Acropolis Snubbed

The results are in and sad to say that the Acropolis was not voted as one of the new seven wonders of the world. While I will get into my thoughts in a moment, following are the "wonders" that were selected by over 90 million voters:

1. Machu Picchu (Peru)
2. Taj Mahal (India)
3. Great Wall of China (China)
4. Chichen Itza (Mexico)
5. Petra (Jordan)
6. Colosseum (Italy)
7. Christ the Redeemer (Brazil)

So now, doing my best to not sound like a sore loser, my "key take-away"?

Selection of new wonders largely biased towards world's largest populations - China, India, Catholics, Muslims. While certain wonders were shoe-ins, I was stunned that a large statue in Brazil was selected over other more impressive feats. Then again, it's Jesus and with the tremendous number of Catholics in the world it really is no wonder Rio's statue made it.

Even without sore losers, this campaign was mired with controversy before the new wonders were unveiled, specifically as UNESCO dismissed the selection as "opinions of those with access to the Internet" and not the entire world in a press release last month.

While some countries, including Egypt and China, expressed concerns regarding the impact such a contest would have on tourism, a large corporate-backed campaign in Brazil was underway to "vote for the Christ". Perhaps explaining a bit of the bias, here telecom companies waived fees for those voting enabling a larger proportion of that country's population to vote.

Back to OUR wonder... well, no contest results or Internet vote could ever sway me to discount the Acropolis' wonder. Perhaps one reason I make an effort to stop by every time I'm in Athens... simply magical!

P.S. UNESCO does recognize the Acropolis as a World Heritage Site.