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So, we get Martin Luther Ming the Merciless. As a commenter suggests: Martian Luther King.
And it's white. (Is that to blend in with pigeon droppings?)
And the list of donors of the $114 million pocketed so far is pretty funny: showing good taste, very few rich African-Americans have put up significant cash, so pride of place goes to GM. But right below GM as the second biggest donor is "Tommy Hilfiger Corporate Foundation."
Now, why would that be? Because of all the absurd rumors among blacks that the fashion designer went on Oprah and dissed blacks (just like the rumors in the 1980s about Gloria Vanderbilt going on Phil Donahue to declare how much she hated blacks -- these rumors are started by black shoppers who don't to admit they can't afford the designer clothes they are trying on, so they make up a ridiculous story about the designer and their friends believe it and pass it on.)
During the next ten days of solemnities up through the dedication, no giggling allowed! This is a very serious occasion in the national civic religion and anyone who cracks a smile will be dealt with.
During the next ten days of solemnities up through the dedication, no giggling allowed! This is a very serious occasion in the national civic religion and anyone who cracks a smile will be dealt with.
Aren't monuments about, you know, symbolism? And isn't this commemorating the "I Have a Dream" speech? And didn't that speech refer to Georgia's Stone Mountain? And isn't Stone Mountain well known for its granite and quarries?
ReplyDeleteHow, then, is it possible that they took granite from China over Stone Mountain granite? Where is the symbolism? Why not just use a statue of Mao and call it the MLK memorial? After all, it is a Chinese artist using Chinese stones and Chinese labor, with Chinese money. So, bizarre.
That's really a rather poor sculpture.
ReplyDeleteit's racist not to like it. that's all you have to know
ReplyDeleteActually, I think the best analogy might be to the giant statue of "Iron Felix" Dzerzhinsky which was built in Moscow to symbolize the great love of the Russian people for their heroic Bolshevik liberators and staunch Chekist protectors.
ReplyDeletePoor "Iron Felix" later suffered a most humiliating fate in 1991. I strongly suspect that "Come the Revolution" a certain gigantic statue in DC will suffer a corresponding mishap, with the much aggrieved masses afterward taking away small souvenirs chunks of broken white marble, just as the Berliners did from the longstanding symbol of their own beloved liberation.
Ha, ha---I can already see the worldwide TV images of joyful Americans busily hammering away with picks and chisels...
hate to keep repeating myself, but ... there are literally hundreds of American sculptors who could have done a better job than this. Hell, I am I realist painter in NYC>.. i know dozen artist friends who could have done better.
ReplyDeletethrowing a dart as a list of names from here:
http://grandcentralacademy.classicist.org/sculpturecompetition.html
would have done better.
the problem? They are all white.
In Pc-land, its better to have crappy maoist scultors who, well..honored Mao.. but.. the important thing is not that Mao killed 50 million people the important thing is that he killed his own people and therefore, was not racist, in fact he was a hero because he was just trying to make everyone equal
This is reminiscent of the Chinese export porcelain (late Renaissance to 20th century). One of the identifying characteristics of it is that European figures were painted as quasi-Chinese.
ReplyDeleteAntiques dealers and collectors accept that they tried really hard, but just weren't competent painting Caucasians realistically.
What it needs is a nice, feather-capped helmet like this one on yesterday's birthday boy.
ReplyDeleteWhy didn't they go all-out "Chinee" and use terracotta?
The MLK statue has been bugging me because it reminded me of someone and just couldn't think who
ReplyDeleteFinally got it! The Laotian neighbor in King of the Hill, Kohng Koy Kahn Souphanousinphone!
http://kingofthehill.wikia.com/wiki/Kahn_Souphanousinphone
MLK is the person white libs believe that the black masses should adore therefore they continually promote him in the media, school textbooks, etc. But do blacks really hold him in such high regard or do they prefer the firebrands like Malcolm X, the Black Panthers and others of that sort? If an accurate poll could be had I'll bet the vast majority would go for a Mugabe over a King any day.
ReplyDeleteThis promotion of MLK is mostly a product of white libs wishful thinking of what others should like.
From the lyrics of "Drink Away the Pain" by Mobb Deep:
ReplyDeleteTommy Hil was my n****, and other's couldn't figure
How me and Hilfiger used to move through with vigor
Had to sit and plan on how to make these seven figures
Said the Brinks is comin through, at Fashion Avenue
So apparently there's a longstanding connection.
Time for the Martin Luther King--Lee Van Cleef stare-down.
ReplyDeleteI can't help but think an overtly marxist statue is not an accident.
