Good lord.
Via Hot Air: a college student’s “art project” consisted of putting American flags on the floor for people to walk on. A Marine veteran showed up to say this was bullshit. Here’s the video, which is ruined by the background music (I hate Toby Keith so very, very much) but will definitely get your hackles up:
Assholes. Well, if the right to put flags on the floor and walk on them is protected by the First Amendment, then so should be the right to pick those flags up off the floor out of respect. College kids and liberals never do seem to grasp that, eh?
Assholes.
Grrrr…from entertained to PO’d with a simple click of the refresh icon…f’in punks!
(I was expecting an AI update…I don’t watch it but follow it here…and all I got was higher blood pressure and the near overwhelming urge to b’-slap the ‘artist’)
April 17th, 2008 at 11:19 amESTOh My…
First I am impressed with just how many people walked around the flags in order to avoid stepping on them. That was heart warming. Even the person on crutches went out of their way to avoid the flags. That was awesome.
And I LOVED the guy who went to stand with the veteran. Did you see him take his watch off? LOL I loved it.
Those idiot administrators and the supposed “artist” are a bunch of dillholes. It just pisses me off how stupid they are. That isn’t art. It isn’t even free speech. It’s insane.
April 17th, 2008 at 11:24 amESTIf you know, would you please say where this (self-deleted expletive) took place?
And after seeing those “children” standing on the flags, it is little wonder to me why college students make such fine targets.
April 17th, 2008 at 11:29 amESTI would die for the right of those dillwads to express their disdain for my flag, but I’d much sooner die for the right of that Patriot to tell them what dillwads they are.
The Conservative (and Rachelliterative) blogosphere needs to be able to react more quickly to these things. The best defense against repugnant speech is overwhelming patriotic speech. How cool would it have been if we could have gathered 50 or so America-loving Americans to stand silently at the edges of those flags, peacably making everyone walk around them?
It wouldn’t be too hard. The blogfather could register instapatriot.com and send out blast emails to the bloggers. I’ll bet 50-100 people could be gathered in less than an hour in most major cities.
April 17th, 2008 at 11:39 amESTI wonder if this is a college supported by public funds? I don’t appreciate my tax dollars going for “art projects” like this…
April 17th, 2008 at 11:40 amESTHere’s an even more disgusting college “art” project.
I especially like how these yabbos claim that they’re trying to provoke thoughtful debate, when in fact that’s the furthest thing from their “minds.” All they’ve done is to confuse art with spectacle.
April 17th, 2008 at 11:42 amESTSince Hillsdale would never put up with this bullshit, it is by definition a college supported by public funds.
April 17th, 2008 at 11:42 amESTReally sad. The condescension infuriated me as much as the punks standing on the flag. How dare they lecture him like he’s a five-year-old! Typical. Liberals think they know better than the rest of us poor simpletons.
April 17th, 2008 at 11:45 amESTWhy does this shit never happen when I am around. I would have been screaming at the top of my lungs for all patriotic students to line up and guard those flags.
And those pussies who only had the balls to just stand on the very edge of the flag, I’d have called them out on thier pussiness, taken thier pictures and paid for a local ad in the newspaper showing everyone in town what fucking douchebags these kids are.
I would have been loud, but calm until someone touched me or got in my face, and then I would have gone to jail for multiple aggrivated assault charges and attempted murder.
I am so fucking pissed right now.
April 17th, 2008 at 11:48 amESTThis so called “art” project was at the University of Maine at Farmington. So yes, my taxes were certainly involved.
April 17th, 2008 at 11:51 amESTI, unfortunately, run into this kind of crap all the time at the art school I go to. Prissy little brats who think because they are in college that thy suddenly have a ‘higher understanding’ than the rest of us mere mortals who have done things like served in the military, held down a job, and paid our bills.
These kind of “Art Exhibits” if you ever really look at them are completely empty of any kind of artistic expression. They make them and say “Oh, I’m being sooo radical” when the fact is that they are just little, stupid wanna-bes who have nothing of any value to say with their art so instead they try for some kind of shock value.
To them, any response is better than being ignored.
And yes, I would like to slap all of them as well.
April 17th, 2008 at 11:52 amESTDid I hear correctly? In the beginning of the video did the woman in black (student’s teacher?) actually tell the veteran that by doing this they they were protecting his right to disagree?
The irony is strong in this one.
April 17th, 2008 at 11:54 amESTOne more thing … I love how they told him he was “free” to express his opinion, which is why they were “letting” him stay.
April 17th, 2008 at 11:57 amESTThe “art” in question is stupid and not particularly artistic (is there any hint of either original expression or even aesthetics in ti?) - but I do have an answer to “don’t people have a right to pick the flags up off the floor?”
The answer is, of course, “no, they do not”. Those flags are someone else’s private property, and if the asshat who owns them and the asshat who owns the floor both agree that they should be conjoined, nobody else has a right to move said private property around.
Some bystander has no more right to move the asshat’s personally owned flags off the floor, than the asshat does to take someone’s privately owned flag down off a flagpole and walk on it. The property rights involved are identical.
(He’s still an utter asshat, of course.)
April 17th, 2008 at 12:04 pmESTI’m almost past the point of getting pissed off at these things. The smug “intellectuals” and the imbecilic students who are only looking for a way to get attention are boring and not worth the effort.
This isn’t even art, just an attention grabbing stunt by an absolutely talentless little prick, which unfortunately will be praised by an even less talented teacher; all because of the controversy.
Hail to the two who stood up in protest, and to everyone who took care to walk around the flags. Maybe there is some hope left out there.
April 17th, 2008 at 12:12 pmESTI have to agree 100% with this article. I might be able to swallow the whole “doing it to stimulate debate” argument if it hadn’t already been done like, a million times already. Sweet Baby Jesus at least think of something original.
