The votes are in. At a celebrity-studded televised ceremony, seven "new" wonders of the world were crowned. The Great Wall of China, the Taj Mahal in India, the Coliseum of Rome, the pink ruins of Petra in Jordan, the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, the Incan ruins of Machu Picchu in Peru, and the Mayan city of Chichen Itza in Mexico got the most votes and are now the Seven Wonders of the World. (Note: The Pyramids of Egypt, the only one of the orginal Seven Wonders still standing today, is given Wonder statues and was ruled out of the contest.)
In the age of American Idol, a private Swiss foundation launched the contest in January, allowing Internet and telephone voters to choose between 21 short-listed sites. Over 100 million votes were casted by the end of polling. Those sites who didn't make it include the Acropolis in Greece, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Angkor Wat temples in Cambodia, the Statue of Liberty of America and Britain's Stonehenge.
Now, will anyone really believe them to be the 'Seven Wonders of the World'? I mean since when did culture become a voting contest. Now everyone has their own idea on which site is a 'Wonder' and which sites isn't; which sites should be on the list (Angkor Wat temples, cough); which sites shouldn't be on the list (pink Petra?); so I won't go into that, but shouldn't the Seven Wonders be selected by some experts. By Internet voting, it means that even I can say vote 1000 times for the Great Wall. And I have never been to any of these sites!
The Swiss foundation that launched the contest meant well, but they should not have went American Idol on the selection process. It just make a mockery of the orginal Seven Wonders. I wonder how many of those people who voted has exactly went to all the 21 short-listed sites. I will be mightly surpised if the number go past 5!
No comments:
Post a Comment