Op-Ed: Does No 'Freedom Tower' Name Symbolize What We Have Become?

The symbol, at its most basic level, transcends the rational mind because it contains the most ancient of meanings and codes, lost to modern awareness, yet still acting upon the collective consciousness.

Throughout history those who have wielded power successfully, have always harnessed symbols to act covertly into their service. A symbol acts as a very real trigger that can releases powerful group reactions which emerge from the imagery we are all carrying in our collective unconscious. It’s no surprise, then, that those barons of commerce and politics always downplay the importance of the symbol. According to a CNN story last evening, the owners of Freedom Tower have decided to drop the name “Freedom Tower.”

The agency that owns the space where the World Trade Center towers stood is freeing itself of the term "freedom" to describe the signature skyscraper replacing the buildings destroyed on September 11, 2001.

The change from Freedom Tower was revealed Thursday at a news conference where the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced the signing of the first commercial lease in the building to a Chinese company. The building is expected to be completed in late 2013. . .

Ten of the building's planned 108 above-ground floors have been built.

“One World Trade Center” is its legal name and street address but according to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who wasn’t going to criticize the decision because he wants to see the space rented,

If they name this One World Trade Center, people will still call it the Freedom Tower."

The first commercial lease is from a gigantic Chinese company. I’m sure that had NOTHING to do with dropping the name “Freedom Tower!”

. . .Beijing Vantone Industrial is one of the first private corporations established in China. Today, the company is one of China's largest private real estate investment companies with 13 subsidiaries, including one publicly traded company, Beijing Vantone Real Estate Co.

Stephen Sigmund, a spokesman for the Port Authority said:

"The fact is, more than $3 billion of public money is invested in that building and, as a public agency, we have the responsibility to make sure it is completed and that we utilize the best strategy to make certain it is fully occupied. . ."

Really, is that the only responsibility the New York Port Authority has to the public? Has anyone asked the public what we want??? Does the New York Port Authority actually believe that a name change will “make certain” that the building is fully occupied? Well apparently Sigmund does believe that the words “Freedom Tower” just might bring unwanted attention to this “strictly commercial” venture. Many other decision makers appear to agree with him. What about the symbolic importance of the Freedom Tower to Americans?

. . .The building was named the Freedom Tower in the first "ground zero" master plan. Officials said at the time that the tallest, most symbolic of five planned towers at the site would demonstrate the country's triumph over terrorism.

But have we really triumphed over terrorism? Or have we just submitted to a new kind of world-wide economic terrorism? After all, we now owe our collective souls, and the souls of our children and grandchildren, to those countries who will buy up our notes. They will call the shots and we will dance to their tunes. Perhaps now we can better understand why President Obama has banished the phrase, “War on Terrorism.” We haven’t won the War on Terrorism, and our political and economic leaders don‘t want us to focus on the many freedoms we’ve already lost and will continue to lose. The name “Freedom Tower” is a painful reminder of what we were, of what we have lost, and of what we have yet to win. So they say “Let’s just remove that name.” What better way to sweep 9/11 away from our collective memory banks, right? Or might they all be quite wrong? It’s really up to us. To Remember!