Exit through the 9/11 Museum gift shop

[Sutton Ross]

If you think it's of poor taste, like most people, don't buy stuff at the gift shop. Sadly, it's the only thing you can do at this point. If people want a mouse pad, or a rescue dog made in China...they will buy them

[FindingNamo]

Except for sex. That is wrong. That is reprehensible. You are the lowest of the low if you charge for sex.

However, you're an entrepreneur if you make lots of money from the idea of sex, never consummated.

[MaddieBB12]

As PalJoey said earlier in this thread about the Anne Frank House only selling books and DVDs, I’d like to add that the same thing is done at the Holocaust Museum in D.C. It’s a bookstore; nothing more than books and DVDs.
What’s being sold here is just really disrespectful.

[FindingNamo]

I visited the Holocaust Museum in DC and even though I was a bit unnerved that it was sort of art directed to a fare thee well, the fact that just as I was about to leave the building it had to be evacuated because of a bomb threat struck me as a reminder of why such museums need to exist. Of course, it's not on an actual site of Nazi atrocities so it doesn't have to wrestle with that layer as the 9-11 museum does.

[SNAFU]

I was told tonight that there is a piece on the museum which is a piece of 5 floors compressed onto the height of 40". I am sure there are traces of loved one's remains in there as well. First thing I think of is "Oh, I want a stuffed animal!". You were right Namo that labs are to die for.

[MaddieBB12]

Namo, that's a really good point, and wow, that must have been very scary.

[eponine88]

I went to the museum with my mom and sisters this weekend. Even though I had been dreading the experience, I have to admit the museum as a whole was a lot more tasteful and respectful than I anticipated (I know some people disagree but in a case like this you're never going to please everyone...) No one in my family had done on audio remembrance for my dad because we were waiting to see everything would be set up and displayed. Sitting in the inner chamber in the In Memorium room was actually pretty cathartic while admittedly painful and I'm planning on calling in my remembrance at some point in the next few weeks.

But the gift shop... I didn't want to go in at all but my mom wanted to see it so I went with her. I walked in and immediately walked back out and straight out of the museum because I felt kind of sick to my stomach. The books were fine- I actually probably would've thumbed through some of them- but the kitschy souvenirs just soured me experience for me in a major way.

All well I'll just to hold on to the closure I got from the rest of the museum and avoid the gift shop if I ever return for a future visit.

[FindingNamo]

I appreciate your sharing that with us. I can't imagine what that inner sanctum experience for families must be like.

[Liza's Headband]

Beautiful post, eponine. Thank you for sharing.

Kudos to Mr. BoCo Professor on an authentic and genuine response that doesn't drip of antagonistic sarcasm. Color me surprised, but EXTREMELY pleased and relieved.

[Reginald Tresilian]

You just had to, didn't you?

[FindingNamo]

FVCK YOU LH you know nothing.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Eponine, thank you for sharing your experience.

[bdwaygirl]

LH, if you really knew Namo as you say you do, you wouldn't have been surprised to see how he responded to that post.


They need to go back and revisit this whole gift shop idea.

[morosco]

In my humble opinion I think the memorial should have just consisted of the fountains marking the footprints of the towers (including names of those lost) and plenty of space for people to sit and reflect on what happened that day, and at night a permanent installation of the light towers. I have mixed feelings about a museum and abhor the gift shop.

[FindingNamo]

I think that's one of the things that rankles me. It's as if they have no concept of how eloquent simplicity can be.

Of course, it *is* true that not everybody is going to be pleased by any direction they took this in as eponine pointed out, but in the Washington Post piece "Families infuriated by ‘crass commercialism’ of 9/11 Museum gift shop", the criticisms are met by a written reply from "the nonprofit 9/11 museum’s senior vice president of communications and digital media…". I mean, did this have to be such an enormous thing that it needed a senior VICE president of communications and digital media?

[NYadgal]

eponine, thank you for sharing your thoughts with us. And, I'm so glad to hear that the experience brought you some measure of closure.

I have tickets for this Thursday evening to attend with a friend who lost her husband in the WTC.
I can't say I'm looking forward to the experience, but I'm ready to revisit the memories of that day. And all the days that followed. And to be there for my friend...

