Un-fuckin'-believable - Brazil's statue of Jesus one of the Seven Wonders

[Rabrrrrrr]

What bullshit. What utter fucking bullshit.

http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/international/index.ssf?/base/international-23/118384767184190.xml&storylist=international

Yes, that's right, folks - 100 million morons think a statue - a fucking statue of no stature or importance whatsoever - is as impressive as Petra, the Great Wall of China, Stonehenge (which didn't even make it), the Pyramids in Egypt, or Easter Island.

Jackasses.

Probably mostly Christians who voted.

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — The Great Wall of China, Rome's Colosseum and India's Taj Mahal were among seven architectural marvels named the new wonders of the world Saturday.

The other four winners, chosen by a global poll, were Peru's Machu Picchu, Brazil's Statue of Christ Redeemer, Jordan's Petra and Mexico's Chichen Itza pyramid.

About 100 million votes were cast by the Internet and cellphone text messages, the nonprofit organization that conducted the poll said.

[Lilyhoney]

1. I listened to an interview of Brazilian locals the other day

and the one woman said that the president asked the people to vote for the statue. She also said that she had never seen any of the other wonders and this is the only one she knows.

I personally did not vote.

[JVS]

7. A similar thing happened in Turkey when Time was polling for Person of the Century...

and Kemal Ataturk came into number two just a fraction of a percent behind Winston Churchill
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,987431,00.html

http://www.time.com/time/time100/time100poll.html

[sasquatch]

61. I like Ataturk though

[JVS]

62. I like him too, but Man of the Century he ain't.

[sasquatch]

64. He's an underestimated 20th century leader though

Personally I think Churchill is overatted, FDR was probably the rest.

[rug]

2. Admit it. You were hoping the Flatiron Building made the cut.

[Rabrrrrrr]

3. Personally, I was hoping for the new Penn Station

[rug]

6. That was a lamentable mistake, even though its destruction ultimately saved Grand Central.

[Elidor]

4. "A skeptic to all ideas, including especially my own..."

"I have never suffered a pang when the ideas of some other imbecile prevailed."
-H.L. Mencken

I can't quite match this feat of apathy, but it's something I try to keep in mind in these trying times.

[momophile]

5. I voted, but not for the Christ Redeemer

here were my votes in no particular order:

Angkor Wat, Cambodia
Easter Island, South Pacific
Great Wall, China
Hagia Sophia, Turkey
Machu Picchu, Peru
Chichen Itza, Mexico
Petra, Jordan

[matcom]

8. I voted for Jerry Falwell's Tomb Stone

it didn't make it :cry:

[YellowRubberDuckie]

9. And usually I agree with you, Rabrrrrrr....

But this time I think you're being a little short sighted. Maybe the statue is of no importance to you, but in South America, Jesus is HUGE! And that's OK. I don't understand why you're bothered by this. People are Christians. You can't change it. You might as well ignore it.
Duckie

[Rabrrrrrr]

18. I'm bothered by it because I don't think it's worthy of the title.

Sure, if we got rid of 20 or so other wonders, then, yeah, it would be worthy of the title.

But it sure as hell isn't now.

It has nothing to do with its Christian symbolism - it has everything to do with the fact that, while the statue is impressive, and the engineering to get it up there is impressive, it's not one of the seven most impressive and/or wondrous things in the world.

I'm not sure what the point of your second paragraph is. :shrug:

[YellowRubberDuckie]

19. I guess it was more interesting to me than anyone else. Sorry.

And what I got from your OP is that it was the Christian Symbolism. I guess I misinterpreted. :shrug:
Duckie

[Robb]

10. It is, you know, big.

[matcom]

11. he isn't even blond or blue-eyed in that pic!

:eyes:

[Xipe Totec]

13. As big as El Pipila?

[Twillig]

37. But it's no 900 foot Jesus.. n/t

[usaftmo]

38. Are you referring to the 900 foot Jesus in Tulsa, Oklahoma?

Someone hasn't been taking his medicine!
:eyes:

[Twillig]

41. FFS. Is there any other 900 foot Jesus you want to bring to my attention?

[MnFats]

50. you referring to Oral Roberts? Or his brother, Anal? nt

[TommyO]

39. I went fishing yesterday, and I kid you not, I caught one this big!

[rug]

12. Would the giant Buddhas in Aghanistan been included had the Taliban not destroyed them?

[Zomby Woof]

14. I am thinking maybe Hamilton was right

His skepticism of direct democracy had merit.