April 17th, 2008 at 12:16 pmESTARRRRRGGGGHHHHH! This infuriates me. Bless that veteran and the young man who stood with him.
And pig’s piss be upon the fuckin’ emo asswipes who were standing on the flag. I’d appreciate it if they stuck with what they know - cutting themselves silly. Maybe they’ll do us all a favor and thin the gene pool a bit. That thought gives me great pleasure.
April 17th, 2008 at 12:20 pmESTWho was that vet? I’d like to buy him a beer.
April 17th, 2008 at 12:23 pmESTHeh…then they should have used copies of the Koran. That would get a reaction.
April 17th, 2008 at 12:24 pmESTI loved seeing the guy go stand with the marine. What is the significance of him removing his watch?
April 17th, 2008 at 12:24 pmESTBill: That is truly horrifying.
April 17th, 2008 at 12:24 pmESTOnce wished I was in a position to burn an American flag. It was when I saw a photo of some two legged scum shitting on a flag. A big cup of gasoline and a match would have been niiiiice….
April 17th, 2008 at 12:27 pmESTI recognized the older guy in the suit, but who was that shorter man with the short gray hair and round glasses? What was his role in the whole situation? I think the way both men mistreated our Marine veteran is deplorable. Both men should be ashamed of themselves, especially the shorter of the two men, the man with short gray hair and round glasses. That guy was way out of line.
April 17th, 2008 at 12:27 pmESTOkay, I’m not a lawyer, but I’m learning to be one. If the man were to have picked up the flags and put them someplace safe, what would have been the tortionate act? I think if he had a clever lawyer he could argue that by thus “participating” in their “artwork” he contributed to making it an even stronger statement than simply walking on flags. In fact, I would argue that their “art” was impliedly designed to provoke and generate a response.
I don’t know if that would work - remember I’m not a lawyer - but I think it might be worth a shot. Is it worth risking a breach of the peace to make a counter point to this rather unimaginative and mediocre “artistic” statement?
April 17th, 2008 at 12:28 pmESTYeah, but it breaks my heart that more people didn’t have the balls to stand with the vet — God Bless the one young man who did!
Baggy pants boy with the sign on his back made me want to do him some serious bodily harm!
April 17th, 2008 at 12:31 pmESTI don’t think any words could possibly express how royally pissed off I am at this moment. Call it brainwashing, call it naivety, hell, call me a redneck, but I spent eight years of my life saluting that flag and caring for people who fought and were injured (and yes, even some who died) for everything that flag symbolizes. I love this country and I respect our flag. And this *spit*project*spit* just takes a big fat dump over all of that, including those who served.
Note to the guy in the video arguing that it was just a symbol:
It’s all very ironic that you were mocking a veteran for how much stock he put into that symbol when it’s apparently obvious that the “artist” also deemed it a powerful symbol. Except of course the “artist” holds great disdain for everything that symbol stands for. I’m sure it’s great to feel so superior to somebody that you can mock them for respecting a symbol that your actions show you also believe holds some value. How ironic and downright hypocritical is it then that it’s OK for you to voice your opinion of that symbol when a man who gave up a portion of his life to his country can’t do the same without being mocked by your sorry ass?
To the guy who stood by the veteran and took off his watch:
Dude, I don’t drink, but I would so buy you a beer.
To the students who walked around the flags (particularly the one on crutches):
Thank you for showing at least enough decency to avoid walking on our flag.
Oh, and to the security people:
I don’t know if you approved or disapproved of this display, but I would seriously have hoped that if you disapproved you would have refused to escort that veteran out and would have, instead, stood with him if they tried to make him leave.
April 17th, 2008 at 12:36 pmESTRe the watch removal: People often remove watches and jewelry if they think they’re going to be engaging in fisticuffs.
April 17th, 2008 at 12:36 pmESTThat’s hilarious. I think “the short guy” is part of a species of androgenous liberal found in the far eastern U.S., San Francisco and surprisingly in the frozen tundra of Minneapolis, MN.
April 17th, 2008 at 12:44 pmESTI know it’s hard, folks, but try NOT to get angry. That’s what these tools want, to get a rise out of folks, it makes them feel im-poh-tent. Just feel pity. As in pathetic.
April 17th, 2008 at 12:55 pmESTWHAT A BUNCH OF STUPID PATHETIC PUNK ASSHAT IDJITS.
What skyler said about the watch. Be prepared. I would stand with those two any day. And I was immensely cheered to see that almost ALL the students moving through that hallway walked carefully AROUND the flags.
If that happened around here it would not take long to turn out enough people to “human cordon” those flags to prevent their being stepped on. I even know the first people I’d contact to get the cordon rolling.
April 17th, 2008 at 12:58 pmESTA perfect example of 13th graders.
April 17th, 2008 at 1:01 pmESTAdvance apologies for the long comment:
Military Rules for Non-Military Personnel
Dear Civilians,
We know that the current state of affairs in our great nation have many civilians up in arms and excited to join the military. For those of you who can’t join, you can still lend a hand. Here are a few of the areas we would like your assistance:
1. The next time you see an adult talking (or wearing a hat) during the playing of the National Anthem… kick their ***.
2. When you witness firsthand someone burning the American Flag in protest… kick their ***.
3. Regardless of the rank they held while they served, pay the highest amount of respect to all veterans. If you see anyone doing otherwise, quietly pull them aside and explain how these Veterans fought for the very freedom they bask in every second. Enlighten them on the many sacrifices these Veterans made to make this Nation great. Then hold them down while a Disabled Veteran kicks their ***.
