What's new

Notre Dame on fire

Have you ever had your family starved and forced to leave their country because they spoke out against the church? So a cleric can sit in a temple made of gold? I have, I'm not going to pretend this organisation is anything but what it is. I haven't got a problem with Catholics just the church, place like Notre Dame serve to reinforce the power of the institution, the more diminished their power is in society the better for all of us.

I have no idea what your anecdotal story has to do with this.

But Notre Dame isn’t just a cathedral. It’s one of the greatest architectural wonders of Europe. The art held on the inside and depicted on the outside walls is priceless. It literally is at the center of Paris. Emperors have been crowned there. This isn’t about “sticking it to some institution” that you disagree with. It’s about (1) showing basic respect and empathy to humans living in the county that was our country’s first ally and (2) giving value to religion, history, and art.

Sure, we could look at everything pessimistically. We could dismiss the Statue of Liberty as a hunk of metal that represents a corrupt and sometimes destructive institution.

The Salt Lake Temple is tons of granite stone that represents an institution of patrimony. We could ignore the blood, sweat, and tears of those who built it as foolish and naive clowns brainwashed by a conman. But why do that?

We could dismiss the colosseum, the Mayan temples, and the Pyramids of Giza as old lousy pieces of stone that represented ridiculous religious beliefs and cheap entertainment. Horrific scenes of depravity and cruelty occurred at these places. Shouldn’t we want to wipe them clean from the map?

But what kind of humans would we be? What kind of life would that provide us?

I don’t expect you to change. But please understand, most humans on this planet, especially the nonreligious (France is one of the most secular nations on earth) see value in Notre Dame Cathedral and are not cynical and pessimistic towards culture, as you are. Maybe your anecdotal experience would serve you better by focusing on the positives of human interaction rather than the negative. I’m sure surviving your ordeal required the sacrifice and kindness of fellow humans.
 
Last edited:


LOL. Though it's a laugh tinged with sorrow (and hope... always hope)

on a related note, Chicago is BIG Noter Dame territory (as in the University of...) and several times on the radio the newscaster has said "NOTER DAME" and then quickly correctly themselves to say "NOTRE DAHM"

interesting bit of history, in today's WSJ (I'll try to link) they mentioned that the supporting roof timbers were each hewn from individual oak trees when the roof
 
Our values are sadly skewed. I agree with this biologist:

"Yesterday tragedy struct as Notre-Dame burnt down. At the same time the last female Yangtze Softshell Turtle died.
Within 24hrs over €600million has been pledged to rebuild an icon of imagined reality yet the extinction of another species has gone with barely an acknowledgement let alone the pledge of millions of Euros to halt or at least slow the current mass extinction event.
We place a ridiculously skewed value on objects that are far from essential to our (Humans) survival yet watch as ecosystems rapidly degrade to the point of collapse - at what cost to humanity?
I value both our cultural and natural history but it’s essential to remember and value planetary integrity over symbolism".
 
Our values are sadly skewed. I agree with this biologist:

"Yesterday tragedy struct as Notre-Dame burnt down. At the same time the last female Yangtze Softshell Turtle died.
Within 24hrs over €600million has been pledged to rebuild an icon of imagined reality yet the extinction of another species has gone with barely an acknowledgement let alone the pledge of millions of Euros to halt or at least slow the current mass extinction event.
We place a ridiculously skewed value on objects that are far from essential to our (Humans) survival yet watch as ecosystems rapidly degrade to the point of collapse - at what cost to humanity?
I value both our cultural and natural history but it’s essential to remember and value planetary integrity over symbolism".
Yep.
Sad

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using JazzFanz mobile app
 
Our values are sadly skewed. I agree with this biologist:

"Yesterday tragedy struct as Notre-Dame burnt down. At the same time the last female Yangtze Softshell Turtle died.
Within 24hrs over €600million has been pledged to rebuild an icon of imagined reality yet the extinction of another species has gone with barely an acknowledgement let alone the pledge of millions of Euros to halt or at least slow the current mass extinction event.
We place a ridiculously skewed value on objects that are far from essential to our (Humans) survival yet watch as ecosystems rapidly degrade to the point of collapse - at what cost to humanity?
I value both our cultural and natural history but it’s essential to remember and value planetary integrity over symbolism".

Thank you for that. Great perspective.
 
Top