ReplyDeleteSo why would 'they ' be so blatant?
GM? So our tax-funded bailout is going to this statue?
ReplyDeleteGlad to see my money is being put to good use. I would expect nothing less from my leaders.
We can laugh all we want. The fact is it's a huge triumph for blacks, Jews, and the left.
ReplyDeleteI mean would we really be upset if a great white hero monument went up at the Mall even with all the funny shenanigans surrounding it? The fact is.. after the dust settles, the memorial is there to stay and millions of school children will pay homage to it and weep before it. And it will show up on TV media all say and night.
The creations of all memorials were compromised, with politics, money, and backbiting involved. The Washington memorial took decades to finish, and it's been commercialized too... but it's there, and it is one of the defining monuments of DC.
So, they win, we lose.
On the positive note, this King Nut memorial may be the last of the great black monuments because the sort of people who followed have been really lackluster. Jesse Jackson and the like.
But then, there is Obama. He might get an affirmative action memorial 50 yrs from now--if US is still around.
Isn't there a great Indian memorial in South Dakota? I guess Indians don't get one at the Mall. And the Indian American museum looks nice on the outside but sucks on the inside. Looks like a huge day care center.
Looks more like King the Merciless than King the Merciful.
ReplyDeleteOT
ReplyDeleteInteresting review of Paul Hollander's EXTRAVAGANT EXPECTIONS by Mary Eberstadt in the National Review. Especially interesting is the difference between American dating ads and British ones. Americans like to brag about their good looks and charm; Brits tend to be self-deprecating. I can believe it based on all the self-deprecating media reporting in Britain following the rioting. I think the problem with Brits--at least among the better bred--isn't only 'white guilt' but the cult of modesty, an odd blend of humility and dignity(pride in showing off one's humility).
Here's a review from Frontpage
Yep, a tiny bit alien-looking.
ReplyDeleteMaybe they can call the statue "Martian Luther King".
Not to be anti-Asian, but if I look at the photo and squint I see Chairman Mao in a Western suit and tie.
ReplyDeleteOT.
ReplyDeleteWill there be a revival of white identity?
It seems to me that white identity in the US had been linked to ethnic identity, whether it be Irish, Scotch-Irish, Anglo, German, Swedish, Italian, Polish, Lithuanian, Greek, etc.
Rather than a strong sense of generic white identity, white Americans used to feel a strong white ethnic(or regional--as in South and West)identity.
But with homogenization of whites, most whites simply became bland whites. Having lost their powerful and pungent ethnic or regional identity/loyalty, they simply couldn't feel much the same passion or unity simply as 'white people'. Italian-American might feel strongly Italian-American as an Italian-American, but would he feel strongly white as a 'white person'? Whitness without ethnic grounding is simply associated with 'niceness', 'inoffensiveness', and 'blandness'. Nothing to get worked over.
So, the loosening of ethnic ties and the rise of 'whiteness' may have paradoxically undermined white identity and interests. While creating a larger white community, the community was defined by passionlessness, rootlessness, and bloodlessness. Ethnics sought to be waspy, and wasps sought be accommodating to ethnics. They all became rather compromsing and eager-to-please.
So, is white identity/power over?
Maybe not if we look at black american history. The tribal diversity of black slaves made it impossible for black slaves to have a strong sense of Africanness. So, the 'black american' became a rather bland and soulless concept. It was about picking cotton and eating grits. Tribal drums and dances were forbidden by whites. Africans from all backgrounds had to be this generic creature called 'black person' or 'negro'.
But, over time, this blackness did gain greater identity, meaning, significance. It did gain political and racial consciousness and then power and passion.
Similarly, though the loss of ethnic identities among whites may initially have led to white dullness and confusion, maybe a united white identity and interest will develop as a new concept of whiteness among whites, especially in relation to blacks, Mexicans, Asians, Muslims, and Jews.
He looks like Tiger Woods after the caddie has just pulled the wrong club on him.
ReplyDeleteGilbert P.
It's not a great work of art, but it still beats WWII memorial--terrible--, Korean War memorial--boring--, and etc.
ReplyDeleteAnd it's silly to point out that the statue is white. Lots of whites were done in dark bronze or black marble too. What does that prove? Besides, DC mall has mostly white buildings. A black statue might stick out too much.
So, who's next? Caesar Chavez? Harvey Milk?
ReplyDeleteI think I know why King looks a bit miffed. He's probably thinking, "GM paid for this but where is my cadillac?"
ReplyDeleteMaybe it should have depicted MLK in a giant cadillac headed toward the sky.
