If you’re ever in DC, be sure to stop by the Lincoln Memorial to watch an 8-minute video shown to tourists about the groups and movements that have used the landmark over the last few decades.
In fact, go see it this month, because it’s about to get worse.
Since 1995, the video has featured footage of historic protests and events at the Lincoln Memorial, beginning with Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. As the Washington Post’s Al Kamen noted yesterday, footage also includes video of demonstrations in favor of gun control, against the Vietnam War, against Soviet anti-Semitism, favoring abortion rights, gay rights, and women’s rights.
There’s also footage of presidents who have visited the Lincoln Memorial for historic moments, including shots of Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, Lyndon Johnson, and Bill Clinton.
Earlier this year, the ultra-conservative Cybercast News Service started an effort to convince the National Park Service to change the video. The problem? It’s too liberal.
Most of the protest footage shown deals with progressive causes — civil rights, opposition to war, gender equality, etc. — and most of the presidents shown in the video were Democrats. Cybercast News Service, which recruited many other conservative figures to its cause, demanded a “more balanced” video.
In fact, Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.) contacted Bush administration officials and threatened “legislative action” on the video unless significant changes were made.
After months of complaints, Fran Mainella, director of the Park Service, said last week that a revised video would be unveiled in December.
It’s kind of a “good news, bad news” situation. The “good” news is the video will include conservative causes and leaders for ideological balance. The bad news is the Park Service had to ignore historical reality to achieve this balance.
The Lincoln Memorial has, as a factual matter, simply been used a lot more by liberals than conservatives over the years. The largest and most successful demonstrations at the monument have been hosted by those associated with progressive causes. When making a video of the memorial’s use, the Park Service culled video footage, not with a political agenda, but simply with the footage available.
So, in order to make the conservatives happy, the Park Service will be adding footage to the Lincoln Memorial video of right-leaning events that did not actually occur at the Lincoln Memorial.
For example, the Park Service will add video of a 1997 rally held by a group called the Promise Keepers, a group of religious conservatives with loose ties to the religious right political movement. In addition, the video will also begin showing footage of a well-attended march in Washington after the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
Neither of these events took place at the Lincoln Memorial.
I like ideological balance as much as the next guy, and I certainly don’t want the Park Service playing favorites in either direction, but who’s the genius who decided it would be a good idea to show a video about the historic use of the Lincoln Memorial and include footage of events that were held miles away from the site?