Notre Dame Cathedral is burning

[_Chap]

The last thing France needs now is a mosque burning campaign driven by right-wing revenge freakery. This is overwhelmingly likely to be yet another building site failure of safety precautions (like the destruction of the beautifully renovated Glasgow School of Art last year), and until we have evidence otherwise panic orgasms are not the way to go for any responsible person speaking in public.

Like I said. Because the issue is in today's news. And because it is disgusting to see people trying to use the tragic and almost certainly accidental damage to Notre Dame (thank goodness not its destruction) to get foolish people to go off and burn stuff and kill people on purpose.

Of course this means I don't care at all about French people being killed by Muslim terrorists. I mean it's not like I know or care about any French people, or that on the night of the Bataclan massacre I was anywhere around trying to get a nervous person back home safely, or whatever.

Dr.C. is quite right. I think terrorism is just great, except when it's terrorism against Muslims. Then I get really upset.

I do really wish something nice would happen to Dr.C. He used to talk about his garden and his dogs, and stuff. Has he lost all that? If not, why all this perverse bitterness?

[_canpakes]

I do really wish something nice would happen to Dr.C. He used to talk about his garden and his dogs, and stuff. Has he lost all that? If not, why all this perverse bitterness?

Well, it has been raining here in SLC for the past few days. Maybe it’s cabin fever.

[_MeDotOrg]

I feel a bit disheartened about the discussion here. Notre Dame took 200 years to build. Think about starting a building that would not be completed until 2219. During the 11th Century, that was many generations of human beings. Think about building a monument to something greater than yourself, that would not be completed until generations after you died.

This symbol of constancy, architecture and aspiration is like the Parthenon or the Sistine Chapel. Whatever the religion or culture, it is a monument to human striving, and the purpose to build something greater than yourself.

And I think it is sad that the destruction of this monument is now fodder for our political discourse in 2019.

[_Ceeboo]

I feel a bit disheartened about the discussion here. Notre Dame took 200 years to build. Think about starting a building that would not be completed until 2219. During the 11th Century, that was many generations of human beings. Think about building a monument to something greater than yourself, that would not be completed until generations after you died.

This symbol of constancy, architecture and aspiration is like the Parthenon or the Sistine Chapel. Whatever the religion or culture, it is a monument to human striving, and the purpose to build something greater than yourself.

And I think it is sad that the destruction of this monument is now fodder for our political discourse in 2019.

A spectacular post in my opinion.

[_Morley]

I feel a bit disheartened about the discussion here. Notre Dame took 200 years to build. Think about starting a building that would not be completed until 2219. During the 11th Century, that was many generations of human beings. Think about building a monument to something greater than yourself, that would not be completed until generations after you died.

This symbol of constancy, architecture and aspiration is like the Parthenon or the Sistine Chapel. Whatever the religion or culture, it is a monument to human striving, and the purpose to build something greater than yourself.

And I think it is sad that the destruction of this monument is now fodder for our political discourse in 2019.

This, Me Dot. Thanks.

[_Chap]

... I think it is sad that the destruction of this monument is now fodder for our political discourse in 2019.

I agree with you.

But, there's better news than you think. Notre Dame is NOT destroyed. The roof is gone, certainly. But for a start, the stone structure of the walls and great west towers is intact, together with the glass of the great rose windows, And thanks in part to the strength of the stone ceiling vaulting (much of which has survived) under the timber roof structure there is much less damage to the interior than you might have expected. Even the great organ is unburnt, although it may have suffered water damage.

To borrow a term from subgenius, the building suffered a severe hair fire: frightening to see, but less damaging than it looked. All credit to the brave fire-fighters who had the courage to go into the burning building to create a wall of water that prevented the roof fire spreading to the timber frames inside the great west towers that supported the massive bells: had those collapsed, it is likely that the towers would have been brought down as the bells plunged through the structure.

In an address to the nation today, President Macron said that the he was planning a restoration and repair program that would bring the building back to a usable condition in five years. He may be optimistic, but even if it takes longer than that things are much better than they looked last night.

[Guest]

Deleted. Overshare.

[_Morley]

frightening to see, but less damaging than it looked.

I hope you're right.

[_Kevin Graham]

Lou Dobbs Stokes Conspiracy Theories Over Notre Dame Cathedral Fire

The Fox Business host suggested French authorities took a “political decision” to rule out arson as the cause of the blaze.

[_EAllusion]

Lou Dobbs Stokes Conspiracy Theories Over Notre Dame Cathedral Fire

The Fox Business host suggested French authorities took a “political decision” to rule out arson as the cause of the blaze.

You'd think wanting to use a fire of a famous European landmark to incite anger against a minority they regard as a shadowy enemy in order to further far-right political goals would be a little too on the nose for them.