This is my John Galt speaking cartoon

[kandrathe]

Hi,

It would be sad to lose such a beloved national monument, but it represents to me everything that was/is wrong with our treatment of native Americans.

I've mixed feelings. While I agree with what you say, I also have a love for history and culture. If previous generations had eradicated everything that came before that they disagreed with, our culture would be much poorer. No Flavian amphitheater, no Ruins on the Acropolis, and so on. There has been enough destruction, IMO.

Not too long ago, the Kingdome in Seattle was demolished. It was about 25 years old. I remember thinking, at the time, that there probably aren't going to be many tourists going to Seattle two millenia hence to see its ruins and contemplate its social and cultural significance.

Those that don't study history may be doomed to repeat it, but those that destroy it doom us all to live only in the present.

--Pete

Yeah, I agree with you on the historical part. Were this enveloped in a heavily populated suburb of Rapid City (if there is one ), then I'd say the harms of displacement outweigh the recompense of justice. My hope would be that the rightful owners, the Lakota, who are mostly also patriotic Americans, would honor us with their forgiveness and perhaps choose to benefit from it as an attraction. It's taken some 70 years to make amends with the Japanese Americans who were imprisoned violating their Constitutional rights during WWII. 125 years is getting towards that "let bygones be bygones", but this is not the reconquest of Iberia either. It has only been in recent generations where the Lakota have amassed enough "power" to challenge the status quo. Perhaps a compromise would be to return the land with the stipulation that the carvings be preserved, and available to be viewed by the public. But, I'd guess it would be in a way like returning a church to the owners, with the understanding that the discotheque room remain open.

But, it immediately reminded me of the site conflicts in Asia and the Mediterranean. "Upon the ruins, of the ruins, of the ruins, we modified your structure to honor our variant of the same deity." I was deeply saddened by the destruction of those Buddha's by the Taliban. Or, another example would be the Giza Sphinx, before the heavily eroded original was modified some 4500 years ago. Or even the outright, destruction defacement and theft of antiquities by successive waves of tourists and conquerors. Such as... Babylon or Baghdad.