned and allow the Lakota to decide what to do with Rushmore.

I don't need to see statues and faces carved into a mountain to understand the history of my country, to admire the ideals, and acknowledge the problems.

[bdamomma]

38. Just leave as is

nt

[alphafemale]

39. Never again

A mountain should never again be desecrated like that.

Nature knows the best way to make mountains.

[Aristus]

46. There is no 'next' on Mt. Rushmore. It's not the National Portrait Gallery.

Put in your time, and get your mug carved in rock.

Hell no.

More and more, I'm coming to see the sculpture as a desecration of sacred land.

Since there's no way to undo it, I will accept it as a monumental, and not entirely appropriate, tribute to some iconic American statesmen. But there should be no more faces carved on the mountain. Even Barack Obama, whom I admire beyond the power of words to describe.

[Tom Traubert]

53. The thing should be blown up.

It’s an abomination. It should be removed, restored to as close of its natural state as possible, and returned to the Lakota Sioux.

[niyad]

63. Welcome to DU. How do you figure that blowing up a sacred mountain will return it to

its natural state? Have you read the comments here?

[Tom Traubert]

66. I'm not a demolition or restoration expert.

Hence, I stated that the rock face should be restored to as close to its natural state as possible. In my time on DU, I’ve noticed that people really to argue about petty nonsense and things of which they no nothing about. Why is that?

[niyad]

67. Funny. Your post started with Blow it up".

Interesting that you would say we argue about things we know nothing about. On what do you base that assessment?

[Tom Traubert]

69. Wouldn't you agree that . . .

If the statues were to be removed, they would have to be blasted, and the scree would then have to be removed somehow? I think you get my point.

[backscatter712]

54. Give it back to the Native Americans. That monument is on stolen land.

[First Speaker]

57. Cary Grant

[Jersey Devil]

58. The monument encroaches on tribal land in violation of treaties

Just read Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee again, first read it in the 70s. What our government did to native Americans was disgusting.

[hunter]

59. Rock.

What will this monument look like a million years from now?

Rock.

[misanthrope]

64. No one

Leave it alone already and stop defacing it.

[yellowcanine]

68. Yeah what many have said, stolen land. Give it back.