4. If you were never in the military, DO NOT pretend that you were. Wearing camouflage, telling others that you used to be “Special Forces,” and collecting GI Joe memorabilia, might have been okay if you were still seven. Now, it will only make you look stupid and get your *** kicked.
5. Next time you come across an Air Force member, do not ask them, “Do you fly a jet?” Not everyone in the Air Force is a pilot. Such ignorance deserves an *** kicking (children are exempt).
6. If you witness someone calling the U.S. Coast Guard nonmilitary, inform them of their mistake… and kick their ***.
7. Roseanne Barr’s singing of the National Anthem is not a blooper… it was a disgrace and disrespectful. Laugh, and sooner or later your *** will be kicked.
8. Next time Old Glory goes by during a parade, get on your damn feet and pay homage to her by placing your hand over your heart. Quietly thank the military member or veteran lucky enough to be carrying her… of course, failure to do either of those could earn you a severe *** kicking.
9. What Jane Fonda did during the Vietnam War makes her the enemy. Just mention her nomination for “Woman of the Year” and get your *** kicked.
10. Don’t try to discuss politics with a military member or a veteran. We are Americans and we all bleed the same regardless of our party affiliation. The President is our Commander in Chief regardless of political party. We have no inside track on what happens inside those big important buildings where all those representatives meet. All we know is that when those civilian representatives screw up the situation, they call upon the military to go straighten it out. The military member might direct you to Oliver North. (I can see him kicking your *** already.)
11. “Your mama wears combat boots” never made sense to me. If she did, she would most likely be a vet and, therefore, could kick your ***!
12. Bin Laden and the Taliban are not communists, so stop saying “Let’s go kill those Commie’s!!!” And stop asking us where he is!!!! Crystal balls are not standard issue in the military. That reminds me … if you see anyone calling those damn psychic phone numbers; let me know, so I can go kick their ***.
13. Flyboy (Air Force), Jar Head (Marines), Grunt (Army), Squid (Navy), etc., are terms of endearment we use describing each other. Unless you are a service member or vet, you have not earned the right to use them. Doing so will get your *** kicked.
14. Last but not least, whether or not you become a member of the military, support our troops and their families. Every Thanksgiving and religious holiday that you enjoy with family and friends, please remember that there are literally thousands of sailors and troops far from home wishing they could be with their families. Thank God for our military and the sacrifices they make every day. Without them, our country would get its *** kicked.
April 17th, 2008 at 1:02 pmEST“Edgy” would have been to go to the Latin Student Center and pull the same stunt with Mexican flags. And without a knife or pistol or a swarm of body guards to defend you.
Or try the same exact “art” stunt with rainbow flags in the foyer of the Gay and Lesbian and Trans-something-or-another student center.
Of course, that would have been “hate speech”.
April 17th, 2008 at 1:06 pmESTSo infuriating. Too pissed to say much right now. I need to take a walk.
I’ll be hoisting a Guinness for that Marine and the young man who stood with him.
April 17th, 2008 at 1:08 pmESTFisticuffs? Yeah, sure, like those pussies would ever let thier preciousw selves get into an actual physical confrontation.
Like when Medea (spit) Benjamin of Code Pink was confronted by a guy outside the Marine recruiting center in Berkley, which Code Pink was trying to help drive out of the city, she actually turned and called for help from THE MARINES who were near by.
But a point well taken is that so few people actually walked on the flags. Seems the media and clowns like these administrators pay too much attention to the pussies and not enough to the real citizens. If it were switched, we’d only hear about these “art” projects in filler articles, like the ones about minor sewerage overflows or a new cure for pustulent cankers (otherwise known as PC).
April 17th, 2008 at 1:09 pmESTI don’t know about y’all, but I’m sending a thank-you card to Vietnam Veteran SPC 4 Charles Bennett, Legion District Commander for Franklin County. He’s the veteran who showed up in protest.
And I believe that I’m going to include a check to his post to help out with that scholarship project of his. Roderick-Crosby American Legion Post 28, 38 High St., P.O. Box 648, Farmington, ME 04938
PS: He’s Army, not Marines.
April 17th, 2008 at 1:17 pmESTMeh. Not even original. This same stunt was pulled at the Art Institute of Chicago during the first Gulf War.
Moonbat lefties will walk on the flag. Wingnut righties will get all huffy and self-righteous about the whole thing. Anyone with half a brain will recognize it for the juvenile stunt it is and ignore the whole thing.
April 17th, 2008 at 1:17 pmESTTwo things I found interesting: One, notice how many of the students had the good sense (dare we hope upbringing and personal sense of disgust?), to step around the flags on the ground, including the poor guy on the crutches. Really, weren’t Arty McFattyPants and his sidekick, PunkBoy, only two in a handful of students taking part in this little mummery? And hats off to the kid who took a stand and joined that vet who was being so smarmily condescended to. Ya know, maybe the indoctrination isn’t happening at quite the pace some had hoped and worked for?
And two: Aren’t the supposed professors in attendance (or whoever the hell these old farts are who are “protecting” this latest stand for “Free Speech”), just the most typical examples of the rarified upper echelons of the Academe these days? I mean, good grief! Could they be any more stereotypical? First we’ve got the nearly genderless Ms. Angry du WomynsStudies and her bowl cut humorlessly threatening to have a veteran, who has fought to protect her particular brand of boobery, bodily removed from the premises. And then we get further mocking by Baron Yuppie Von Know-it-all, of the Phil Donohue School of Neutered Intellectualism, whose total contributions to this world probably amount to no more than his buying of a used Volvo and his recycling of the boxes his vegan meals come in.
