Timex
1917
Throwing away art because someone might not understand it isn’t really something that I think benefits anyone.
On the other hand, much like Confederate monuments, there’s no obligation to display any particular piece of art on government property, devoid of any context.
Timex
1919
I think it’s kind of different from a confederate monument though, which existed solely to celebrate the confederacy (and in many cases weren’t even really art at all, and were just recasts of Union statues with confederate stuff added to grift southern idiots).
This is a large piece of artwork, with one tiny part (that most folks wouldn’t even notice) that is being misinterpreted as a celebration of the KKK.
Put it in a museum. Just imagine if a door like with the KKK on it was the front door to City Hall. How would minorities feel using that door? It’s inappropriate. I’m sure West Point has a museum on the grounds. Display it there with an explanation. If it has artistic value, that’s a good spot for it.
In St Louis we took down a Confederate monument that was displayed in our biggest park. It’s going to a local museum for display. That’s a good compromise. It’s a history lesson.
abrandt
1921
Here’s the link to the guide that walks through every part of the entire mural. It has lots of things that it clearly isn’t celebrating, including other sections about slavery. It’s clearly trying to touch on major points of American History, mostly things that are positive from the American perspective but clearly lots of people/places/events that were not. Unless you want to argue it’s celebrating British impressment of Americans and also celebrating war as symbolized by the four horsemen of the apocalypse.
The artist should have added emojis to each panel to make clear what is good and what is bad!
The actual headline for this is the most America-fuck-yeah one I can imagine: “The nation’s poorest state used welfare money to pay Brett Favre for speeches he never made:”
I mean, what else are you going to spend welfare money on? Poor people?
The thing is, while yeah you can imagine say a mural about WWII that had an image of a concentration camp on it as part of the whole panoply, while not being problematic. But the KKK, with a dude in a hood and the letters, is too close to celebratory iconography that is still in use today. That’s the problem, not that fact that the artwork depicts good and bad parts of history. Had it depicted for example Federal troops in Grant’s presidency riding down the KKK, that’s pretty clear. But one Klansman standing there is too close to t-shirts that real Klan fans wear.
RichVR
1925
Or hyperlinks to appropriate Wikipedia pages.
Houngan
1926
Or assumed that everyone in the 20th century already knew KKK=bad.
KevinC
1927
Fuck every single person involved in that debacle. I saw the article this morning and it really pisses me off. You’re right, it really is so Red America.
CraigM
1928
May Favre get crushed by an angry linebacker
Ah jest think that money is better spent on a hero like Brett Favre then on a pack of lazy welfare cheats who ain’t never achieved nothin’ 'cause they ain’t got no gumption.
The true breadth of the comedy is revealed when you realize a lot of these people are MAGA loons who talk of the Great Reset and how the wealthy elite want to funnel money from the working class to their coffers. But they’re okay with voluntarily giving their money to Donald Trump and Brett Favre.
And OUR money too.
Why they gave $3 million to Ted “the Million Dollar Man” DiBiase is what I want to know. Obviously another crooked scheme of his, like when he tried to buy the WWF world championship belt and when he put a bounty on Andre the Giant so he could get it!
Telefrog
1932
After having trouble attracting educators and facing high turnover rates, the school district has come up with a radical solution: asking local families to take in cash-strapped teachers.
“So far, we’ve had 34 respondents who are interested in providing a room or small space on their property for our educators if needed,” she said.
“Here, peon. You may live in the servant’s quarters!”
vinraith
1933
And it goes without saying, of course, that their kid is to be afforded special treatment in light of this situation.
I checked their schedule. Where is the codpiece contest?
Hah, that’s the Ren Faire we went to in college.
My main memories are that aside from the regular medieval stuff, they had a zoo exhibit with a very sad bear, and a tiger show that I’m 90% sure was run by Doc Antle’s weird cult.
