Sherry Chandler

Department of second thoughts

A while ago, I put up a post condemning this art exhibit, The Assassination of Barack Obama/The Assassination of Hillary Clinton, based on this post at Shakespeare’s Sister.

On second thought, I’ve taken the post down. I made the post on insufficient information, on the basis of just one photograph, and I am not in the business of censoring artists. Art is dangerous. If it is safe, it probably isn’t doing its job.

Which is not to say that art can’t be wrong-headed or racist, but without seeing the entire exhibit, not just selected photographs, I am in no position to make that judgment. I’ll never see for myself because the exhibit was not allowed to open.

Also, I haven’t seen any photographs from the Hillary Clinton side of the exhibit.

I am still not comfortable with the use of the children, or for that matter, with nooses, but if I only look at art that I’m comfortable with, I am not likely to learn anything. I remember years ago when the city of Cincinnati tried to shut down the Mapplethorpe exhibit. I thought that was wrong. I think it may have been wrong to shut this one down, too.

The remedy for speech is more speech.

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Addendum: Consider this: is it possible that, just as the widespread insensitivity to sexist discourse in this primary season has revealed the continuing prevalence of sexism in the United States, so the widespread hypersensitivity to racist discourse can be used to conceal the depth of continuing racist practice and the way racism can be gamed to the detriment of the nation at large (e.g. Clarence Thomas)?

And this may be a good place to point out Barack Obama’s new web site Fight the Smears.

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