White marble or granite or whatever reflects light better. The makers wanted MLK to be RADIANT, to reflect the light.
ReplyDeleteI visited DC in 1981 with my 8th grade. I was deeply moved by... everything.
ReplyDeleteI returned last yr to take a look and everything looked kitschy, pompous, grandiose, ludicrous.
It's a rather silly place.
ROTFL. "He luk lak ma unkel."
ReplyDeleteI would give the proverbial left-nut to be there.
ReplyDeleteActually, this king looks more like Chu Teh(aka Zhu De)than Mao.
ReplyDeleteChu and his friends
He looks like Simon Yam.
ReplyDeleteSteve, you keep going on about the satues being carved from white stone.
ReplyDeleteThere is a good reason for this.If a jet balck natural stone was chosen (such stone does exist), the because of the play of light and shadow etc, the features would be indistinct and not bold and remarkable.
Choosing a stone of a brown shade just wouldn't do for a number of reasons.Brown stones tend to be soft and sandy, the boldness problem persists, and it's not a 'heroic' color.
Fear of an Idiocratic Planet
ReplyDeleteWhite color for statues comes from the reneissance when they were replicating ancient Greek art. But the truth is that those Greek statues in fact had quite kitschy colors which were just worn off during the centuries. But the white color stayed.
ReplyDeleteAbout the statue: it`s terrific
, because I _know_ that this is really difficult for the left ;)
He has collagen lips, which I guess also helps make it 'truly a monument for our times'.
ReplyDeleteMartin Luther Qing.
ReplyDeleteSculpture has never really come to terms with the trouser. A statue of a man can look impressive if he is wearing robes, or a toga, or a kilt, or even nothing... but a statue of a man wearing trousers just looks silly. This statue looks comical for other reasons of course, but I just thought I'd mention the legwear thing.
ReplyDeleteIt's more chintzy than glitzy (I know, I know: it's tough work carving gargantuan bad statues). The cover of the new Jay-Z album is more intricate. Could be a deficiency of the early wire photos but it's striking to me how off-the-rack it looks; GM/Cadillac indeed. I saw a (smaller scale) statue of Miles Davis near the Krakow bishopric's summer palace that looked more distinctive than this. I'm guessing the Poles did not throw $100 mil at it.
ReplyDeleteAnd totally OT, but Hilfiger's son is working the Gold Coast hip-hop scene:
NY Observer (August 10th)
Linked with no value judgments implied--it's an enjoyable though odd little piece.
"Steve, you keep going on about the satues being carved from white stone.
ReplyDeleteThere is a good reason for this.If a jet balck natural stone was chosen (such stone does exist), the because of the play of light and shadow etc, the features would be indistinct and not bold and remarkable.
Choosing a stone of a brown shade just wouldn't do for a number of reasons.Brown stones tend to be soft and sandy, the boldness problem persists, and it's not a 'heroic' color."
Racist.
On another hopefully non-flamebait note: what's up with the Watts Towers? I know they were constructed in the '30s by a Neapolitan immigrant, who eventually departed the 'hood of course. They're still ugly and, considering the persistent vandalism, not appreciated by the locals (by comparison that "cathedral of junk" in Austin, Texas is at least out of the way). To paraphrase Orwell, can't something be bad art even if Russell Kirk, Buckminster Fuller and the Beatles like it?
ReplyDeleteKing the Merciless is not swayed by your pleas for mercy. To the Death Camp of Tolerance with you!
ReplyDeleteI know when I was in college, Hilfiger labels were very popular with the blacks I knew (more than Nike or the then nascent Fubu). Researching today, it appears it was popular with the hip hop set and celebrity appearances seem to be the company's primary marketing tool.
ReplyDeleteHoly crap that statue is bad, it's like a black man sculpted by someone who only had a text description of one.
Isn't there a great Indian memorial in South Dakota?
ReplyDeleteYeah, but it's been in progress for years now:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crazy_Horse_Memorial
I like the Congressional Committee:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mlkmemorial.org/site/c.hkIUL9MVJxE/b.1190597/k.7812/Congressional_Committee.htm
Is anyone NOT on that list?
last year's china-brazil basketball brawl:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6mUm-0hlEI
"these rumors are started by black shoppers who don't to admit they can't afford the designer clothes they are trying on"
ReplyDeleteThis went from "my pet unprovable theory" to "Gospel truth" pretty quickly.
said earlier but..
ReplyDeleteAll this mediocre work of 'art' will do is remind modern left of their inadequecy compared to pre-1960s culture
Whomever this oriental artist was he can't compare to Daniel Chester French or the other great artists who designed memorials and sculptures on the mall.
