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December 16, 2003
Air and Space Museum Opening Day in Dulles and Enola Gay Protests
Yesterday, the Dulles Airport annex of the Air and Space Museum celebrated its opening day. I've been waiting for a while for this to happen. So, imagine my surprise when I read that there was a protest over the installment of the Enola Gay at the museum. What was the protest about? Well, the documentation that explained the Enola Gay's place in aviation history (it being the plane that dropped the bomb on Hiroshima) did not include the information on the devastation it caused. I'm going to have to reserve judgement on this situation until I actually see for myself how much information there is about the devastation caused by the Enola Gay in Hiroshima. I'm reluctant to get involved in politically charged issues, but the point of the museum isn't to pontificate on the devastation caused in World War II. Rather, the museum is about celebrating the advancement of aviation and space technology. By launching these protests, we're losing the focus of our goals. There are museums that are specifically focused on the tragedies of war, for example, the Holocaust Museum. There is also at least one museum that showcases the catastrophic happenings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. As long as we're talking in that vein, how come there's no musuem outlining the Japanese atrocities of the 1930s in Nanking? Interesting point, isn't it? If you're not aware of this atrocity, read Iris Chang's book, "The Rape of Nanking".
Posted by Kathy at 01:15 PM | Permalink