The New Seven Wonders of the World: What do you think?

Hizb Allah kicked Israel's ass in 2006. Hizb Allah is the 8th Wonder of the World.

I imagine Stonehenge was a more impressive feat of engineering than the Xst the Redeemer statue. Eiffel Tower is probably culturally more important, same with Statue of Liberty. I don't know, though. You can't really go wrong with bigass stuff that people designed. For someone with no mathematical ability, approaching the stuff Engineers do is just boggling.

The Great Wall of China is a wonder?

It's an impressive feat, but I thought most of these had an element of mystery surrounding them? I would have thought the terra cotta warriors of Qin Xiang (sp?) were a better 'wonder' from China.

Chichen Itza actually doesn't impress me all that much

Christ the Redeemer Statue (Brazil)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ_the_Redeemer_

(statue)

from that link: The stone for the monument was taken from ... Malmö

Commen Cense wrote:

I would have thought the terra cotta warriors of Qin Xiang (sp?) were a better 'wonder' from China.

Yeah, those are cool

The voting process turned the whole thing into a joke. Clearly, the statute in Brazil is no great wonder. I was also disappointed not to see Easter Island make the final list. The army of terra cotta warriors would have been a neat addition from China, but not in lieu of the Great Wall, which is the one structure that, to me, is most impressive.

Among statues, an obvious choice would seem to be the Great Sphinx of Giza, although it presumably wasn't considered because the pyramids of Giza were given a free pass.

The absence of any Greek structures is notable. The Parthenon on the Acropolis came close, and was certainly a better choice than at least one or two of those chosen.

Angkor Wat also deserved more votes than some of those chosen. The voting, however, was heavily skewed by public "get out the vote" campaigns in latin america. Not much lobbying from Cambodia, apparently.

Avocados Number wrote:

Clearly, the statute in Brazil is no great wonder.

"Statue." I've got statutes on my mind these days. Too much legal work.

I, too, was a little disappointed with some of the things left oout of the 7. Namely, Easter Island and either Greek structures. I did vote though.

Avocados Number wrote: The army of terra cotta warriors would have been a neat addition from China

And if not the pottery army then maybe this ceramic wonder:

Seriously, no joke about those terra cotta warriors, but even better call on Angkor Wat - mindblowing. The scope of it, and a million freaking people living there.

The brazil thing is stupid i agree it only won because there are like 800 million people in brazil. more people more votes.

I love London with all the memorials and statues commemorating the victories of the British Empire.

I have to agree on the Rio de Janero statue also, despite being a Christian. I love the statue and am glad it is up hovering over the city as a reminder of God's love for us. I have to say though I'd switch it out with Stonehenge.

On the terra cotta soldiers in China, they are indeed sweet, but not a wonder...

This is like American Idol. You got a bunch of people in Brazil voting for their country not the merits of the "wonder" itself.

None of the versions of the computer game 'Civilization' have Christ the Redeemer on it. That settles it :)

I kept wondering about Christ the Redeemer Statue as well. Seems pretty ridiculous. I would love to be able to track where the votes came from.

I can't believe that Angkor Wat was left off the list. I don't see how a person not suffering from mental illness could think Christ the Redeemer is more worthy than Angkor Wat.

some facts. wrote:

I don't see how a person not suffering from mental illness could think Christ the Redeemer is more worthy than Angkor Wat.

Well, you have a bunch of people suffering from the mental illness known as "Christianity" who launched a voting campaign when there was about a week left to go and it had gotten barely any votes.

It's pathetic that it was even nominated, but I think that was based on a vote in the first place.

It's about tourist dollars. If you get a site in your nation among the Seven Wonders you are guarranteed tourist revenue.

I actually had never heard of Angkor Wat before this discussion but reading about it was interesting. What's worse, the only "site" I could name in Cambodia before this thread was S-21.

Giza Pyramids wrote:

Chichen Itza (Mexico)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chichen_Itza

Talk about playing for keeps:

The sides of the interior of the ballcourt are lined with sculpted panels depicting teams of ball players, with the captain of the losing team being decapitated.

2miler wrote:

I have to agree on the Rio de Janero statue also, despite being a Christian. I love the statue and am glad it is up hovering over the city as a reminder of God's love for us. I have to say though I'd switch it out with Stonehenge.

On the terra cotta soldiers in China, they are indeed sweet, but not a wonder...

What makes them not a wonder?

They've only recently discovered unexplored chambers at the site of the terra cotta warriors. The whole of which was a myth up until 30 years ago. It was thought they were a real army long ago, not thousands of crafted soldiers protecting such an ancient place.

It's more of a 'wonder' than a giant Jesus statue built less than a century ago.