Orientals completely lack creativity they can only ape westerners
The fact that 'dissed' is apparently an acceptable word in the English language means that King's dream has come true and David Starkey was right!
ReplyDeletegranite is a hard stone to work with. Marble is great because its soft, and when polished has the luminosity of white flesh, but it doesn't keep well outside, precisely because of those qualities.
ReplyDeleteCheck out http://www.alexanderstoddart.com/
there is a living master artist..
but he's white.. so no go.
actually this memorial is a perfect momument to the current state of the USA: Corrupt, incompetant, spiteful, lacking grace and just plain ugly
Ha, ha---I can already see the worldwide TV images of joyful Americans busily hammering away with picks and chisels...
ReplyDeleteI have a dream....
It is interesting to see the difference in corporate support between the MLK and the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation [ http://www.victimsofcommunism.org/supporters.php ].
ReplyDeleteI see a few corporate names (e.g., Lockheed Martin Corporation, Pfizer) but it mostly seems to be individuals and foundations. The King memorial looks like an DJ30/S&P 500 listing.
Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteI visited DC in 1981 with my 8th grade. I was deeply moved by... everything.
I returned last yr to take a look and everything looked kitschy, pompous, grandiose, ludicrous.
This.
The burden is not to argue that the MLK monument is revoltingly tacky and brutally stupid. The burden is to argue that it is more revoltingly tacky and brutally stupid than the rest of the crap that festoons DC.
Or, if one is really ambitious, to argue that it is more tacky than the tackiest thing in the history of mankind: Mt Rushmore.
That show on NBC, "Blair Underwood vs the conspiratorial aliens who look like us, infiltrated our society, are overweeningly self-righteous, lust for our destruction, blame that lust on a pretextual historical grievance, and depend on our goofy, repetitive, naive tendency to think the best of them to carry it out" may suck. But at least they blew up that absurd obelisk on the Mall.
This statue was made with a computer controlled water jet cutting machine used to make custom grave markers. It's the reason MLK only half emerges from the stone with his arms folded flat against his chest. Water cutters can't make human figures fully emerge without shattering. That's why MLK is making that "Yo, dog, wassup?" arm gesture which is usually followed by tilting to the side and spreading out ones arms with a double thumbs up.
ReplyDeleteMy guess is that the real cost of making this paperweight was on the order of $100,000. I bet if you wanted one in your back yard you could get the company that made this one to sell you a duplicate for way, way less since significant non-recurring costs have already been paid to manufacture the first one.
A lot of money certainly must have been pocketed by copyrighters, lawyers, and MLK's greedy family?
Speaking of Cadillacs, what does "Pontiac" stand for?
ReplyDeletePoor Old Negro Thought It was A Cadillac.
It's a great statue one of the funnier statues ever. The "Tiger Woods" half breed-hero/villain of statues. Ultimately, a statue about comedy.
ReplyDeleteAll large symbols were meant to be destroyed or parodied anyway. Excellent zigging for a city that's zagging and loves double entendres.
Before anyone notes Asian statues, I say that Giant Buddha statues are always sleeping, which is the only really tolerable way for a statue to exist.
"Alien features of Number Three Son cause me to question wisdom of employing Birmingham Brown to watch over household in my absence."
ReplyDeleteIt looks pretty good actually.
ReplyDeleteI don't know what you're talking about.
Steve,
ReplyDeleteI plan on going to the dedication. It should be a legendary day.
August 28th.
I want to get video of all the whites bowing down before it.
Sigh Sigh, another cranky screed from you. Your credibility takes another hit as you rant nonsensical. You should stick to the hard stuff, the data.
ReplyDeleteYeah, white was probably the least worst color for this monstrosity. If it were brown or black stone he'd look like Han Solo frozen in carbonite.
ReplyDeletehttp://sarcasticbite.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Han_Solo_carbonite.jpg
Of course blacks didn't donate much. As with welfare and African aid, it's seen as 'white man's burden'.
ReplyDeleteChinese hired to do opera of 'I Have a Dream' speech
ReplyDeleteChinese hired to do life story ballet of Rosa Parks
Chinese hired to make musical out of Dreams from my father
Chinese hired to do movie about civil rights movement
You play host to some very ungenerous readers, people inclined to think the worst of other peoples.
ReplyDeleteTo me, that statue looks as much like Joe Morgan or Willie Brown as it does King.
