The McCormick Freedom Museum is the first museum in the country dedicated to freedom and the First Amendment. It opened in April 2006 and is dedicated to educating Americans about freedom and the First Amendment. Vague, but intriguing. Like an unexplained stain on the carpet.
The woman at the counter gave me a purple token and asked me all sorts of questions. I refused to answer because I'm pretty sure personal questions like "Where are you from" violate my freedoms. There was a sign that said "No Cameras." It did not specify cell phones.
The first room you enter is a theater that talks about freedoms. I don't really remember what the movie was about. I was too busy scouting the other patrons. Sitting in the row in front of me was a couple of older ladies who kept whispering about something. I tried to scoot closer to listen in, but they caught me! This is as close as I could get. I also had to use the flash for this picture, which is probably what gave me away.The exhibits were pretty interesting and brought up issues I hadn't thought about since AP Government in high school. Like which of the following countries has freedom of press:
1. China
2. Cuba
3. USA
It hurt my head (and heart). The woman in front of me, aka one of the women from the theater, got it wrong. She picked China.
We need this museum in every major city.
At one point, you could take a test to become an Official Freedom Agent. Of course I took that! I even got to print out a badge and wear it for the rest of my tour around the museum.
That's right. I am freedom. Once my badge printed, I thought about legally changing my name to "I am freedom." I had already researched the project because a few months ago, while trying to order business cards, I had mistakenly used "Wnnie" as my name. It's easier to legally change your name than it is to deal with customer service.
Another exhibit showed t-shirts worn by high school students. One was "gay? fine by me." The other was, "CRIMES COMMITTED AGAINST... GOD"It caused a huge controversy, but apparently encouraged the high school students to sit down and talk it out. Here's a news story about it.
I'm not one to judge, but one of the shirts makes no sense to me. "gay? fine by me." is very clear. The other shirt... it's very intimidating. "CRIMES COMMITTED AGAINST" dotdotdot "GOD" almost seems like it should be accompanied by some scary movie music. The back of the shirt apparently has the 10 Commandments listed. Cool. No problem.
What do the 10 Commandments have to do with being gay? I went to Wikipedia, the source of all things accurate and real, and searched for the 10 Commandments. Then, too lazy to read through the whole thing, searched the text for the word "gay." Pretty sure that is not a real commandment. So really, as an "anti-gay" t-shirt... not that great. Instead, those shirts should be sold specifically for divorce proceedings. Especially when there's infidelity involved. Emphasize the adultery and the neighbor's wife parts. Judges really go for visual aids like this.
At the very end of the exhibits, you put your purple token into these clear plastic boxes. It was a simulation of the upcoming election. You could "vote" for your candidate.
What the whole thing looked like.
McCain's sweet take. Pretty decent. I wouldn't be surprised if some stodgy old guy pressured the museum to put all those tokens in. And by pressured, I mean he threatened to call it the museum of terrorism unless they supported the true values of freedom as defined by President Bush.
Obama's even better take. Probably from all those liberal hippie students backpacking on the "Free" admission. I'm glad to see that even though "hope" won't put food on the table, it will put purple token votes into a plastic box in a fake election.
Reason #5857393948 why I ruin everything.
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