点评:I found this museum on my favorite travel website, Atlas Obscura. There is clearly nothing ‘obscure’ about this museum, as there is a chalkboard at the entrance displaying a plethora of visitors from countries around the world who have visited just this year alone.
It is truly a remarkable place in terms of the sheer magnitude and variety of objects collected by Gil (still collecting) and his now deceased wife. I suspect there are very few things one could imagine that this place doesn’t have…….including vintage, wire coat hangers with intact paper tags!?!? ( I kid you not).
I was told by the woman who admitted me, that Gil was deeply affected as a young man when he visited Checkpoint Charley in Berlin. Seeing communism up close apparently triggered a strong desire to promote freedom, specifically American freedom.
As a result, there is an overriding patriotic chauvinism to this place. There are numerous, handwritten placards, as well as ‘art objects’ created by Gil which, in no uncertain terms, proselytize his belief in American superiority. For this visitor, the hegemony tainted the experience. Gil went to significant lengths to denounce racism in a section of racist, African-American artifacts, but clearly doesn’t recognize the hypocrisy of his nationalism.
As with the Canadian visitors who previously posted their displeasure about Gil’s nationalist comments and Trudeau, I received a similarly unpleasant and uncalled for comment. As I was leaving, he asked if Atlas Obscura had a ‘review’ section, intimating he would appreciate a posting by me. He indicated that many people had left very positive comments on Google, “Except for some of those Liberals”. We’ll, guess what ????, I happen to be one of those “Liberals”.
Unfortunately, Gil is, much like his amazing collection, stuck in the past.
翻译:我在我最喜欢的旅游网站 Atlas Obscura 上找到了这个博物馆。这个博物馆显然没有什么“晦涩难懂”的地方,因为入口处有一块黑板,上面写着仅今年就参观过的来自世界各国的大量游客。
就吉尔(仍在收藏)和他现已去世的妻子收集的物品的数量和种类而言,这确实是一个了不起的地方。我怀疑这个地方几乎没有什么东西是没有的……包括老式的铁丝衣架和完整的纸质标签!?!? (我没有骗你)。
接待我的女士告诉我,吉尔年轻时参观柏林查理检查站时深受感动。近距离观察共产主义显然引发了促进自由,特别是美国自由的强烈愿望。
因此,这个地方有压倒性的爱国沙文主义。有许多手写的标语牌,以及吉尔创作的“艺术品”,这些都毫不含糊地宣扬了他对美国优越性的信念。对于这位访客来说,霸权玷污了这次经历。吉尔在种族主义、非裔美国人的文物中竭尽全力谴责种族主义,但显然没有意识到他的民族主义是虚伪的。
就像之前对吉尔的民族主义言论和特鲁多表达不满的加拿大游客一样,我也收到了类似的不愉快且不必要的评论。当我离开时,他问 Atlas Obscura 是否有“评论”部分,暗示他会欣赏我的帖子。他表示,许多人对谷歌留下了非常积极的评论,“除了其中一些自由主义者”。我们猜猜怎么着,我碰巧是那些“自由主义者”之一。
不幸的是,吉尔就像他令人惊叹的收藏一样,停留在过去。