Message-ID: <alpine.NEB.2.00.1012012307040.2586@panix3.panix.com>
From: Alan Sondheim <sondheim@panix.com>
To: Cyb <cybermind@listserv.wvu.edu>, Wryting-L <WRYTING-L@listserv.wvu.edu>,
Cyberculture <cyberculture@zacha.org>
Subject: The Culture Wars Return (fwd)
Date: Wed, 1 Dec 2010 23:07:15 -0500 (EST)
---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Wed, 1 Dec 2010 22:24:55 From: Portside Moderator <moderator@PORTSIDE.ORG> To: PORTSIDE@LISTS.PORTSIDE.ORG Subject: The Culture Wars Return The Culture Wars Return 1. Smithsonian Gives in to the Far Right 2. Christian Activists Force Smithsonian to Pull Aids Video === Smithsonian Gives in to the Far Right, Censors the Artist Who "Spoiled Christmas" People for the American Way http://www.pfaw.org/press-releases/2010/12/smithsonian- gives-to-the-far-right-censors-the-artist-who-spoiled- christmas Incoming House Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor called yesterday for the closing of an exhibit at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery that features work with sexual themes and a video about the AIDS epidemic in Latin American culture that includes 11 seconds of ants crawling on a Christ figure. Museum director Martin Sullivan has announced that the video has been removed from the exhibit because "people were leaping to a conclusion that we were intentionally trying to provoke Christians or spoil the Christmas season." Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, who has a long history of far-right extremism, is the main force behind the move to censor the privately-funded exhibit. Michael B. Keegan, President of People For the American Way, issued the following statement: "There is absolutely no reason for our government to be in the business of censoring art, or cave to pressure from extreme Religious Right organizations just because it's Christmas. That Bill Donohue and the Catholic League are fighting for censorship is unsurprising. That the GOP leadership is echoing their call is shameful. That the Smithsonian has given into their transparent political bullying is deeply disturbing. "The United States, like other free nations, has a long history of supporting and embracing art by those of many different values and viewpoints. The Smithsonian museums host art that expresses strong religious devotion and art that expresses atheism and doubt. The museums house art from around the world, from every religion, and allow Americans to make their own decisions about what they like and what they don't. These museums are an educational resource for the American people, not a political mouthpiece for the majority opinion. "The new GOP leadership wants a government that stays out of people's lives when it comes to health care and unemployment benefits, but they show no scruples about using government power to censor the free expression of those they disagree with. The American people must stand up to this blatant attempt to force politics into art and religion into politics. " === Christian Activists Force Smithsonian to Pull Aids Video From Show Catholic League denounced Washington gallery because of sequence showing Jesus on cross being eaten by ants Ed Pilkington in New York December 1, 2010 The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2010/dec/01/smithsonian-pulls-christ-video Christian activists have notched up an important victory in their attempt to cleanse the art world of what they see as offensive use of religious images by forcing the National Portrait Gallery in Washington to remove a video about Aids from an exhibition on sexuality in portraiture. The Catholic League, one of the most aggressive interventionist groups within the religious right, expressed its relief after the decision was announced last night to pull A Fire in My Belly, a four-minute video that forms part of the gallery's newly opened show, Hide/Seek. The league had objected to a sequence of 11 seconds within the video that depicts Jesus on the cross being eaten by large black ants. Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, had denounced the work as "hate speech" and called on members of the US Congress to pull federal funding from the gallery, part of the Smithsonian Institute, in protest at its "offensive" curatorial stance. In fact, the exhibition, which has been hailed as the first attempt by a major museum in America to tackle the topic of same-sex love in art, was largely funded by private donors and foundations. [Continue reading this article at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2010/dec/01/smithsonian-pulls-christ-video ___________________________________________ Portside aims to provide material of interest to people on the left that will help them to interpret the world and to change it. Submit via email: portside@portside.org Submit via the Web: http://portside.org/submittous3 Frequently asked questions: http://portside.org/faq Sub/Unsub: http://portside.org/subscribe-and-unsubscribe Search Portside archives: http://portside.org/archive Contribute to Portside: https://portside.org/donate