ReplyDeleteMartian Looter Qing
ReplyDeleteIt is appropriate in light of the fact that our current President was elected on the strength of the blatantly STALINIST era visuals oo his "HOPE" and "CHANGE" campaign imagery
ReplyDeleteCommunist iconography is "hip" and "authentic"
Statues are by their very nature a totalitarian symbol. We should have statues pretty much only for Civil War generals and female symbols of abstract values,like Lady Liberty,Lady Justice etc. The Yankees have statues of their Immortals.Here in Chicago theres always a push for statues of sports heroes. Its pretty stupid. The statue of Michael Jordan started that. Sheesh. This one(MLK)is grotesque. Funny they didnt find a white boy to do it-many talented white artists wouldve crawled through a river of poop for the honor.
ReplyDeleteWhy is it that leftists require ugly abstract blobs to commemorate Conservative icons (veterans, War Memorials) but demand a (semi) realistic portrayal of their guys?
ReplyDeleteCan you imagine the Obama statuary we will get to pay for in 2027?
Re anonymous:"...maybe it should have depicted MLK in a giant Cadillac heading toward the sky." Or maybe slugging a white prostitute?
ReplyDelete'Art' so bad that only a managerial think-tank could have produced it... but you have to hand it to them, it is a fitting tribute to the man's legacy
ReplyDeletegovernment mot...i mean general motors stock hit a post bailout low of 22 today.
ReplyDeletethose volts are flying out the door. GM is selling dozens per month!
lol @ these morons. what was the business case for the volt? anybody who can afford $40,000 for a car is not worried about paying for gasoline. anybody who IS worried about paying for gasoline doesn't have enough money for a $40,000 car.
i just sold one of my old cars, 1995 honda accord with 228,000 miles. went for 1000 bucks cash to a NASCAR mechanic in north carolina. the guy wanted a second car with a 4 cylinder engine, because it was getting expensive to run his V8 mustang every day.
that's how people on a budget buy cars. they don't buy volts.
"Obama. He might get an affirmative action memorial 50 yrs from now"
ReplyDeleteOh please. If Obama loses in 2012 he'll have a consolation-prize-memorial unveiled at the inauguration. If he wins, it will be his going-away-present-memorial in 2016. I'm sure it's already in the works ... these things take time to plan.
MLK "gay"?? What if homosexuals strat claiming Dr King was LGBT?
ReplyDeleteHow would our manged media react if the two most favored interest groups had a fight?
Who would win the victimhood priority battle?
He looks kind of Castro Street butch in that grimacing statue
Everybody was King Fu Fighting
ReplyDeleteIt reminds me of the "Dear Mildred" episode in M*A*S*H when Frank and Hot Lips commission a Korean wood carver to create a bust of Colonel Potter. And it's a perfect resemblance...except for the Asian eyes....
ReplyDeleteI think MLK's turning Chianezza
ReplyDeleteMLK's turning Chianezza
Yes, he's turning Chianezza
I really think so!
The best wilding and flash mob action always takes place on or around the various Martin Luther King Jr. boulevards, avenues and roads that were once Main Street.
ReplyDeleteReally, the feeling most people will take away from that statue is precisely the feeling I'd want them to take away from it. Seriously.
ReplyDeleteBut the sculpture reminds me of the M*A**S*H episode where Frank Burns commissions a bust of Colonel Potter for his birthday, and the Korean sculptor brings in a finished work that looks like a Korean version of Potter.
Need to see if I can dig it up on YouTube.
Doesn't strike me as especially Chinese, but does have exaggerated, almost parodic, Negroid features.
ReplyDeleteJust the sort of image that would be bombed, and its sculptor forever banned from working, if it had been sponsored by The Wrong People.
Sculpture has never really come to terms with the trouser.
ReplyDelete@ londoner, good observation, even colonial era statemen look better, more aristorcratic and noble, breeches that end at the knee. or wearing high boots like many military statues.
thought august saint guadens could pull it off
http://www.sgnhs.org/Augustus%20SGaudens%20CD-HTML/Monuments/CivilWar/farragut1.htm
http://www.sgnhs.org/Augustus%20SGaudens%20CD-HTML/Monuments/CivilWar/StandingLincoln.htm
But i don't expect orientals to have that creative ability.
American idol.
ReplyDeletePerhaps one could immerse the Kingstue in a giant aquarium filled with urine. Don't liberals enjoy transgressive art?
ReplyDelete"Obama. He might get an affirmative action memorial 50 yrs from now"
ReplyDeletehe's already had schools named after him, something usually only reserved for dead statesmen.
Obama will have a major memorial and possibly get on our (near worthless) currency.
