Not your typical front lawn decor

threefates wrote: And the only American's I know who have lost their patriotism while living abroad are the ones worried about their lives...  Maybe you've lost your patriotism because you're so connected to Friede that you don't actually see the world thru your own eyes any longer...

Believe me, it's true. I even heard a radio feature about it.

Snow Dog wrote: How can someone with the twin towers on their lawn be disgusting? I don't see your point at all lBaldfriede! The worse thing is your comment about missing the aeroplanes, not the towers.

Perhaps as an American who has lived in Germany for 12 years now (11 of them with Friede) I can shed some light on why this image is so disgusting for Friede. Most Germans (and Friede is no exception) hate all forms of outwardly displayed patriotism (and this monument seems to be a display of that); the farthest they will go is supporting their national soccer team. This is a little difficult to understand for Americans who usually are very patriotic, but there are historic reasons for it. Germans make patriotism partially responsible for the outbreak of 2 world wars. Anyone who expresses patriotism in Germany is automatically suspected to be an extreme right-winger. For Germans patriotism is a stupid and blind emotion.
Americans on the other hand are usually very patriotic, and anyone who is not is suspected to be an extreme left-winger, making most Americans want the committee against Un-Americanism from the 50s back again.
Americans who live in Europe tend to lose their patriotism over the years, by the way. It is the same with me. Looking at the state the USA currently is in, with civil liberties radically restricted, an idiotic war in Iran that eats into the budget, thereby wasting money that could be used for a lot more important causes, like education and public welfare, the budgets for arms and secret services way over the top too, and my former fellow countrymen- and women re-electing Bush nevertheless makes it hard to remain patriotic.
Anyway, I hope this makes it clear why Friede felt a little uneasy at the sight of this monument. Her comment about the airplanes was ironic. She simply topped something that was disgusting in her eyes with more disgust, a technique used by many satirists.
And now enough on this topic.

The actual existence of them doesn't offend me in the slightest, if I ignore the reasons why it's there - it's a part of history. To me it would be like getting offended by Guy Fawkes day, or Trafalgar day for that matter. It's a fairly silly thing to do (and to laugh at such an event I find obnoxious, don't get me wrong), but the actual picture itself (minus aeroplanes, anyway) doesn't bother me.

Edited by goose

Tony R....you are absolutely insufferable but I still love ya anyway.

Man With Hat wrote: Not really. He could be expressing that he loves the United States, as a sort of unoffical memorial to all that died that day. Granted I would never do something like that, and even though all this sh*t that is happening i still love the grand USA. And that is really inappropiate (Directed towards BaldFriede). And the same could be said to Tony R, but being it wasn't his idea i shall not.

It's kind of what I was thinking as well. It would help if he put some plaque on it or give a reference somewhere what they stand for, but oh well. Perhaps he is trying to remind a timid America at what we lost to these barbarians and we must never forget and never relent with or need to eradicate these sadistic terrorists.

I sincerely doubt anybody would question that it would be disgusting if I had a model of Auschwitz or Dachau on my front lawn. And I would not grant anybody the excuse he only wanted to commiserate the people who had been killed in these concentration camps. Then why is it ok to put a model of the twin towers on the front lawn? To commiserate the victims in there? Sorry, but it is above my head why anybody would put such a tasteless thing on his front lawn.

Edited by BaldFriede

It would actually be funnier if the towers were burning, and little GI-Joe action figures were seen falling from the highest floor.

 

(Sue me.)

Sweetnighter wrote: I got this picture off of a thread from SomethingAwful.com, of which i have recently become a forum member. There is a 100+ post discussion on this picture... not on its morality, or on why its there... but on how best to fly two remote control airplanes into the fake towers. They're discussing dressing people up as airplanes and videotaping themselves bodyslamming the towers as well. Just to give you an idea of how big these towers are, look at the house behind them and compare height. These towers are a good 20 feet tall. Because they have stood on the front lawn of this person's house for a few months, they must be made of something very durable, such as hardwood or metal. In this discussion, people have  contributed money, suggested planes, suggested ways to napalm the towers by packing RC planes with Styrofoam and Gasoline, suggested buying a cheap $200 sh*t car to dress up as a plane, and have considered filming whatever happens to these two unsuspecting towers in a variety of ways. Truly, truly entertaining.

Which just shows how very right I was with my comment about the missing airplanes. The whole thing is disgusting.

NetsNJFan wrote: ha ha baldfried!!!! almost as funny as when we firebombed the sh*t out of dresden!

It seems as if you misunderstood my comment. My opinion is it is absolutely tasteless to put images of the world trade center in front of your house. To underline that I made the comment about the airplanes. And don't tell me the image is there to commiserate the people who died in the world trade center. What would you say if I put an image of Auschwitz or Dachau in front of my house to commiserate the people who died there?

Actually thats one I don't find funny at all!