Guess this is simply what happens when you give old hippies a little money and a lot of power. The self-righteous pricks become a parody of themselves, and don’t even realize that they’ve become the same kind of reactionary thugs they alway flatter themselves to be fighting against! But I guess, what with all those protests to attend, and the time taken up making paper mache effigies and clipping coupons to get 50 cents off arugula at Whole Foods, they simply don’t get the chance to do much in the way of self-reflection. Perhaps a dictionary with the word IRONY circled would be helpful?
April 17th, 2008 at 1:19 pmESTJess,
Even pro-choicers are disgusted by it. See the comments section.
April 17th, 2008 at 1:21 pmESTI am a liberal. Oh yes, a dirty, nasty, imbecilic Liberal. Hard to believe, eh? (No, I’m not a CANADIAN Liberal…, I just like saying “eh”).
What I loved about this whole thing is that the artist got what she wanted: a bunch of people give her “artistic cred” (”oooh - look how reactionary and revolutionary she is…!”). Does she have the right to do with the American flag? Yes. Does that make it “right”? Not really. Does it make her stupid? Undoubtedly.
In my mind, real artists aren’t out to shock others - they are out to express something of themselves. Having people walk across a flag isn’t saying anything but, “I have no better ideas than this.”
As to how this liberal feels about her country: my love and loyalty for this country and my respect to the people who helped create it and keep it this way is so deep and so strong, that the flag is just a small symbol of that. You want to burn a flag to protest this country’s policies? Fine - but don’t expect me to not think you an asshat for not having something better to say.
Most of all, I HATE it when it comes to this. Can’t we all agree that it just dilutes any argument when someone trashes the flag?
April 17th, 2008 at 1:32 pmESTTheBlackSpot:
ROFL!
April 17th, 2008 at 1:38 pmESTMMW said:
That is a REALLY good point. If the Koran had been used, or pictures of Mohammed, it would be ALL OVER the MSM in about two seconds.
Judi said:
Besides being prepared just in case fisticuffs ensued, perhaps he was also signifying that he was ready to stand with the veteran for as long as needed.
April 17th, 2008 at 1:39 pmESTTully, that was my first thought too, what a great project for the Patriot Guard. And thanks for the info about Charles Bennett. I’ll send a card and a check this afternoon.
Kudos to, of course, to the young man that stood with him.
Would be interesting legal tangle had enough people arrived to cordon off the flags. The university would have tried to throw them out on the grounds that they were obstructing the passageway. But making that claim would be tantamount to saying that the university EXPECTED people to walk on the flags, and were indeed almost forcing them to walk on the flags if they needed to navigate that hallway for any purpose during the period of the “exhibit.”
April 17th, 2008 at 1:41 pmESTThe PGR understands “obstructive non-violence” very well indeed, which is the only reason I wouldn’t call the closest VFW/AL posts first. To avoid bloodshed and legal trouble, that is.
April 17th, 2008 at 1:49 pmESTThank you, Mary and Tully, for the details about the university and the veteran.
April 17th, 2008 at 1:50 pmESTThe effervesent woymn there is the President of the university, Theodora Kalikow: kalikow@maine.edu. The non descript man is the Provost, Allen Berger: aberger@maine.edu. I hate to see that kind of shit because I absolutely love Maine. But, places like Maine and Massachusetts remind me of my homestate California. I love the place but I am never living there.
April 17th, 2008 at 1:50 pmEST“PS: He’s Army, not Marines”
My bad. Even better, BTW. Hooah, Doggie!
April 17th, 2008 at 1:52 pmESTI would like to think that most of the people walked around the flags as a matter of respect but part of me thinks that most of the kids did it because they didn’t want to walk on someone’s “art project”, or maybe get wet paint on their shoes. I hope I’m wrong.
I wonder what the reaction would have been if Barack Obama posters had been laid all over the floor?
April 17th, 2008 at 1:55 pmESTBill,
I saw that and was ever so slightly heartened by it. I was going to sent it to Malkin, but she was already covering it.
April 17th, 2008 at 1:59 pmESTThanks Julie. I wasn’t sure if it was some kind of tradition I was unaware of.
April 17th, 2008 at 2:02 pmESTI just sent of a very simple letter thanking that veteran for his actions. Here’s hoping he gets inundated with cards and letters with the same sentiments.
April 17th, 2008 at 2:05 pmESTThe Vet had real guts but after the exhibit is over he’ll go home. The student who stood with him will be on the campus for quite a while. Don’t you know his face is now on a “WANTED” poster in the faculty lounge? So much for his GPA.
April 17th, 2008 at 2:05 pmESTHunh. The art student, Susan Crane, said this in a newspaper article:
Susan, you made a poor choice, IMO. Apparently a lot of other people think so, too.
April 17th, 2008 at 2:05 pmESTThe motto on the seal of the Department of the Army is “This We’ll Defend“. And yes, one of the items shown is the flag of the United States.
April 17th, 2008 at 2:06 pmESTIn one way these kinds of things are good. It tells you which people to never entrust with any kind of responsibility.
If this is someone’s idea of art and freedom of speech, then dayum, I’d never hire them, trust them, or even listen to them.
It’s kind of a Darwinian of Dullards thing.
April 17th, 2008 at 2:24 pmESTHeh. The really funny thing about this is that the student is completely ripping off another “artist”.
There was some douchebag a number of years ago who placed a flag on the ground in front of a logbook for people to write their names in such that in order to use the logbook you had to step on the flag. About the same thing happened. Some people avoided stepping on the flag, even contorting themselves to do so while signing the logbook. Others didn’t care. Some were pissed off.
So not only is this student’s “art” project fucking stupid, it’s not even original.
April 17th, 2008 at 2:24 pmESTThere was a time when Amish families were told they had to send their kids to public school. The Amish families refused. They were told “we’re taking your children.” So, the fathers stood in front of their schools, locked their arms together, and just stood there. The cops had to force their way through the fathers if they wanted to get the kids. Some did, some didn’t, but those dads didn’t move.