'I have a dleam...'
ReplyDeleteWhen will there be a slavery museum?
ReplyDeleteWith King's legs stuck in cement, it's as if he'd gotten in trouble with the mafia and was recently fished out of the Potomac River.
ReplyDeletePS. Since media acts like the mafia, should it be called the mefia?
"he's already had schools named after him, something usually only reserved for dead statesmen."
ReplyDeleteNot so for quite some time. There's a school named after author John Hersey, I think.
statue of the real king should be more like this
ReplyDeleteSt. Martin-in-the-Field.
ReplyDeleteThat looks like a mean Fat Albert.
ReplyDeleteYou play host to some very ungenerous readers, people inclined to think the worst of other peoples.
ReplyDeleteYeah, and you aren't even seeing the stuff that Komment Kontrol DOESN'T allow.
He looks kind of like an angry Chinese Hitler.
ReplyDeleteWith King's legs stuck in cement, it's as if he'd gotten in trouble with the mafia and was recently fished out of the Potomac River.
ReplyDeleteDude stole my line.
Orientals completely lack creativity they can only ape westerners
ReplyDeleteBit obvious with the flame-bait there, aren't we? But the statue is shit.
Martin Luther Ching.
ReplyDeleteYou play host to some very ungenerous readers, people inclined to think the worst of other peoples.
ReplyDeleteWe've seen the worst.
Martian Looter Qing
ReplyDeleteI laughed out loud!
He does look vaguely Chinese or Korean, with a stocky stance like that of Chairman Mao or the Dear Leader.
ReplyDeleteBut c'mon, it's pretty good. King is supposed to have been a tough guy standing up for his people in a time of violent repression etc. So he isn't going to be portrayed in coal black helping a child to read, with a benevolent smile on his face.
Also, what's wrong with white? A lotta old statues are white. The Great Sphinx in Egypt wasn't done up in black marble.
Maybe my artistic standards are low, but the essential thing is portrayed successfully: a figure of serene toughness that looks like MLK, more or less.
If you want a fresh angle to criticize it, I just thought of one - I haven't seen anybody mention this, but it seems obvious. The statue is plainly a sketch or warm-up for the inevitable Mt. Rushmore MLK. Look at the face from below, here. Look at the white rock of both Mt. R. and this. You can SEE this peering down from the ... well, mountaintop.
Where to put MLK on Mt. R? As a replacement for Teddy, most logically; but that would be tricky technically, because Teddy is kinda wedged in there. Reshaping Jefferson seems to be the most realistic option out of a poor selection.
Martin Loot F**King.
ReplyDeleteMarlowe's comment about submerging it in urine is RIGHT ON.
ReplyDeleteIf it is good enough for Crucifixes and Mary it surely is good enough for Dr King?
Steve,
ReplyDeleteNot sure if you saw this, but apparently there was some protest against the choice of sculptor and stone choice:
"Gilbert Young, an African American artist known for a work of art entitled He Ain't Heavy, led a protest against the decision to hire Lei by launching the website King Is Ours, which demands that an African American artist be used for the monument.[43] Human rights activist and arts advocate Ann Lau and American stone carver Clint Button joined Young and national talk show host Joe Madison in advancing the protest when the use of Chinese granite was discovered.[44] Lau decried the human rights record of the Chinese government and asserted that the granite would be mined by workers forced to toil in unsafe and unfair conditions."
"Young's King Is Ours petition demands that an African American artist and American granite be used for the national monument, arguing the importance of such selections as a part of the memorial's legacy. The petition has received support from American granite workers[49][50] and from the California State Conference of the NAACP.[51][52]"
Apparently the sculptor was discovered by chance. It seems like the memorial organizers didn't really invest much effort in finding a sculptor:
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lei_Yixin
"According to Agence France-Presse, it was only by chance that memorial organizers found Lei when they visited an international granite-carving festival in the American state of Minnesota.[4] Yixin was "discovered" under a tree, taking a nap after he was pointed out to the King Memorial Project Foundation committee with the words, "you should talk to that guy over there," pointing to Lei.[5]"
you need the full statue view to see the dumb farrakan bodyguard stance.
ReplyDelete...soon the statue's location will be proven statistically as the most dangerous place on the washington mall as per the chris rock routine...
"You play host to some very ungenerous readers, people inclined to think the worst of other peoples."
ReplyDeleteActually, when we accuse others of being racists--that is what you meant by thinking the worst, isn't it?--it's usually in jest.
Did they use Franklin Ajaye as the model?
