Museum of National Mystery

There’s an apocryphal quote attributed to Ben Franklin that says, “One can tell the morals of a culture by the way they treat their dead.”

When it comes to the victims of the September 11th, 2001 attacks, we have to stop and ponder whether or not we have treated them with respect and why they continue to be exploited politically and why now they are merchandized like some trinket in a drugstore knickknack isle.

Nearly 3,000 people were killed at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. Now we are told that they are being honored at a museum, President Obama called the site of the memorial and museum “this sacred place.”

Now, people aren’t so sure about the sacred, because of the money changing going in at ‘ground zero’.

As the Gothamist reported, “The National 9/11 Museum opened to the public [May 21], with dozens of museum employees on hand to assist visitors through exhibits, numerous Red Cross workers and chaplains eager to help those who needed comfort… President Obama dedicated the museum last week in a special ceremony that was by invite only. There were mostly politicians and a few of the victim’s families in attendance.”

And, of course, select members of the media – which did not include that Gothamist reporter who was actually thrown out.

But those honored visitors were told to leave because only the VIPs, which included former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, were allowed back inside for a black-tie cocktail reception, the NY Daily news said. It is said later this summer there will be a family restaurant opening up in the facility.

The creepiness here is evident, the cocktail soiree was being held on the site where it is believed many of the victim’s remains are still buried and many people feel that it is also a bit sick to open a restaurant on the site.

The museum’s cocktail hour took place near the “remains repository,” where 8,000 unidentified body parts are being stored.

Now that it has opened to the public, there are mixed feelings about the museum. While some see it as a place where people can reflect on the tragedy, some see it as politically exploitative and not as dignifying as maybe a wall with names or a monument.

Again, our censored Gothamist reporter noted: “There’s a warning in front of the entrance, “The exhibition may not be appropriate for visitors 10 years old and younger. Adults accompanying younger visitors should exercise discretion before entering.””

Upon arrival, the scene is set up like a Halloween spook alley in a posh library. Scorched car doors, salvaged firefighters’ uniforms, banners, toys, and a destroyed fire engine are preserved forever and on display at the museum.

The museum itself was designed to look like a fallen and crumples tower as it is set on the ground next to trees and a reflecting pool. Inside the building are numerous columns and beams that did not melt in the extreme heat that the two planes allegedly generated on that day.

In an area that looks like an airport terminal, there are two columns that represent a double trident.

As the official WTC.com site says: “These seven-story steel structures were part of the original façade of the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center, once forming the distinctive Gothic arch motif at the base of the skyscrapers. The forked columns are so large that the Museum Pavilion’s structure will be built around them.”

We discussed the significance of the trident and the frequency of its appearance in the year 2014 on the March 21 broadcast of Ground Zero.

In the Ground Zero article ‘Triquetra II: Loosed From His Prison‘, the trident is a symbol taken from the underworld. The trident is also known as the devil’s pitchfork and has been associated directly with Atlantis and the god of the depths Poseidon.

As MythsOfChristianity.com informs: “The three-pronged pitchfork is the trident of Poseidon, the Greek god of water. The trident was a powerful weapon capable of stirring the waters to fury and in the ancient epic, the Odyssey, Poseidon was the foe of the hero Odysseus, constantly wrecking his ships and thwarting his attempts to return home.”

For many centuries, the original symbol of Poseidon and his powerful three-pronged staff eventually evolved into the devil that lived in depths of the earth.

Poseidon has also developed a relationship with the great beast or Leviathan of prophecy that rises from the sea in the final days before judgment.

People who have already toured the 9/11 Museum commented on the double trident and how it towers above the museum and how it cast some eerie occult symbolism.

There have also been comparisons that have already been made to the Holocaust Museum and there have been many complaints about how graphic and horrific it is.

The museum is said to be difficult to walk through and the photographs of the victims are said to be so devastating to people that they turn away either repulsed or emotionally devastated.

The displays are said to be very indicative of the scale of destruction, with the wrecked fire engines and World Trade Center elevator motor, is also distressing. There are audio recordings that are particularly harrowing, including a 911 call from someone on the 106th floor that of course is worried that he is going to die.

In the heart of the museum is a video gallery showing the burning towers news reports and people jumping out of buildings.

There are many people that have many ideas of what this museum is about, and why it was even erected in the first place. The 9/11 Museum is a for-profit museum and it has a gift shop where people say the souvenirs are grim and are in poor taste.

It is a tricky proposal to memorialize a tragedy, but this is really beginning to look like an attempt to turn the 9/11 tragedy into a commodity.

For years, the United States government has used the victims of 9/11 as an excuse to fuel their war efforts and there is really no honor in that little enterprise. As you may already realize, there is some outrage over what is being sold at the gift shop.

For $64.00 you can purchase survival tree earrings and $39.00 gets you a hoodie emblazoned with an image of the towers. There is also a collectable cheese plate you can purchase as well.

Victims’ families didn’t ask for this, they didn’t expect their family members to be important deaths for eternity and have their remains in a containment hold piled behind a locked door in a museum that doubles as a mausoleum with an adjacent Shake Shack.

It wasn’t enough that these victims were used for the battle cry to invade Afghanistan and Iraq, now they are bankable for commemorative shirts and hoodies. The building’s ornate design can now be seen on a commemorative necktie and bath towel.

It is also interesting to know that the executives and directors of the 9/11 Museum are making six figure incomes while many family members still are struggling to live day-to-day.

According to ‘9/11 Museum Museum Bigs Cash In‘, a January 2011 report from the NY Post:

“Schoolchildren thought their penny jars and bake-sale proceeds would go toward building a 9/11 memorial at Ground Zero — not the six-figure salaries of nonprofit execs.

But 11 staffers at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum each pulled down more than $170,000 in total compensation in 2009, according to the most recent filings. Four execs took home more than $320,000.

Foundation President Joseph Daniels, 38, pocketed $371,307 after receiving hefty raises three years in a row — 28 percent in 2006, when he was promoted from acting president, followed by 12 percent and 6 percent.

Museum director Alice Greenwald made $351,000, and capital planning Vice President Joan Gerner soaked up $337,143 before leaving last spring. Development director Cathy Blaney raked in $322,292. The full-time foundation employee also worked last year as a fund-raiser for Gov. Cuomo’s election campaign.

The money to pay the $5.3 million in compensation for the foundation’s 87 staffers in 2009 came from private donations — $220 million raised in a Herculean grass-roots effort to honor the 2,974 victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and $150 million from blue-ribbon board members. More than 60,000 individuals in all 50 states and 31 countries donated to the cause.”

Now that the museum is open to the public, the hefty salaries are paid through the selling of tchotchkes at a gift shop that has been built over the dead bodies of 9/11 victims.

They say that, “this is America, what do you expect.” I expect a little more dignity and less political pomp and merchandizing at a place that is supposed to be tribute to those who died.

The question is, is this a dignified way to treat the victims of the 9/11 attacks and have we pushed the envelope too far by treating 9/11 like the Jewish holocaust?

It is being called a crass commercial enterprise. The sickness people are feeling as they walk through the museum is not only buffered by the horrors of 9/11, but by the sick sense that that something very evil is taking place upon sacred ground.

Would you have a picnic at a crematorium? Probably not; however, at the 9/11 Museum you can listen to those unbearable last-words-to-loved-ones recordings, look at bloodied shoes and falling-body images – and then eat comfort food and be offered a cocktail.

Would it be prudent to sell to family member’s trinkets made from the pulverized metal and bones at the site? Just as well sell commemorative sausage at the venue, there is nothing to sick or twisted that the museum won’t exploit.