Time comes for all things and all people. Trump’s speech at Mt. Rushmore has put it the national spotlight. So, how long would you predict Mt. Rushmore exists in its current form?
Big sculptures last a long time. The pyramids are still going. The Buddhas of Bamyan
lasted ~1500 years. But Colossus of Rhodes only lasted for 50 years (earthquake).
So how might Mt. Rushmore change or end?
Natural disaster - unlikely. SD is so fucking boring geologically
Human intervention -
There’s already been some re-examination of the founding fathers, it’s possible in 100 years they aren’t as untouchable as they are today.
Trump could take over the country and add his face to the mountain.
We could decide to add a different, much less vile, face to the mountain
The USA as a country could change as we know it (or be conquered) and the new regime could destroy or alter it
A terrorist could target it
It could be targeted (or collateral damage) in a military conflict
Erosion - It’s possible millennia could pass and its upkeep wouldn’t be a priority and it could simply get worn down. The faces are going to be more easily changed by wind & time than the pyramids for example
Death of the earth, in 5 billion years when the sun runs out of fuel
As a bonus question, what’s its most likely method of destruction?
Stonehenge is 5,000 years old. Most of the Egyptian pyramids are 4k+. There are many cave paintings that have been around for well over 10,000 years, and studies suggest some are so old they were the work of Neanderthals.
I’m fine with Mt. Rushmore lasting a very long time even if it’s stupid and kinda gross. I’m much less OK with Stone Mountain. That thing should be destroyed ASAP.
I think it will fall into disrepair and get more and more chipped away by humans until the faces don’t really depict anyone in particular. In the future, it will be an Ozymandias type reminder of America’s past.
Has no one here read The World Without Us? Nature is already on its way to reclaim Chernobyl and Detroit within a generation. Mt. Rushmore is one of the very few human artifacts that will survive deep time.
Do any of you remember the books After Man and Man After Man by Dougal Dixon? Man, that shit blew my mind as a child, I highly recommend giving your kids his books. It’s some of the best hard science fiction that almost no one has heard of.
Dude was hype to the dangers of factory farming 40 years ago.
Seems like a pretty hard target for terrorism with low reward. To do any real damage you’d have to actually drill into the granite and place explosives inside the mountain. It would take hours and hours out in the open working with rock drills.
Well it’s stone and it’s in the middle of some big forests, but other than that… I’m sort of a passenger on this ride. I don’t mind destroying this stuff if people find it offensive, but I also can see the case for saying that like it’s okay to have the Washington Monument because he was so crucial to the establishment of this country, while contextualizing it and actually recognizing the faults of the founding fathers in addition to their importance, and while also recognizing people of color.
So I put it in a substantially different category than the Confederate statues. The reason for monuments and statues of the founders is different, so the message sent by having them exist is different.
If you left it up to me I’d rather select important and underappreciated black heroes from the history of the country to immortalize on Mount Rushmore, particularly ones most of us have never even heard of, as this could lead to some important learning while also contextualizing it. For example, Primus Hall was born a slave, attained freedom, fought in the Revolutionary War, was an abolitionist, and built a school for black children in Boston. Put him right next to George Washington and say, “Ole GW was all about freedom, you know, except for this guy and anyone who looked like him… This guy kept putting in work for the cause freedom.”
But, again, if a significant percentage of people of color are like nah fuck having slave owners memorialized in any way for anything, and are deeply offended, I’m not attached to this stuff.
Anyway, regardless of what is best, what is just, and what I want… Mount Rushmore is not likely to be going anywhere for a while. We could add to it in my lifetime (I’m 34). I’d be astounded if we got rid of it.