April 17th, 2008 at 2:25 pmESTThat’s what I would’ve done. I would have gotten every friend I had, and circled the flag. Very calmly say, “you have the right to put this flag on the floor. I can’t stop you. But we have the right to stand here.” Let security try to move us. I would make them carry my fat ass out. I wouldn’t scream or holler or fight them, I just wouldn’t help them move me by, you know, walking or unlocking my arms from my compatriots.
The really amazing part of all this is that this is considered “art.” Art used to mean creating something unique and different that required skill with a medium. You know, like oils and marble, and even papier mache.
But most of modern art comes under the umbrella of “decoration” if not less. This is certainly not “art.” It is a political statement. Making a statement that is political does not make the statement “art.” There was no skill or even originality involved with this. It didn’t even require much labor.
Someone who builds a machine or an engine is an engineer regardless of whether they have a secondary education or degree in engineering. Someone can likewise easily be an artist without the help of the University of Maine. The value of getting a degree in engineering is that you learn a lot more about the science/skill/craft of engineering from a mathematical and scientific perspective. This makes you a more effective engineer than you would be otherwise.
Going to the University of Maine to learn art is not a requirement to be an artist, but there should be some merit to going to that place of learning to understand more about the “art” and the mechanical skills commonly used in art that make the artist more effective.
This stunt required no more insight or skill than might be displayed by your typical D student in any 7th grade class in this country and decidedly less common sense. What was created was not art by any stretch of the imagination, unless your definition of art includes some post-modern idea that anything that denigrates a standard is beautiful.
April 17th, 2008 at 2:44 pmESTI feel slightly better towards the student artist after reading her point of view in the article somebody linked to. From her point of view, she was not trying to encourage anybody to step on the flag, but was trying an experiment to see how many people would step on the flag.
I still think she showed poor judgment, but it doesn’t seem to be a malicious or ill-spirited judgment.
April 17th, 2008 at 2:52 pmESTThis really pisses me off. I HATE art students. I can’t begin to explain how pissed off I am that they are moving my university’s art school onto main campus. I’ve dealt enough with the Womyn’s Studies, Music, Political Science, and English majors, but these people are a whole different breed. You know what the worst thing about these people is? They won’t be doing a fucking thing after college. If they do, it’s one of three things: work in an open-minded bookstore, work in an open-minded coffee shop, or don’t work as a open-minded welfare leech. And that last one REALLY PISSES ME OFF.
April 17th, 2008 at 2:58 pmESTI feel slightly better towards the student artist after reading her point of view in the article somebody linked to.
April 17th, 2008 at 2:59 pmESTYou’re welcome, PatHMV.
I have an idea for an art project. It involve me drinking lots of water, walking up to the “art” student in question and the urinating on her leg. This exhibit will display how impotent and bound up I feel when I can’t find a public restroom.
I don’t feel any antipathy towards the student in question. Actually, I’m doing her a favor. She might catch on fire one day and I’m simply dousing the flames early. Hey, I’m a giver.
April 17th, 2008 at 3:04 pmESTI have absolutely nothing to say about the “artist.” I have nothing but respect and admiration for Sergeant Bennett and the young man who stood with him. And nothing but utter and complete contempt for the college provost with his telling Bennett “It’s just a piece of cloth.”
April 17th, 2008 at 3:05 pmESTI was just wondering if it was the California High Desert from which your name is derived. That’s where I’m from.
I’m just checking on the Small World Phenomenon, I don’t mean to thread jack.
April 17th, 2008 at 3:16 pmESTYes, it’s repulsive!
As, is this: http://www.weaselzippers.net/blog/2008/04/yale-student-pl.html
My goodness. What passes as art these days!
April 17th, 2008 at 3:19 pmESTThe problem with ‘way too many art departments is that they’re heavily staffed with wanna-be “avant-garde” types who haven’t had a new idea since before World War I. They think the whole point of art is to “epater le bourgoisie,” and when the Unwashed Masses (middle classes) don’t want to pay for art that offends them and insults their sensibilities and beliefs, they cry and bawl that their pwecious, pwecious fweedom is being trampled by angry Philistines—sort of a combination of Archie Bunker, George Babbit and Hitler’s stormtroopers.
These assclowns (both this dillwad and the asswit who self-aborted herself again and again as an “art project” use shocking people and insulting them as a substitute for actual talent or learning how to create real art. If that’s art, Cho Seung-hui’s little breakdown was merely his way of communicating. (Come to it—if Cho had confined his rage to self-righteous, posturing, pseudo-bohemian “art” “students,” I could easily find it in my heart to forgive him…yes, I know, it’s wrong. I so don’t care.)
I know real artists and writers and musicians, and none of them would have any time for this sort of attention-grabbing asswittness…they’re too busy honing their talents and earning a living.
April 17th, 2008 at 3:20 pmESTYou think that art is bad?
Try this:
http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/24513
She’s taking your banner “artistry with a blunt instrument” a little too seriously.
April 17th, 2008 at 3:43 pmESTI’m with you. Bunch of freakin’ assholes.
Hi, I’m Secret Agent Mama…or Mishelle!
April 17th, 2008 at 3:43 pmESTA couple of things:
1) it’s exactly stuff like this that makes me hesitant to ever, ever call myself an artist (I usually stick with “painter,” or alternately “fine art painter”);
2) Susan Crane claims she was doing this as a social experiment because she wanted to see how people would react. But I ain’t buying it, since what the fuck kind of stupid-ass bitch needs to resort to an experiment to find out what people think about walking all over their own flag? Duh;
3) Having survived an art program myself at a major university, I can attest to the fact that one of the only ways to truly succeed in the academic art world is to do stupid shit like this that frankly has NOTHING to do with art;
4) In spite of all my fuming over this, my heart is warmed slightly by the fact that 95% of the people refused to walk over them, and;
5) just thinking about this makes me want to cuss a lot.
