Statue of Liberty

[[File:Statue-de-la-liberte-new-york.jpg|upright|thumb|165px|Lady Liberty herself.]]{{conspiracy}}{{sources needed}}
The '''Statue of Liberty''' is one of the most famous icons of the [[United States]], along with Mount Rushmore and the [[Grand Canyon]].

The monument itself stands at over 90 metres, half of which is the statue itself, half being its base.

The [[Bible]] says, "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth." ({{bible|Exodus|20|9}}){{efn|Sects such as Protestantism and other Abrahamic religions such as Islam take this to heart (in some extreme Muslim sects, any and all images are verboten), but since Lady Liberty isn't considered a religious figure...}}

==History==
The statue was given by France in 1876 as a birthday gift to America to celebrate their [[American Revolution|centennial of independence from the British]] (with whom they both have a historical enmity), and it now stands at Liberty Island and symbolizes concepts such as freedom, [[democracy]] and, indeed, [[liberty]].  

Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi was the sculptor of the statue and Gustave Eiffel, of Eiffel Tower fame, designed the interior truss system that supported the statue and the then-well-known architect Richard Morris Hunt designed the pedestal.

The statue remains a popular tourist attraction to this day despite its [[liberal]] connotations.

A few idiots wanted to ship the statue back to the French in 2003, around the same time those people started calling those fried potato things [[freedom fries]]. This would have destroyed a national icon out of [[Delusions of grandeur|pure spite]].

The [[Libertarian Party]] has adopted the Statue of Liberty as its symbol, conveniently forgetting that this ''big government statue'' was donated by ''[[socialist]]'' France and is maintained by the [[communist]]ic ''National'' Park Service with ''our'' [[tax]] dollars. Whoops.

==Conspiracy theories==
There are claims of a connection with the [[freemason]]s or [[Knights Templar]].<ref>[https://www.sbs.com.au/guide/article/2018/01/09/knights-templar-walk-among-us-and-other-crazy-conspiracy-theories The Knights Templar walk among us! And other crazy conspiracy theories] SBS (Australia), Feb 7, 2018</ref> Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, the sculptor, and Gustave Eiffel, the engineer, were both freemasons, but it's unlikely they intended the sculpture to enforce masonic authority on the US, or whatever conspiracy theorists think a masonic-built statue could do.

In March 2017 the statue fell dark for a few hours. There were a lot of imaginative theories about this. It was interpreted as a protest for International Women's Day or against [[Donald Trump]]'s restriction on travel from Muslim countries to the US. Or maybe the Russians hacked it.<ref>[http://time.com/4694859/statue-of-liberty-new-york-city-international-womens-day/ The 3 Best Conspiracy Theories About the Statue of Liberty Going Dark], Time.com, March 8, 2017</ref>

==Alleged Satanic representation==
[[Conservative]] [[Christian]] [[conspiracy theorist]] [[Mark Dice]] and theforbiddenknowledge.com claim that the Statue of Liberty was designed by French [[Freemasons]] and is secretly meant to represent [[Lucifer]].<ref>
http://www.theforbiddenknowledge.com/symbology/5o5.htm
</ref>
Which just goes to show how easily you can (re-)interpret a bit of [[symbolism]].

==Notes==
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==References==
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[[Category:New York]]
[[Category:United States]]

Categories: New York, United States