Did We Really Need Seven New Wonders?

freakxx writes "Seven new 'wonders of the world' have been announced today in a ceremony in Lisbon, Portugal. People throughout the world have voted actively to elect the new 7 out of 21 finalists. The final lineup is: Chichen Itza, Mexico; Christ Redeemer, Brazil; The Great Wall, China; Machu Picchu, Peru; Petra, Jordan; The Roman Colosseum, Italy; and The Taj Mahal, India. The Pyramids of Giza was the only candidate that used to be among the original seven wonders. Did we really need seven new wonders of the world? Why was this decided via a website poll (pdf) and SMS messages?"

Comments

Re:because it's a publicilty stunt

[cynicsreport]

The original 7 wonders are not complete - there needs to be additions, but they should be added individually, and with great discretion. Experts in this field should be polled, as they will have the best perspective on the 'wonders of the world'. Not being an expert, though, I suspect that both the Taj Mahal and the Roman Colosseum could be considered wonders.

Re:Not all of them are that amazing

[_Shad0w_]

The Taj Mahal is an impressive building but still just a big house.

Mausoleum.

Re:Why lament it?

[_Shad0w_]

The Great Pyramid of Giza is the only original left. A couple of the others survived into the C15th, most the rest were gone before the fall of the Roman Empire. I think the statue of Zeus just managed to survive beyond that...then got dismantled by the Christians.

Re:These are pretty dumb

[Stormwatch]

As a sidenote... Gustave Eiffel also designed the Statue of Liberty's internal structure.

It's not just a campus.

[SanityInAnarchy]

I went to Macchu Picchu about two weeks ago. They had computers lined up outside, hooked up to the Internet, Kiosk-moded to the survey website for this retarded thing.

I thought exactly the same thing as all of you, but I'd also argue that there's probably a good chunk of the votes coming from the shell-shocked people walking out of places like Macchu Picchu. I know I was tempted, because goddamn... It's beautiful, and amazing architecture, and a good bit of impressive history, and a little halucinogenic garden...

But this kind of shit really cheapens it. That, and the $70 ticket for the train to Aguascalientes (a small town of "hot" springs that are kind of lukewarm, that exists only to be a tourist town), then another, what, $20 for the bus ride and $50 for the ticket? I forget (I wasn't paying). The person who did pay (my father) was certainly convinced it was worth every penny, and I am too, but the commercialization is bullshit. Oh well, at least the rest of the country is cheap...