In a previous blog:
http://brane-space.blogspot.com/2010/10/making-huge-fuss-over-nothing.html
I noted the recent kerfuffle in Loveland, CO over Enrique Chagoya's provocative lithograph, and how many fundies were getting apoplectic over it, and that much of this was being fueled by press accounts that it appeared to depict Christ receiving oral sex. (I noted that objective observers' comments were that it did not do this in any explicit way, and to conclude such required a volitional act of visual closure and mental determination on the part of the viewer. In other words, they were going to see exactly what they wanted to see!)
This is confirmed by Bud Shark who assembled the exhibit for the Loveland Art Museum and Gallery, as he noted Wednesday, after the assault:
"This attack is the direct result of the inflammatory and false descriptions of the piece in the press and by those protesting its inclusion in our exhibition. This controversial image has been demonized as 'pornographic', 'obscene' and 'depicting Jesus in a sex act, when none of this is true."
Well, why should any fundie let truth or objective reality get in the way of their delusions? Certainly not the 56-year old woman from Kalispell, MT who destroyed the lithograph. By 4 p.m. as she viewed the art work, she suddenly lost it, removed a crowbar from her slacks and smashed the plexiglass protective outer screen, then went to work on the lithograph itself - screaming like a banshee the whole time: " How dare you desecrate my Lord!"
Many other people at the exhibit, not particularly at Chagoya's piece, thought they had heard gunfire, but it was the sound of the plexiglass being shattered.
Enrique Shagoya, the artist-professor, expressed sad resignation at the untimely fate of his art, saying:
"It's sad and upsetting. I've never had this kind of violent reaction to my art. Violence doesn't resolve anything."
But now (after also receiving hate email - e.g. Denver Post today, 'Artist Got Hate Emails') maybe Chagoya (and many others) finally grok what New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd wrote some weeks ago, that this nation is in the midst of a massive "nervous breakdown". We not only have wacko acts like this, but a bunch of so-called tea partyers (backed and funded by billionaires like the Koch brothers) screaming for Obama's head as they call him a "socialist" and "Hitler", even as members of the Congressional Black Caucus have been called the N-word by many of them. And we have loopy tea bagger candidates coming out of the woodwork, like a nutball in Alaska named Joe Miller who wants to use the 10th amendment as a basis to repeal Social Security, Medicare and the GI Bill, even as another nutso from Delaware, admitted she had a "date with a guy on a Satanic altar". And to top this off, a Pew Research Survey found two days ago that more than 50% of the Tea Bagger Brigade are Christian Right toadies.
So, in the constellation of events manifested the past five months or so, this outrageous act fits right in. Another wacko, another outburst, a man's art shattered ....the result of months of effort. And what punishment does the miscreant get? Well, a $2,000 fine for "Class 4" felony labeled "criminal mischief".
At the very least, this imbecile ought to made to do at least 2,000 hours of community service in addition, to at least partially match the effort that went into producing the lithograph.
In the meantime, the rest of the self-righteous, screaming meemie whiners who blather about "using our tax dollars to support pornography" could pull their heads from where the Sun doesn't shine and finally understand - as officials sponsoring the exhibit have noted- that the money was donated from outside sources and no tax dollar was used. Not one!
Will this country, still in the throes of "Obama-psychosis" ever come out of it? I doubt it, especially if they fail to snatch both Houses of Congress in 4 weeks, as the press has led them to believe. In all probability, we'll behold even more spectacles of a nation in melt down, because it simply can't handle a diverse reality, political or social. All this while the Europeans laugh their asses off, seeing a people who scream about how the "government is taking their freedom" even as the mega-corporations (Big banking, Big Oil, PhrMa, Health insurance) are pissing down their throats.....and laughing at how easily the Babbits can be manipulated to act against their own best interests.
http://brane-space.blogspot.com/2010/10/making-huge-fuss-over-nothing.html
I noted the recent kerfuffle in Loveland, CO over Enrique Chagoya's provocative lithograph, and how many fundies were getting apoplectic over it, and that much of this was being fueled by press accounts that it appeared to depict Christ receiving oral sex. (I noted that objective observers' comments were that it did not do this in any explicit way, and to conclude such required a volitional act of visual closure and mental determination on the part of the viewer. In other words, they were going to see exactly what they wanted to see!)
This is confirmed by Bud Shark who assembled the exhibit for the Loveland Art Museum and Gallery, as he noted Wednesday, after the assault:
"This attack is the direct result of the inflammatory and false descriptions of the piece in the press and by those protesting its inclusion in our exhibition. This controversial image has been demonized as 'pornographic', 'obscene' and 'depicting Jesus in a sex act, when none of this is true."
Well, why should any fundie let truth or objective reality get in the way of their delusions? Certainly not the 56-year old woman from Kalispell, MT who destroyed the lithograph. By 4 p.m. as she viewed the art work, she suddenly lost it, removed a crowbar from her slacks and smashed the plexiglass protective outer screen, then went to work on the lithograph itself - screaming like a banshee the whole time: " How dare you desecrate my Lord!"
Many other people at the exhibit, not particularly at Chagoya's piece, thought they had heard gunfire, but it was the sound of the plexiglass being shattered.
Enrique Shagoya, the artist-professor, expressed sad resignation at the untimely fate of his art, saying:
"It's sad and upsetting. I've never had this kind of violent reaction to my art. Violence doesn't resolve anything."
But now (after also receiving hate email - e.g. Denver Post today, 'Artist Got Hate Emails') maybe Chagoya (and many others) finally grok what New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd wrote some weeks ago, that this nation is in the midst of a massive "nervous breakdown". We not only have wacko acts like this, but a bunch of so-called tea partyers (backed and funded by billionaires like the Koch brothers) screaming for Obama's head as they call him a "socialist" and "Hitler", even as members of the Congressional Black Caucus have been called the N-word by many of them. And we have loopy tea bagger candidates coming out of the woodwork, like a nutball in Alaska named Joe Miller who wants to use the 10th amendment as a basis to repeal Social Security, Medicare and the GI Bill, even as another nutso from Delaware, admitted she had a "date with a guy on a Satanic altar". And to top this off, a Pew Research Survey found two days ago that more than 50% of the Tea Bagger Brigade are Christian Right toadies.
So, in the constellation of events manifested the past five months or so, this outrageous act fits right in. Another wacko, another outburst, a man's art shattered ....the result of months of effort. And what punishment does the miscreant get? Well, a $2,000 fine for "Class 4" felony labeled "criminal mischief".
At the very least, this imbecile ought to made to do at least 2,000 hours of community service in addition, to at least partially match the effort that went into producing the lithograph.
In the meantime, the rest of the self-righteous, screaming meemie whiners who blather about "using our tax dollars to support pornography" could pull their heads from where the Sun doesn't shine and finally understand - as officials sponsoring the exhibit have noted- that the money was donated from outside sources and no tax dollar was used. Not one!
Will this country, still in the throes of "Obama-psychosis" ever come out of it? I doubt it, especially if they fail to snatch both Houses of Congress in 4 weeks, as the press has led them to believe. In all probability, we'll behold even more spectacles of a nation in melt down, because it simply can't handle a diverse reality, political or social. All this while the Europeans laugh their asses off, seeing a people who scream about how the "government is taking their freedom" even as the mega-corporations (Big banking, Big Oil, PhrMa, Health insurance) are pissing down their throats.....and laughing at how easily the Babbits can be manipulated to act against their own best interests.
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