Smithsonian Cowering From Idiots (video)

On a recent RT America segment, a Catholic League spokesperson is calling David Wojnarowicz’s  “A Fire in My Belly” video anti-Christian and compares ants on Jesus to “putting a swastika on a synagogue.” The video was part of the Smithsonian’s Hide/Seek exhibition and was recently pulled when various right-wing politicians, goaded by the Catholic League, manufactured outrage at 10 seconds in a 30-minute video.

Jeff Field of the Catholic League reveals his ignorance of art when he says, “Art is supposed to be beautiful.” What world does he live in since  that has never been the sole criteria in any era.

Victoria Reis, Executive & Artistic Director of Transformer Gallery, is an articulate champion of the separation of church and state and she hits the nail on the head when she says, “I actually find it offensive that the Catholic League thinks that they’re speaking for all Christians or all Catholics.”

It’s worth noting that Field calls art, “the hobbies of the cultural elite,” which reinforces what many of us suspected, that the right are trying to spark up the culture wars of the 1990s again. My thoughts: bring it, since America is not the same place it was in the early 1990s and this issue is much too important to ignore.

More interesting tidbits on the controversy over at Modern Art Notes.

Hat tip @BoBartlett