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure that I saw that dude on an episode of "That's My Momma"
ReplyDeleteActually, the head is detachable and can be replaced with those of Barack Obama, Michael Jackson, Charlie Rangel or Jeremiah Wright.
ReplyDeleteIt's cheap at the price.
Anon.
"Yeah, and you aren't even seeing the stuff that Komment Kontrol DOESN'T allow."
ReplyDeleteI can tell you're a retarded troll by your use of that phrase.
Martin Luther Cha-Ching!
ReplyDeleteThis story is right up your ally Steve, though it is in Dutch.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dagelijksestandaard.nl/2011/08/de-chinezen-zijn-leuk
The multiculti Dutch left is banging their immigration is double plus good drums to high heaven on a report from the Social and Cultural Planning office (Orwellian enough?) that second generation Chinese immigrants are excelling in the Netherlands compared to their parents. Basically the Chinese immigrants to the Netherlands were poorly educated cheap labor who didn't speak much or any Dutch and primarily worked in the restaurant industry but their children have excelled.
Naturally this means the Moroccan and Turks and the other like them are suffering from triple minus bad discrimination and will naturally pull themselves up by the bootstraps once enough money is doled out.
Well, instead of hiring a Chinese "artist" to make a statue, why didn't MLK memorial committee just build a convenience store on the National Mall, where black people can just take stuff without paying. That would be the most appropriate way to celebrate this tribal leader's memory.
ReplyDeleteOr a Terra Cotta army of black panthers buried under the Washington Monument. What a great way to celebrate our increasing reliance on China to lend us trillions of yuan for black and Mexican welfare benefits, which must be paid to prevent an open race war against whites.
"The multiculti Dutch left is banging their immigration is double plus good drums...[because] second generation Chinese immigrants are excelling in the Netherlands compared to their parents.
ReplyDeleteIn that case let's get rid of the native Dutch and replace them all with Chinese. The Dutch don't deserve Holland.
"Poor Old Negro Thought It was A Cadillac."
ReplyDeleteAre they still making Pontiacs?
That is a Stuff White Pople Like sort of snark, which reinforces my hunch that "Truth" is white.
This thing reminds me of Stalin’s grave marker. Not especially pleasant to look at but appropriate.
ReplyDeletehttp://zh.wikipedia.org/zh/File:Stalin-grave.jpg
If we want to make triumphal statues of white heroes, we need to pick inventors. Examples are Edison and the light bulb, the Wright Brothers and the airplane, etc. It would be hard to argue with politically and it would get the point across.
Prof. Woland
Blacks have a dream! And they take it to Japan too.
ReplyDeleteJapan invites an African-American marching band with open arms. And how do black reciprocate? This, more than anything, explains why what happened in UK happened. If one marching band of supposedly 'decent' blacks act this way, imagine having millions of them with knives and guns.
"News of the incident was played down by the Houston university for more than a week, during which the thievery was called first an incident of "misconduct." Later, the university explained that "some small items had been taken from merchants but were subsequently returned."
All that changed on Tuesday, when Japanese newspapers and television news stations reported the spree, embarrassing the all-black university, forcing it to acknowledge the thefts and causing the school's president and others to suggest that the already negative Japanese view of blacks had been further eroded.
On Tuesday afternoon, William H. Harris, the university president, issued a statement in which he said the students involved "have brought a great dishonor" to the school and said punishment could range from reprimand to dismissal."
IT WAS THE YOUTHS THAT DONE IT.
I wonder if Masood Warren is still with us. He was an African-American who worked in bronze, which always ends up green.
ReplyDeleteAirman Second Class Warren did the magnificent bronze of Major Thomas B. McGuire at McGuire AFB. McGuire is one of my favorite people, being a fellow ectomorph, fellow bandsman, fellow Ga. Tech dropout, and suspected fellow Aspie.(He and Lindbergh got on like a house afire.)
Which reminds me: Kylie, are you single?
Sigh. All of the Aspichix are either already taken by discerning erudite puissant manly men, or are just not interested. It is just as I suspected.
ReplyDeleteTo Anonymous at 5:45 pm. Why don't you just let Kylie speak for herself, or not, as she chooses? Please don't be an A-hole.
ReplyDeleteWow - they don't even have anti-theft devices in Japan:
ReplyDeleteOne ironic twist was that on the day the shoplifting occurred, several Japanese politicians were trying to atone for previous slurs about foreigners.
Seiroku Kajiyama, secretary general of the Liberal Democrats, professed his shame at making a statement in 1990 comparing blacks to prostitutes in Japan.
