The student blog for Drake University first year seminar entitled Visual Politics

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

A Momentous Backdrop


"Restoring Honor" is a simple yet complex rally organized by the controversial conservative television and radio host Glenn Beck. The rally itself took place at one of America’s most hollow places. The backdrop was truly momentous as this is a location of many rallies that have supported and changed public opinion. As in the past the stone steps of the Lincoln Memorial set precedence for this rally. The nation’s capital is seen flagging the corners of Lincoln Memorial showing that this is a place where change is to start. The city landscape has changed behind the Lincoln Memorial since early rallies that where held here. This shows that this place signifies the real importance and the changes that it has and can bring to America. Many political changes have come and gone by the steps and signify in American minds the change that is to come and where we have prospered in the past.




The podium Glenn Beck uses is something simple. It is not to take away from his surroundings. The use of this simplistic podium is to highlight the true beauty that is the memorials behind him. These memorials are what invoke images in the mind of Americans. These images seen here remind us of change and hope for a better future. We see from the past great images of this place. We see Martin Luther King Jr., and we are reminded of the Civil Rights movement, and Women’s rights movements. This place is full images that are important to the American psyche.



The different monuments stand for where our country has come from and what direction it can go. The Washington Monument in front of the podium is the symbol of our nation. It shows strength and unity as well as our aspirations to achieve something higher. Our nation is made up of over three hundred million people each with their own beliefs, but this rally seemed to make a crowd deeply mixed in heritage appear. The people in the crowd to me are nothing more than nameless, and faceless bodies, but what it shows is that Americans whatever race, creed, color, sex, or status can call this great place home. This location with all of its monuments and the importance it has played in the past will always invite Americans to strive and create a great future for our country.

Carson Klug
 

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