April 17th, 2008 at 3:44 pmESTAlso, what Technomad said.
April 17th, 2008 at 3:51 pmESTRegarding pickup up the flags - I think an appropriate artistic display would have been for those two to, one by one, pick them up, fold them into neat triangles, and give them to the art student. I think that would have been much more artistic. I’ve done it several times (not with protesters, just on a pole), and seen it done even more, and it still gives me goosebumps.
(I haven’t seen the video - Flash is a grave threat to our national security, don’t ‘cha know…)
April 17th, 2008 at 4:00 pmESTJulie! You mean you’re a conservative artist!?!?!? I thought I was the only one (though I’m not an “artist” of paint or anything that fancy I now do consider myself an artist).
I don’t care what the “artist’s” excuse was. No amount of logic can justify her stupidity.
April 17th, 2008 at 4:04 pmESTTo Joe:
There is a fourth option for what art students do after they graduate - they go work as a graphic designer or move into another career entirely because they are capitalistic and refuse to ask for government grant money to do their art because they feel that art, like most other endeavors is best vetted though the free market. And because issues like “running an art business” is NEVER covered at university, they sort of sit there for a while and scratch their heads until they figure out how to achieve success this way. If they’re lucky, they do it. It takes a while, but it’s doable.
For what it’s worth, these art students find most other art student trite and tiresome, possessing of personal characteristics they find disdainful and worthy of contempt.
April 17th, 2008 at 4:04 pmESTcasto - yes indeed I am. I’ll send you my website.
April 17th, 2008 at 4:05 pmESTWish there were a way to put a quick double tap in these people’s brains. Wishful thinking, I know.
This is coming from a foreigner.
April 17th, 2008 at 4:27 pmESTI would be typing this from a jail cell. The Marine veteran. He’s my new HERO. Damn!
April 17th, 2008 at 4:30 pmESTThanks Julie! Your work is beautiful!!!
By the way Rachel - I got my Sad Bee card today and I LOVE IT!!! Talk about art. =D I don’t want to send it anywhere. I want to frame it. *grin*
April 17th, 2008 at 4:31 pmESTThanks Megan! I’m sure you, like any working artist knows, it takes some doing but is oh so much fun and very satisfying to do your art.
April 17th, 2008 at 4:39 pmESTHey, I’m a libertarian artist, does that count? Actually, I’m a professional photographer and I work for Uncle Sam, taking pictures all over this AMAZING COUNTRY. Best job ever.
April 17th, 2008 at 4:49 pmESTDaniel… they started to pick up the flags, but were told that they could not. The flags were private property and had permission of the property owner to be where they were. They would have legally been in the wrong had they continued to do so when directed not to by the property owners. They handled it just right.
I think you could make half a case that the tiny little flags the “artist” scattered everywhere were litter under the state’s anti-littering statute, and were thus legally trash which could be picked up by anybody.
April 17th, 2008 at 4:57 pmESTI was in the Navy for 20 years. I’ve seen the American flag torn up, burned up, and spit on several times, in several countries.
I’ve never been so angry as when I see our own citizens disgracing the flag in this way.
Sgt. Bennett deserves another medal.
April 17th, 2008 at 4:59 pmESTAs I said, I really don’t have much too say about the “artist” and really don’t care. She put them out there looking for reactions–but no one made anyone react in the ways they did. I think she’s somewhat clueless and juvenile, but I Get It.
The people that make my hackles rise are the
April 17th, 2008 at 5:11 pmESTpeoplepimply pinhead asshats standing on and walking on those flags, and that asshat provost. The ones that cheer me up are the overwhelming majority of people who walked around the flags. Especially the guy on crutches. And the ones who’ve earned my great respect (and a thank-you note and a check for the Maine American Legion scholarship fund) are Sgt. Bennett and his anonymous “right hand man.” God bless ‘em.I’m from the wonderfully beautiful state of Maine and to say that I’m ashamed of these students and their ‘art’ is an understatement of extreme proportion. I’ve only recently returned home after 27 years living in “the REAL world” and I’m having a hard time adjusting to the rampant liberalism you see exhibited here. Rest assured that I’ll be writing letters tomorrow to my Senators and to the UMF President and Provost. MY tax dollars better NEVER fund something as disgraceful as that! I’m taking back my state - one person at a time!
For what it’s worth, the mascot of the Univ. of Maine at Farmington is the beaver ….
April 17th, 2008 at 5:23 pmESTPara…YES that counts!
I love photography and wish I had more wall space to hang more work. =)
April 17th, 2008 at 5:27 pmESTI can’t believe how disrespectful people can be. The punishment for these people should be to give them a one way ticket to a different country (not of their choice.) and see how they like living there and how much of their “art” is appreciated.
April 17th, 2008 at 5:33 pmESTI’m late to the game, so I haven’t read all of the comments. I also couldn’t get any further than the little smarmy-faced bitch who said something to the effect of, “yeah, we’re protecting our right to blahblahblah…”, when the Marine expressed disdain for the flags being on the floor.
Hold the phone. That little bitch wants to tell HIM about protecting rights, when he’s gone to WAR so that SHE can attend that school and have the freedom to do such stupid shit?
So help me, that Marine has more restraint than I do.