[SNAFU]

My feeling has always been: rebuilt on the original site, make the foundation the memorial with meditation areas engraved with the list of those we lost and a motto along the lines, "Built stronger for those we lost" or some such legend. The new towers themselves then would become the monumet. Showing resilency and stregnth.
If a bus load of children and nuns are killed on an interstate by a drunk driver, we would NOT reroute the interstate and put up a shrine. Before I am flamed, please be aware I lost a member of my extended family that day.

[FindingNamo]

Your honest reaction is your honest reaction.

NYadgal, I'm sure it will be very emotional.

[Jose]

Recently published by NY Magazine this opinion was helpful to my own understanding of why I look negatively on the existence of the gift shop. I don't agree with the author's conclusion.
Why the 9/11 Museum Gift Shop Offends Us

[PalJoey]

Thank, eponine. And, Addy, what you're doing by accompanying your friend is a mitzvah.

I once read an article about circles of pain in the families and friends of chronic-disease patients: There is the patient himself or herself, then the spouses/parents/children, then friends/relatives, then acquaintances/colleagues/neighbors. All can feel sorrow or pain or anguish, but those of us on each successive outer ring should always treat those on inner rings with greater respect.

So to be there for your friend who lost her husband is an act of great, great friendship. You will have your own grief, but in helping her cope with hers, you will be doing something very powerful, even if you never discuss it.

[YouWantitWhen????]

I visited the site I believe in 2012 before the museum (and ghastly gift show) was opened, and found it incredibly peaceful and respectful. The reflection of the two large ponds in the surrounding buildings was a bit surreal, and everyone when I was there was respectful. The full museum was not open, but there was a small gift shop that I found distasteful at the time.

When I went to the Holocaust Museum in DC I did visit the gift shop, and did buy something that I remember being repeated over and over again when I was child. It was a shirt with the Dante quote "The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who in time of moral crisis preserve their neutrality" with a variety of religious symbols on it. I thought it totally appropriate for that museum, and it now sits framed on my wall.

The description of what it is for sale at the 9/11 museum makes me ill. Maybe next they will sell simulations so you to can see exactly what happened to the WTC..., including your own vinegar and baking soda.

[eponine88]

Thanks for your support, all. And Addy- it takes a true friend to be there to support someone at something like this, so all my love and thanks to you for being so strong and giving of yourself.

Just a heads up to Addy and anyone else who is going- while Foundation Hall and the Memorial exhibition can be emotionally draining there are some really rough rooms/images in the historical exhibition area. They've tried to keep the more graphic images or disturbing audio in secluded alcoves, with staff members standing by the entrances to quietly warn you that there is potentially triggering content inside, but even the larger rooms can be a little overwhelming. I wound up feeling spent about two thirds of the way through and mostly glazed over the last few rooms because there was far too much to take in at one time.

[FindingNamo]

Jose, thanks for that link. I liked the economic theory discussion. It doesn't touch on the actual items, which I think is an important part of the issue. "Why *this* particular iPhone case? This plush?" That gets discussed in the Washington Post article, with insight from a woman who was the vice chair of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council for over a decade. She talks about how important it was to be really thoughtful about what went up for sale and how board members needed to have really sensitive antennae when considering things.



gift shop article

[Addison D.]

If someone really and truly believes, in their heart, that carrying a 9/11 key-chain honors the memories of those lost and celebrates his/her solidarity with the survivors, are they, objectively, "wrong"? Who are we, collectively, going to agree as the arbiter of what is "respectful" and what is "disrespectful" to the memories of those lost and the feelings of their loved ones?

[Jane2]

I think our complaint is with whomever came up with the idea of these trinkets and those who put it into practice, and not the consumers who want them.

[FindingNamo]

Yeah, I think that's one of the things we've talked about here about how there's nothing left *to do* in this country but buy things. (Addison, I'm glad you rested up and came back to this thread.) I think for me, it goes back to those antennae the woman from the Holocaust Memorial Council talked about. I think whoever picked the endless supply of tchotchkes for sale here seemed to be all over the place. I mean, I love dogs. But I recognize the "Honor the dogs of 9-11" buttons to be a cynical tie-in to the humongous market for all things dog in the US of today. It's just like, somebody should have said "Stop! Let's go slow!".