[SoCalDem]

15. A statue with a sense of humor

[DS1]

16. I wish he'd just hurry up and jump!

Standin there all the time, looking like he's going to do it, but he doesn't. Night after night.

JUMP! JUMP! JUMP! JUMP!

[ohio2007]

17. LOL...maybe he is waiting for global warming to raise the sea level closer

to him and raise the temp at the same time.

[CGowen]

20. comparable to Statue of Zeus at Olympia?

Jesus is 38 meters tall while Zeus was only 12 meters tall

http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/country/brazil/jesus-statue.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Zeus_at_Olympia

[Duncan Grant]

21. Oi!

You know what would really be a wonder of the world? If Brazil made a proportionally large dashboard he could be glued to. Now that would be impressive.

[Rabrrrrrr]

22. Yes - that's it! That's it exactly! If they made Corcavado, or whatever the mountain is called,

made that whole range into a giant dashboard - then I'll be impressed!

:rofl:

[Swede]

23. Good news.

In this crazy world it's good to know.

[Scooter24]

24. ...

I can't believe this thing was even being considered over such marvels as the Acropolis and the Alhambra in Spain.

The news article even states that this statue won thanks to a late surge in votes. Hmmmm...

[Fire Walk With Me]

25. I'd though it was around a hundred feet tall, but now I've seen that it's about 20, right?

The message is rather imperative these days, but the statue is technically not as impressive as the Pyramids.

[The Straight Story]

26. You just proved why it should be one of the 7

Because it is making you wonder :rofl:

[NoPasaran]

27. It's not a statue of Jesus

It's a statue of Stephen Colbert!

[Arugula Latte]

28. Jesus is saying: "I just flew in from Sao Paolo and boy are my arms tired."

"Thank you, thank you! I'll be here all week. And all next week. And the week after that ... "

[Poiuyt]

33. "I once caught a fish that was this big!"

No wonder he was able to feed the multitude.

[elshiva]

57. LOL! That's the best!

:rofl: Now how big would that fish have to be?

[MnFats]

59. no, he's signalling "touchdown"

just like he does at Notre Dame!
Get with it!

[mitchum]

29. But the statue cries real tears!

you have to imagine the accent...

[Fox Mulder]

30. That's what I thought when I read that list as well.

Made me :puke:.

[bertha katzenengel]

31. My friend, consider the source:

Your article: "About 100 million votes were cast by the Internet and cellphone text messages, said New7Wonders, the nonprofit organization that conducted the poll."

First, let's consider New7Wonders:

"The New7Wonders Foundation calls on all citizens of the world to support it. Through film, television, the Internet and books, people shall be alerted to the destruction of nature and the decay of our man-made heritage. Monuments in jeopardy, perhaps in a dangerous state of decay, can be saved by publicizing their beauty and highlighting their plight to the international community."

As I said in GD earlier tonight (probably igniting a flame-fest I haven't the nerve to look at), we have bigger problems than (paraphrasing myself) "conserving out heritage" in the form of man-made shit. Let's conserve actual history! Let's put money into passing down the stories of what we've done so our children don't make the same mistakes (what is commonly called "education," a nearly extinct bird). What's more important: Washington, DC and all its government buildings and monuments, or the things that have happened in those buildings and the things done by those represented & memorialized?

Second, a single individual started this ridiculous "new seven wonders" thing: "The campaign to name new wonders was launched in 1999 by the Swiss adventurer Bernard Weber." Who gives a shit? Who is this guy? Is he an educator, or a scientist, or a leader like M.K. Gandhi or Harriet Tubman? No? Then who cares?

The whole thing is a crock. It's pop fucking culture, the opium of the 21st century masses. Let us ignore what the ignorant do. Unless of course we're talking about Bush. His ignorance is pretty hard to ignore.

(FWIW, i find that statue in Brazil to be beautiful, i don't care who it depicts. :hi:)

[Richard Steele]

40. I agree. This is a pop-culture exersise in self-congratulation.

A whole lot of interest and mental energy which
could have been more usefully directed in many
other directions.

This list is neither here nor there to me; I shall
ignore it just as any other meaningless thing.

[MilesColtrane]

32. Here's a 360 foot tall lean, mean meditatin' machine.

The Buddha at Ushiku has got JC's number when it comes to sheer enormity.




I like the idea of Wonders that aren't ruins, but are alive and evolving.

Sagrada Familia

http://www.greatbuildings.com/cgi-bin/gbi.cgi/Sagrada_Familia.html/cid_1171410217_barSagFam_street_06-37-30.html

Crazy Horse Memorial

(This one's got a way to go. They've only been working on it for fifty years.)

