August 18, 2011

Pure Comedy Gold

This Martin Luther King National Memorial, which will be dedicated on August 28 on the Mall in D.C., is shaping up as the kind of farce that H.L. Mencken would have enjoyed. The vaguely Chinese-looking giant statue itself looks like the woozy recollection of some Chinese sculptor who doesn't actually remember MLK (hey, he was busy at the time being Culturally Revolutionized -- Mao didn't even allow mention of the moon landing), nor know many black people, but he does remember Mike Tyson trying to glare down Evander Holyfield at a heavyweight title bout weigh-in (assuming Iron Mike were a little Chinese).

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.

134 comments:

Antioco Dascalon said...

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?
How, 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.

Thrasymachus said...

That's really a rather poor sculpture.

Anonymous said...

it's racist not to like it. that's all you have to know

RKU said...

Actually, 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.

Poor "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...

Anonymous said...

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.
throwing 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

Feverfew said...

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.
Antiques dealers and collectors accept that they tried really hard, but just weren't competent painting Caucasians realistically.

Reg Cæsar said...

What it needs is a nice, feather-capped helmet like this one on yesterday's birthday boy.

Why didn't they go all-out "Chinee" and use terracotta?

EAPG said...

The MLK statue has been bugging me because it reminded me of someone and just couldn't think who
Finally got it! The Laotian neighbor in King of the Hill, Kohng Koy Kahn Souphanousinphone!

http://kingofthehill.wikia.com/wiki/Kahn_Souphanousinphone

Chicago said...

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.
This promotion of MLK is mostly a product of white libs wishful thinking of what others should like.

Black Sea said...

From the lyrics of "Drink Away the Pain" by Mobb Deep:

Tommy 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.

Harry Baldwin said...

Time for the Martin Luther King--Lee Van Cleef stare-down.

Anonymous said...

I can't help but think an overtly marxist statue is not an accident.

So why would 'they ' be so blatant?

Anonymous said...

GM? So our tax-funded bailout is going to this statue?

Glad to see my money is being put to good use. I would expect nothing less from my leaders.

Anonymous said...

We can laugh all we want. The fact is it's a huge triumph for blacks, Jews, and the left.

I 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.

Anonymous said...

Looks more like King the Merciless than King the Merciful.

Anonymous said...

OT

Interesting 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

Anonymous said...

Yep, a tiny bit alien-looking.

Maybe they can call the statue "Martian Luther King".

Reduce Reuse and Recycle Mao Statuary said...

Not to be anti-Asian, but if I look at the photo and squint I see Chairman Mao in a Western suit and tie.

NLF said...

OT.

Will 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.

Anonymous said...

He looks like Tiger Woods after the caddie has just pulled the wrong club on him.
Gilbert P.

Anonymous said...

It's not a great work of art, but it still beats WWII memorial--terrible--, Korean War memorial--boring--, and etc.

And 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.

Anonymous said...

So, who's next? Caesar Chavez? Harvey Milk?

Anonymous said...

I think I know why King looks a bit miffed. He's probably thinking, "GM paid for this but where is my cadillac?"

Maybe it should have depicted MLK in a giant cadillac headed toward the sky.

Anonymous said...

White marble or granite or whatever reflects light better. The makers wanted MLK to be RADIANT, to reflect the light.

Anonymous said...

I 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.

It's a rather silly place.

Anonymous said...

ROTFL. "He luk lak ma unkel."

Dennis Dale said...

I would give the proverbial left-nut to be there.

Anonymous said...

Actually, this king looks more like Chu Teh(aka Zhu De)than Mao.

Chu and his friends

Anonymous said...

He looks like Simon Yam.

Anonymous said...

Steve, you keep going on about the satues being carved from white stone.
There 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.

Anonymous said...

Fear of an Idiocratic Planet

Anonymous said...

White 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.
About the statue: it`s terrific
, because I _know_ that this is really difficult for the left ;)

eh said...

He has collagen lips, which I guess also helps make it 'truly a monument for our times'.

Anonymous said...

Martin Luther Qing.

Londoner said...

Sculpture 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.

manager at KFC of Tiananmen Sq. said...

It'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.

And 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.

Anonymous said...

"Steve, you keep going on about the satues being carved from white stone.
There 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.

civic clutter said...

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?

Anonymous said...

King the Merciless is not swayed by your pleas for mercy. To the Death Camp of Tolerance with you!

Anonymous said...

I 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.

Holy crap that statue is bad, it's like a black man sculpted by someone who only had a text description of one.

Gilbert Ratchet said...

Isn't there a great Indian memorial in South Dakota?

Yeah, but it's been in progress for years now:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crazy_Horse_Memorial

Anonymous said...

I like the Congressional Committee:

http://www.mlkmemorial.org/site/c.hkIUL9MVJxE/b.1190597/k.7812/Congressional_Committee.htm

Is anyone NOT on that list?

Anonymous said...

last year's china-brazil basketball brawl:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6mUm-0hlEI

James Kabala said...

"these rumors are started by black shoppers who don't to admit they can't afford the designer clothes they are trying on"

This went from "my pet unprovable theory" to "Gospel truth" pretty quickly.

Anonymous said...

said earlier but..
All 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

Liesel said...

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!

Anonymous said...

granite 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.

Check 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

Anonymous said...

Ha, ha---I can already see the worldwide TV images of joyful Americans busily hammering away with picks and chisels...
I have a dream....

Anonymous said...

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 ].

I 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.

Bill said...

Anonymous said...
I 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.

Anonymous said...

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.

My 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?

Anonymous said...

Speaking of Cadillacs, what does "Pontiac" stand for?

Poor Old Negro Thought It was A Cadillac.

Hacienda said...

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.

All 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.

Kylie said...

"Alien features of Number Three Son cause me to question wisdom of employing Birmingham Brown to watch over household in my absence."

Anonymous said...

It looks pretty good actually.

I don't know what you're talking about.

Stuff Black People Don't Like said...

Steve,

I 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.

Anonymous said...

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.

beowulf said...

Yeah, 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.
http://sarcasticbite.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Han_Solo_carbonite.jpg

Anonymous said...

Of course blacks didn't donate much. As with welfare and African aid, it's seen as 'white man's burden'.

Anonymous said...

Chinese hired to do opera of 'I Have a Dream' speech

Chinese 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

Anonymous said...

You play host to some very ungenerous readers, people inclined to think the worst of other peoples.

helene edwards said...

To me, that statue looks as much like Joe Morgan or Willie Brown as it does King.

Anonymous said...

Martian Looter Qing

Anonymous said...

It 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

Communist iconography is "hip" and "authentic"

josh said...

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.

Anonymous said...

Why is it that leftists require ugly abstract blobs to commemorate Conservative icons (veterans, War Memorials) but demand a (semi) realistic portrayal of their guys?

Can you imagine the Obama statuary we will get to pay for in 2027?

josh said...

Re anonymous:"...maybe it should have depicted MLK in a giant Cadillac heading toward the sky." Or maybe slugging a white prostitute?

bleach said...

'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

jody said...

government mot...i mean general motors stock hit a post bailout low of 22 today.

those 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.

Anonymous said...

"Obama. He might get an affirmative action memorial 50 yrs from now"

Oh 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.

Anonymous said...

MLK "gay"?? What if homosexuals strat claiming Dr King was LGBT?

How 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

Anonymous said...

Everybody was King Fu Fighting

Anonymous said...

It 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....

Anonymous said...

I think MLK's turning Chianezza
MLK's turning Chianezza
Yes, he's turning Chianezza
I really think so!

ricpic said...

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.

Jack Aubrey said...

Really, the feeling most people will take away from that statue is precisely the feeling I'd want them to take away from it. Seriously.

But 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.

Polistra said...

Doesn't strike me as especially Chinese, but does have exaggerated, almost parodic, Negroid features.

Just the sort of image that would be bombed, and its sculptor forever banned from working, if it had been sponsored by The Wrong People.

Anonymous said...

Sculpture has never really come to terms with the trouser.
@ 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.

Anonymous said...

American idol.

Marlowe said...

Perhaps one could immerse the Kingstue in a giant aquarium filled with urine. Don't liberals enjoy transgressive art?

Anonymous said...

"Obama. He might get an affirmative action memorial 50 yrs from now"
he'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.

Anonymous said...

'I have a dleam...'

Anonymous said...

When will there be a slavery museum?

Anonymous said...

With 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.

PS. Since media acts like the mafia, should it be called the mefia?

Anonymous said...

"he's already had schools named after him, something usually only reserved for dead statesmen."

Not so for quite some time. There's a school named after author John Hersey, I think.

Anonymous said...

statue of the real king should be more like this

Darwin's Sh*tlist said...

St. Martin-in-the-Field.

Anonymous said...

That looks like a mean Fat Albert.

Somebody call da Amber Lamps! said...

You play host to some very ungenerous readers, people inclined to think the worst of other peoples.

Yeah, and you aren't even seeing the stuff that Komment Kontrol DOESN'T allow.

Anonymous said...

He looks kind of like an angry Chinese Hitler.

Anonymous said...

With 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.

Dude stole my line.

Anonymous said...

Orientals completely lack creativity they can only ape westerners

Bit obvious with the flame-bait there, aren't we? But the statue is shit.