I’m all about personal freedom and being able to express yourself, but this is disrespectful, and it makes me sick that someone can be arrested for throwing a Koran in the toilet, but not for laying OUR NATION’S FLAG in the hallway to be used as a rug. If only our definitions of “treason” were still as strict as they were way back when…
April 17th, 2008 at 6:39 pmESTI guess it all depends on who is being made fun of.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirth_%26_Girth
Mirth & Girth
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mirth & Girth
April 17th, 2008 at 6:58 pmESTDavid K. Nelson, 1988
Acrylic on canvas[1]
122 × 91 cm, 48 × 36 in
SAIC, Chicago, IL, U.S.A.
Mirth & Girth is a caricature painting by School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) student David K. Nelson, Jr. It was painted in response to the alleged “deification” of popular Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. mayor Harold Washington after his sudden death on November 25, 1987 due to cardiac arrest.[2] After a brief showing at a May 11, 1988 private student exhibition in the institute, angry African-American aldermen arrived with Chicago Police Department officers in tow and confiscated the painting, simultaneously triggering a First Amendment and race relations crisis.
This sort of ingrown pseudo-rebellious boho-ness is one real good reason for abolishing tenure in universities…not just in the fine art department, but in liberal arts in general.
If these assclowns keep this stupid mental diarrhea up, sooner or later there will be one hellacious backlash, and I, for one, will not feel sorry for them. Let them try this sort of shit on in the real world, where they have to get real people to pay them for this, and see how far they get!
April 17th, 2008 at 7:12 pmESTThis seems more like the basis for a sociology experiment than an art project.
It occurs to me that it would be very interesting to see just how many people made a conscious effort to avoid stepping on the flag, and how bystanders reacted to someone who DID step on the flag.
Not necessarily. If your crap is lying all over the floor, there is nothing that prevents me from picking it up and moving it somewhere to keep the floor from being cluttered. If I ran off with your stuff then it would be wrong. But if I just move it? Nothing wrong or illegal about that.
April 17th, 2008 at 7:49 pmESTBTW, what crappy Chinese bootlegger did they buy those flags from?
Half the stars are either missing or jumbled around.
April 17th, 2008 at 8:02 pmESTJulie:
I apologize if I came off as a little terse there. It’s just my personal experience. I guess I’m feeding into a bit of a stereotype. I’ve known conservative art students…I’ve also known 9/11 troofers. This is coming from a college student who hates college students.
April 17th, 2008 at 8:55 pmESTNo worries, Joe. You did come off as terse, but your sentiment is shared by this former art student, and I feel a bit of ass-chappedness whenever the subject comes up because I’m not terribly fond of being painted with the same brush, so to speak, as these cretins just because I had to endure the same classes with them.
April 17th, 2008 at 9:43 pmESTAs tempting as it might e to beat the snot out of the “artist” responsible for this idiocy, consider. She’s probably gonna graduate with honors, and then find that she has no salable skills in the real world. This is the peak of her existence. Her fate is to end her life, greasy and overweight, as the assistant manager of some third rate “whole foods” store.
Serves her right.
April 17th, 2008 at 9:57 pmESTYeah. Okay.
Line up people who have had to kill something to stay alive. Then line up those that have had to kill SOMEBODY to stay alive. Then line up the “artists”.
Piss Christ eh? The sounds of a dying man will never leave you. Friend or foe. Foxhole faith (however temporary) is what it is. And there is a good fuckin’ reason for it.
It ain’t dyin’ for this country, damn it. It is KILLING for it. Yes, the heroes are the dead. But not the only heroes. There are the wives, mothers, children, grandparents, boyfriends, girlfriends (have i missed anyone?) nephews, nieces, uncles, aunts and friends that carry on that deserve consideration. Funny how “it takes a village” doesn’t resonate regarding this subject.
I don’t know anyone who trained to learn how to fuckin’ die. The United States of America’s military trains to KILL. Get over it. Old glory is more theirs than yours. Period. But it is still yours. If you respect it. Once you shit on it, step on it, piss on it, burn it, whatever, it ain’t easy to claim it as yours anymore ya fuckin’ cunts.
April 17th, 2008 at 10:25 pmESTI’m from Maine. Born and raised there.
My level of outrage is such that I can hear my own heartbeat, in fact, I’m so pissed off it’s -all- I can hear.
This. Will. Not. Go. Unanswered.
I belong to a group that is affiliated with the U-Maine system. I have already sent out email proposing pulling that affiliation, and sending U-Maine a letter as to why.
And then I’ll -really- get creative. I’m going to start with my local congress critter, and chew up his ass till I reach my -state- senator’s neck.
I’m going to post notices about this on every grocery store, gas station, post office, tree stump ( we’ve got a lot of those. ) and flat spot ( not so many of those. )
Thne I’ll see if I cant find what -else- to do.
April 18th, 2008 at 12:27 amESTA final comment from me…
Rachel, when I post to your blog, I usually ckick the box that sends any further responses to my e-mail, so I can measure the responses of the rest of the world. I am overwhelmed by the responses to this offering.
As to picking the art work off the floor, I might have used a different tack. Obviously, that was a safety hazard, as someone might have slipped, fallen and injured themselves by walking on a non-secured floor covering. Result: a multi-million dollar personal injury lawsuit against the University and the State of Maine.
Talk about a legal delima! A lawyer would have been seriously conflicted as to whether to support the artist who’s project was damaged, or the injured person who had fallen.
One more point: the Vet was told that the “owners of the property” had given permission for the project. My understanding is that the University is the property of the taxpayers of Maine. Anyone from up there get a letter or phone call, requesting your “permission” for this project?
I didn’t think so….
April 18th, 2008 at 7:15 amESTI sent the following email to the addys desrtgirl posted:
Hi! I’d like to enroll as an art student at your University. Since you are so into the creative arts I would like to have an art display burning the Koran. I’d like to see how people react to that. After all if the flag is “just a piece of cloth” then the Koran is just some paper, right?