In the version of the story that broke Tuesday in the Japanese press, shopkeepers saw the TSU students stealing goods from their stores, where items had no anti-theft devices because shoplifting is so rare. They gave chase and, eventually, police boarded the band's buses and told the students they would not be allowed to leave for the airport until the pilfered goods were returned.
Kazuo Kawamura, a detective, said that more than 100 items were placed on the aisles of the buses and that the value put on them was $18,500, with another $3,500 worth not recovered. In all, he said, 119 items were reported stolen.
We forget how many of our civil liberties have been lost [strip searches by security guards when e.g. you leave a "Best Buy" electronics store, sexual assaults by TSA cretins at the airport, inability to carry handguns in most major cities, strip searches when you enter a hospital emergency room, onerous contract terms and heartless customer service from Cable TV/ISP/Phone providers, etc etc etc] simply because we have such a massive population of third-world miscreants in this country.
I think until maybe the 1960s or so, it was perfectly legal [and normal] to carry a handgun on an airplane - it was just [tacitly] assumed that the average airplane passenger was both wise enough and, frankly, moral enough to realize that discharging a firearm at altitude [either intentionally or unintentionally] would be both incredibly stupid and horrifyingly amoral.
Anyway, between the Tottenham riots, the Georgetown-China basketbrawl, and this Japanese fiasco, I wonder if the rest of the world might be starting to have some sympathy for us poor whites here in the USA?
Ugh, when Obama loses next year can we topple this ugly monstrosity?
ReplyDelete"Which reminds me: Kylie, are you single?"
ReplyDeleteNo.
"To Anonymous at 5:45 pm. Why don't you just let Kylie speak for herself, or not, as she chooses? Please don't be an A-hole."
ReplyDeleteThank you.
I have always appreciate gallantry, the more so as it becomes increasingly rare.
"'Which reminds me: Kylie, are you single?'
ReplyDeleteShe's married to a big burly pistol-owning redneck from the hollers. If I were you, I'd lay off. Gonna get owned."
A lot you know, funny guy.
Maybe in your neck of the wood, pistol-packing burly guys marry shrinking violets in need of manly protection, but that's not my husband's style at all. Nor mine, come to that.
Besides, if he read this thread, he'd be more apt to pack my bags than his pistol. That would give him a little vacation and some quick cash. He may never have read "The Ransom of Red Chief" but he gets the underlying principle.
Which reminds me: Kylie, are you single?
ReplyDeleteWhiskey is single. Maybe you two.......
"'Which reminds me: Kylie, are you single?'
ReplyDeleteWhiskey is single. Maybe you two......."
I hope for your sake that your talents in other areas surpass your skills as a matchmaker.
Awwww how sweet, Kudzu Bob is gonna be Jelll-usssss!
ReplyDeleteI hope for your sake that your talents in other areas surpass your skills as a matchmaker.
ReplyDeleteI'm just trying to bring two lonely men together. Don't knock a brother for trying.
I have always appreciate gallantry, the more so as it becomes increasingly rare.
ReplyDeleteWhiskey is gallant. He also used to work in the school system, so he's good with children. Why don't you buy a plane ticket to Irvine, California....... Ms Independent?
Let me give you his blog address, so you can contact him.
http://whiskeys-place.blogspot.com/
That statue reminds me of a black boxer staring down his opponent.
ReplyDeleteMLK was by most estimations a cultural Marxist, so choosing a Red Chinese sculpture team is fitting. I saw a commercial encouraging a nationwide picnic reflecting our rainbow of diversity to enjoy a communal meal underneath this scowling and squinting behemoth. Apparently we are all supposed to pretend that this is joyous addition to the national sculpture garden and is not a representation of an angry black man with some enmity toward white people.
ReplyDeleteHere's some "black perspective" on the monument.
ReplyDeleteThey seem universally thrilled.
"They seem universally thrilled."
ReplyDeleteYeah, 12 positive comments on a dumb chatboard means UNIVERSAL!
(Oh my god)
Dr. Martin Luther Ching
ReplyDeleteIt's a poor scuplture. This is nothing new in DC or anywhere in modern America. Public art is just bad these days.
ReplyDeleteThat said, it doesn't strike me as funny, just lame. Not getting the post, it came off as trying too hard for a joke to me.
Ca va. Everyone strikes out occasionally.
Krauthammer likes it:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/king-in-word-and-stone/2011/08/25/gIQAVkUkeJ_story.html
or he's doing a bit of status whoring.
"Yankee Running Dogs wouldn't know good sculpture if it were shoved up their poop-shutes." -- Kim Jong-Il
ReplyDelete