America's Obsession with the New, and Fear of the Obsolete

The Madison Hotel, Phoenix via
Joshua Lott for The New York Times

The Madison Hotel,
demolished last week

In an age where everything is new and improved, faster the speed of light and gentrified to the point of perfection, the appreciation for old-fashioned life is fading. I read a New York Times article by Fernanda Santos (for the complete article, click here) talking about how even historic relics of America's past, such as Arizona's westward expansion compounds, are being threatened to be destroyed to make way for new and improved developments.

Today, in the age of the Internet, most things can be found online. Due to this, people all around the world can find information and news all at the click of a button. I think this new trend has led to a belief that if one can find it online, there is no point in going to see it with one's own eyes. For example in the context of the above article, if someone were to take a picture of the above tavern used centuries ago by American frontiersmen, then there would be no reason for it to remain standing. In fact, according to the article, in a city, "that prizes what is new, heaps of discarded history [are being crashed to the ground," The Madison Hotel stands in an area near to where the NBA team, the Phoenix Suns, play. Many old buildings in that neighborhood "were demolished to make way for the Sun's arena complex," and at one point, the Madison Hotel itself was at threat for being torn down and used for "extra parking space and two hotels". As you can see on the above right, it was torn down last week for the same reason. Does America value professional sports commercialism over preservation of the past?

Even homes by the world-renowned architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, have been on the chopping block. In exchange for the demolition of the house, "new homes were going to be built on the land". I happen to think that tearing down historic America is a disgrace to those who lived then. When Jim McPherson, the president of the Arizona Preservation Foundation, said, “How do you continue to tell a city’s story if the remnants of its past have all come down?” I think he got it right. What do you think?