April 18th, 2008 at 8:05 amESTThen I’d like to have teddy bears one named as Jesus the other Mohammad. I’d like to do a sociology project to see which one brought the worse reaction. It would be interesting to see which religion was more peaceful.
Finally I would like to do my M.A. thesis involving placing Rainbow flags with feces on the floor. I could probably earn a doctorate from those conclusions.
I assume this would be okay since you on film permitting an exercise which encouraged inciting anger. Hey, you can’t discriminate can you?
Rachel M.
I love the libtard telling the vet, “we’re protecting your right to say what you want.” I so wanted him to come back and say, “I protected that right myself, when I served.”
April 18th, 2008 at 8:30 amESTI noticed a fair number of people stepping over or around the flags. At least not all of the students are idiots.
April 18th, 2008 at 8:35 amESTeh, i’m not outraged, though i am a bit pissed off.
see, defacing the flag is something i could see myself doing as an act of political protest and an exercise of free speech — if i thought i had a good enough reason. some sufficient outrage to protest against, some message that needed saying enough to justify such a stunt to draw attention to the message — yeah, i might do it. the flag’s a symbol of the nation, it isn’t the nation itself. the map is not the territory.
but it’d be my flag i’d be messing with, and i’d be doing it for my reasons. i’d be leery of doing that if i were merely taking part in somebody else’s protest, unless i was reallysure of what the message was and of my agreement with that message.
defacing the flag as an art project… nope. i’ve got more of a life than that. there’s no message there that needs sending, no issue there that deserves protest to the point of justifying such a tactic. it’s free speech and they’re within their right… but i’d walk around that flag, and i’d likely stand with that veteran.
i suppose my point is not that they’re insulting the nation, or the flag. their error is in cheapening a protest tactic, a method of free expression, that deserves better than to be cheapened into just a damn class project. if you so badly disagree with your country as to deface its flag because you’re outraged with a real issue of some sort — that’s one thing, that can be justified. to do it just to see whose hackles you’ll raise, to find out who you’ll piss off by doing it? you’ll piss off me by doing that shit.
April 18th, 2008 at 10:26 amESTI think some of us are missing the point of what was done. The student involved wasnt protesting anything, she wanted to see what would happen if she layed the flags down on the floor. Who would walk on them? Who would walk around them? This was not an art vision as much as a socialogy experitment, after all remember what the class was that she was taking.
April 18th, 2008 at 11:44 amESTDid no one besides PatHMV read the comment that reveals info about the student?
April 18th, 2008 at 12:14 pmESTIt doesn’t matter what her intent was. Like I said earlier, it might make an interesting sociology experiment to see who stepped on the flag and who didn’t, but it is still wrong, still offensive, and still disrespectful to the flag.
If I photoshopped Martin Luther King’s head onto a gorilla’s body, made a big poster out of it, and tacked it up on the wall, would that have been okay? What if I said I was just doing it to videotape people’s reactions to it as an experiment in social commentary? Would that be okay?
Of course not.
She may have had good intentions, but we all know what the road to Hell is paved with.
April 18th, 2008 at 12:53 pmESTWhat surprises and irritates me is many folks’ apparent willingness to jump to the conclusion that the college student was a kid — as in the last sentence of Rachel’s post — and no one’s willingness to research facts. The student in question is a 40-year-old daughter of a veteran and calls herself a conservative Republican.
If more commenters here had known more details, would they have commented differently? Or would they still have foamed at the mouth just as frothily??
April 18th, 2008 at 2:24 pmESTMy opinion and comments wouldn’t change. There are certain things that one should never do, regardless of intention. Obviously everybody is going to have a different take on what those things are. As a Christian I’m willing to joke about religion (especially my own) and I’ll laugh when something funny is said about Jesus (see “Jesus on a muffin” commentary). The thing is, I don’t find it at all funny when somebody does something that is malicious, especially when that something involves an object that is considered sacred to me and other people.
My dad was a Marine. I have a couple of uncles in the Army. It’s safe to say I come from a military family. In grade school I loved saying the Pledge of Allegiance. Even when I went through my liberal phase in high school I had a lot of pride in my country. For me that was personified by the flag. For eight years I served under that flag and cared for men and women who fought for everything that flag stands for.
So to see somebody who supposedly has so much respect for the flag put it on the floor just to see what would happen is, I think, even worse than some America-hating hippie doing it. Because if you do respect anything you don’t put it out there to be desecrated by others, especially when you know there are people who will. The whole “Cast not pearls before swine” thing.
April 18th, 2008 at 3:43 pmESTPersonally, I would have heaped more scorn on her. Simply stated, she’s old enough to know to not fall into that idiotic trap.
April 18th, 2008 at 5:15 pmESTJerks! If it were not for that vet, standing up for what he believes in, those fools might be speaking German or Japanese.
April 18th, 2008 at 5:36 pmESTRob, that veteran is most likely a Viet Nam War vet. WWII vets are dying a 1000 a day now (I checked and verified the math!) and are in their 80’s now.
April 18th, 2008 at 8:15 pmESTHow truly sad! God Bless that generation of Americans both men and women, and good bless those veterans of whom two were my grandfathers, I know they stand tall next to the man.
April 18th, 2008 at 9:00 pmESTI haven’t read all of the comments yet, but I just want to say that at first I was furious!! Then by the end of the video I had tears streaming down my face watching the look on the Veteran’s face. I wanted to be there with him, standing tall for our flag…for what it represents. I am a Patriot Guard Rider, and we are very conscientious about how we handle our flags. These ignorant students and faculty are just like the members of the Westbro Jerks…trying to attract attention to themselves. God bless that young man who stood with the Vet.
April 20th, 2008 at 1:29 pmEST