>>1st hand although the
pillaging of the wreck and landing on it's deck is unforgivable, it is still a
grave >>site after all. People who vandalize, and people who let people
vandalize, don't have rights to >>monuments. I personally don't feel that
the titanic falls under this category, but there are plenty who
>>do.
>I don't believe that
a grave site is a significant issue. Any one there is dead and couldn't care
less. >People have been giving tours by bus around grave yards in
Hollywood for ages and no one
ever says >a dam thing about it. It's even publicly advertised. The grave
yards even have roads so it's easily >accessible to the public. The Titanic
is not a monument and is just a big ship that got built, sank, and is >now
being visited. Submarine tours to the Titanic or any other wreck including the
Edmond Fitzgerald >is just a way of making money for those of us still alive.
And it's no different than taking a bus ride >through any
Hollywood grave yard. United
States is becoming a place that is operated by Lawyers and >Tree Huggers and
any time some one figures out a way to make a living, some one else gets jealous
>and wants to put an end to it. And it's almost always a Lawyer or an already
wealthy Tree Hugger.
I would agree that just because
some people keep saying over and over that it is a monument and or a sacred site
and is collectively owned by everyone does not make it so. The burden of proof
for such an assertion is on them and sentimentality is probably too ethereal to
have a place in property rights discussions. I would agree that someone who
visits such a site and leaves it undisturbed when they believe it might be
valuable to themselves to do otherwise is indeed being generous. However, I
posit that they should not be bound to the will of people who have nothing but
sentimental claims on it.
That said, I doubt the accuracy or utility
of labeling those who disagree with terms intended to be derogatory. It is also
delving into the realm of emotionalism which I suspect is their
homefield where they probably have the advantage.
Gordon Alexander
Shakopee, MN
PS - To those who strongly disagree with
me, please take some comfort in the knowledge that I and the vast
majority who are similarly libertarian on this issue will probably
never visit, much less disturb, such a site and have little influence
on collective policy.