[chknltl]

34. So why didn't the South Americans include the Panama Canal?

That is FAR more impressive. Both it and the Suez Canal would make my top 10 list. The Statue of Liberty is more impressive than that statue of Jesus and at the very least equally well known! Oh well, this reflects the tight control the Christian Church has over it's "flock". Does any one here remember just a few short years ago when the Discovery Channel had the top 100 most influential people in America vote? Do you remember how bush made it into the top ten? I think he was either ahead of or behind Bill Clinton by one single spot and Ronald Regan was ahead of both of them. Remember the hoopla here in the DU over this? Sure, the whole thing was a gimmick to make Americans feel good about bush, well that's how I saw it. Do you suppose the authors would want to re-make that show today? Hardly, but it WOULD be amusing to see how each of the Republicans who made that list compared with the same list if compiled today.

[Eurobabe]

35. I voted in the last 3 hours, but not for that!

IIRC, I voted for The Alhambra, Taj Mahal, Colosseum, Hagia Sophia, Eiffel Tower, Acropolis and St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow.

[alphafemale]

36. The whole "New Seven Wonders" is Bullshit.

No one's going to care about this silly poll in twenty years...or probably even twenty months.

[northzax]

49. well, the idea was good

to raise awareness of cultural sites. my problem is can things from the 20th century really compete with things from the 10th? or 1st? Chicken Itza and Macchu Picchu are abandoned ruins, how about something that people actually live in and around? I would have broken them down into pre-industrial and post-industrial segments, myself.

[Coventina]

42. Actually, it was more of a Brazilian pride thing.

The government of Brazil encouraged the citizens to vote in droves for the statue. So it got, erm, uh, "Brazillians" of votes.

:yoiks:

[blondeatlast]

43. Oh, no you di-in't...

:spank:

[bluedigger]

44. About as accurate

as MLB All Star voting. Or American Idol. There's just no accounting for popular tastes. IMO, Angkor Wat should have made the list. The Alhambra would have been worthy as well. Why did the list have to be limited to 7? People have built a lot of incredible things over the last few millenia. As many others have stated, the list has no practical value whatsoever, other than as a topic starter!

:)

[JitterbugPerfume]

45. much ado about

nothing!

[datasuspect]

46. why are you angry at jesus? he only DIED FOR YOUR FUCKING SINS!

why do you hate south america?

[LaraMN]

47. And somehow that beat out the "nude bust of Lara carved in margarine"

that I submitted.

Horse pockey of the highest order, indeed!

[applegrove]

48. Like the pyramids are not representative of religeon of their time.

I happen to think that the RIO statue is really gorgeous and amazing. Awe inspiring. And I'm not particularly religeous. And Jesus was a good egg. IMHO

[Rabrrrrrr]

53. I don't remember saying that I disagreed for religious reasons

Perhaps you read what you like to see, not what is actually there.

:shrug:

[applegrove]

56. Sorry. I was only disagreeing because when I saw the list of nominees that

was the picture that stood out for me. A mix of human engineering with vast natural beauty.

[Taverner]

51. I always thought a wonder was just that - something that you wondered at

Of course, this causes a different kind of wondering

I wonder who would be so stupid as to think this was that important...

[Orsino]

52. Isn't it funny that people around the globe...

...were voting via the Internet, which didn't even appear on the list?

The Internet is much more amazing than any 900-foot Jesus.

[Fire Walk With Me]

54. Why can the core message never transcend the people around it?

"The world has gone crap, God is real, here is a conduit out of the crap back into the source."

Don't let the people who surround, and "act in the name of" dissuade you from getting something important from it. I myself don't care for the company of the Christians I've met. They probably don't care for mine.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

55. I can tell you that there was FAR more nationalism than religiosity involved.

All media outlets (and politicians) went full blast on a voting campaign. Which consisted in "Vote because it's Rio" or "Vote because it's Brazil," never "Vote because it's Jesus."

[La Lioness Priyanka]

58. not michaelangelo's david?

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

60. A statue of Jebus IS A WONDER!!! ...And

and Sanjaya is a great singer, worthy of going far on American Idol.

Internet voting can produce interesting results.

We could have DU'ed a wonder into existence, if only we could agree on how to DU the vote. I'm thinking Billy Beer would make a good WONDER.

:rofl:

[bridgit]

63. ah quit yer gripe'n, just be thankful it wasn't a statue of Jerry Falwell...

:rofl: