… are carrying granite slabs inscribed (in both official languages) with the words rights, dignity and equality, just in case you forgot the monument’s omnipresent message. The words are also reiterated in “47 of the more than 70 languages of the First Peoples of Canada”, although why members of Canada’s First Peoples are especially important to “the historic struggle of all people of the world” (more so than, say, North Koreans, Iranians or Cubans) is lost on me. And why only 47? Are the other 23 not significant enough to be represented? Isn’t that sort of – what’s the word … unequal?
Sounds like the perfect memorial for the international human rights coalition. So enamored with the vague intention of “rights, dignity and equality” that they never bothered to consider the monstrosity they were creating.
And note, too, that dignity and equality are not “rights” in this construct, but are actually additional considerations that your rights must be compromised with. It’s not accidental. The Soviet sphere understood that it could justify the gross violation of its people’s rights if it argued that it was providing for their dignity and equality.
Thus, the fact that the monument looks like it would be right at home in East Germany circa 1970 is most appropriate.
Easter Island..Ottawa. Hmmm destroying a culture for vanity?
Nobody notices ugly art. I lived in Ottawa for two years, just a couple blocks from this monument – walked past it every day to work at NDHQ, and never paid it any attention. I had to see it on Streetview to remember it. It is very forgetable.
The concept of universal human rights is a crock. Ask any of the 3 billion muslims in the world if they think everyone is born equal.
The words are also reiterated in “47 of the more than 70 languages of the First Peoples of Canada”
I was taught that the “first peoples” had no written language. How can the words be reiterated on the monument? Phonetic spelling?
Fascist art looks the same no matter where in the world you find it, eh? Comes of making decisions by committee.
Kind of the modern day “golden calf” monuments which are there to remind us to look outward.
Blind leading the stupid.
I’ve only ever seen one abstract art installation that I considered to be beautiful. It was by sculptor Bill Epp, and was on Spadina Crescent, in Sasktoon, near the Mendal. About 4 glassy-surfaced “curvy” pieces, and the colour changed depending on the light in the sky. Wish it were still there.
Has anyone else noticed how foreign dignitaries can’t come to Canada without having to lend their credibility to every parking lot opening, new overpass or human rights monstrosity? It doesn’t seem to matter if it’s Mr Mandela, Mr Lama or HRM Queen Elizabeth II herself.
Maybe someday there’ll be a Canadian worthy of unwrapping the cornerstone for a new Tim Horton’s.
JSchuler is onto something. We saw many Soviet monuments in the Ukraine and Russia that looked like this. That tells you something about the mindset of the bureaucrats and politicians that oversaw this monstrosity.
Political correctness is the suicide note of western civilization.
Ham @ 3:58 PM, Amen.
I think the statue is a perfect mirror to political correctness. Both are hideous, contrived representations of what some people think life should be.
When my dad was at UBC studying education in the 60’s there appeared overnight a large number of cement “sculptures” around campus. There was no public acknowledgement of where they came from. After several months the engineers of the time issued a statement along the lines of “this are hideous and defacing our university and we are going to destroy them next Friday”.
A bru-haha resulted. The engineers made the rounds the following Friday and dutifully smashed every one of them. The artistic crowd howled even louder with outrage. A couple of weeks later the engineers stated, basically “why are you upset, we made those ugly pieces of ‘art’ in the first place, just so we could destroy them.” It’s my dad’s favourite prank.
Iowa Jim – one of the first things the missionaries did in northern BC was to derive a phonetic spelling for the local language in order to keep it from getting wiped out. I think you’ll find that all of the written languages in Canada (and almost all in North America) were similarly derived.
You all need to read From Bahaus to Our House by Tom Wolfe. A classic.
Several years ago, there were only three Aboriginal languages left that weren’t in danger of imminent extinction. In many, many of the ones that were about to be lost, there were only a handful of old people who knew the language. Most of the younger ones, especially those of school age, really didn’t give a sh!t about their ancestral language. So this fixation is just another pathetic attempt at political correctness and appeasement.
“I was taught that the “first peoples” had no written language. How can the words be reiterated on the monument? Phonetic spelling?”
In most cases, written versions were created and taught from outside, using either the Roman alphabet or a syllabic system. The only one I know of where a tribesman created it himself was Cherokee (although there may be others).