Anonymous said...

Martin Luther Ching.

Anonymous said...

You play host to some very ungenerous readers, people inclined to think the worst of other peoples.

We've seen the worst.

Anonymous said...

Martian Looter Qing

I laughed out loud!

Anonymous said...

He does look vaguely Chinese or Korean, with a stocky stance like that of Chairman Mao or the Dear Leader.

But 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.

Anonymous said...

Martin Loot F**King.

Anonymous said...

Marlowe's comment about submerging it in urine is RIGHT ON.

If it is good enough for Crucifixes and Mary it surely is good enough for Dr King?

Anonymous said...

Steve,

Not 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]"

Anonymous said...

Apparently the sculptor was discovered by chance. It seems like the memorial organizers didn't really invest much effort in finding a sculptor:

http://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]"

Anonymous said...

you need the full statue view to see the dumb farrakan bodyguard stance.

...soon the statue's location will be proven statistically as the most dangerous place on the washington mall as per the chris rock routine...

Kylie said...

"You play host to some very ungenerous readers, people inclined to think the worst of other peoples."

Actually, when we accuse others of being racists--that is what you meant by thinking the worst, isn't it?--it's usually in jest.

Anonymous said...

Did they use Franklin Ajaye as the model?

Anonymous said...

I'm pretty sure that I saw that dude on an episode of "That's My Momma"

Anonymous said...

Actually, the head is detachable and can be replaced with those of Barack Obama, Michael Jackson, Charlie Rangel or Jeremiah Wright.

It's cheap at the price.

Anon.

Anonymous said...

"Yeah, and you aren't even seeing the stuff that Komment Kontrol DOESN'T allow."

I can tell you're a retarded troll by your use of that phrase.

Anonymous said...

Martin Luther Cha-Ching!

Anonymous said...

This story is right up your ally Steve, though it is in Dutch.

http://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.

Anonymous said...

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.

Or 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.

Anonymous said...

"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.

In that case let's get rid of the native Dutch and replace them all with Chinese. The Dutch don't deserve Holland.

David Davenport said...

"Poor Old Negro Thought It was A Cadillac."

Are they still making Pontiacs?


That is a Stuff White Pople Like sort of snark, which reinforces my hunch that "Truth" is white.

Anonymous said...

This thing reminds me of Stalin’s grave marker. Not especially pleasant to look at but appropriate.

http://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

Anonymous said...

Blacks have a dream! And they take it to Japan too.

Japan 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.

Justthisguy said...

I wonder if Masood Warren is still with us. He was an African-American who worked in bronze, which always ends up green.

Airman 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?

Justthisguy said...

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.

Justthisguy said...

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.

Anonymous said...

Wow - they don't even have anti-theft devices in Japan:

One 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?

Mannerheim said...

Ugh, when Obama loses next year can we topple this ugly monstrosity?

Kylie said...

"Which reminds me: Kylie, are you single?"

No.

Kylie said...

"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."

Thank you.

I have always appreciate gallantry, the more so as it becomes increasingly rare.

Kylie said...

"'Which reminds me: Kylie, are you single?'

She'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.

Anonymous said...

Which reminds me: Kylie, are you single?


Whiskey is single. Maybe you two.......

Kylie said...

"'Which reminds me: Kylie, are you single?'


Whiskey is single. Maybe you two......."


I hope for your sake that your talents in other areas surpass your skills as a matchmaker.

Truth said...

Awwww how sweet, Kudzu Bob is gonna be Jelll-usssss!

Anonymous said...

I hope for your sake that your talents in other areas surpass your skills as a matchmaker.

I'm just trying to bring two lonely men together. Don't knock a brother for trying.

Anonymous said...

I have always appreciate gallantry, the more so as it becomes increasingly rare.


Whiskey 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/

Anonymous said...

That statue reminds me of a black boxer staring down his opponent.

Marc B said...

MLK 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.

DYork said...

Here's some "black perspective" on the monument.

They seem universally thrilled.

Truth said...

"They seem universally thrilled."

Yeah, 12 positive comments on a dumb chatboard means UNIVERSAL!

(Oh my god)

Glenn Atias said...

Dr. Martin Luther Ching

Anonymous said...

It's a poor scuplture. This is nothing new in DC or anywhere in modern America. Public art is just bad these days.

That 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.

Anonymous said...

Krauthammer likes it:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/king-in-word-and-stone/2011/08/25/gIQAVkUkeJ_story.html

or he's doing a bit of status whoring.

Anonymous said...

"Yankee Running Dogs wouldn't know good sculpture if it were shoved up their poop-shutes." -- Kim Jong-Il