Sickness in Rhode IslandLet's start with a Mark Steyn clip from
today's column:
In such a world, it's good to know we still have the guts to finger the real bad guys. Thus, when Chariho Regional High School art teacher Lynn Norton set her pupils the task of expressing an idea three-dimensionally, Jeffrey Eden immediately thought of a diorama comparing Bush to Hitler. You might think that ought to be disqualified on the grounds that characterizing Bush as Hitler is about as two-dimensional as you can get, and it's less of a diorama than the diarrhea of leftist rhetoric, as poured forth by millions of moveon.org drones and nude Marin County feminist protesters and European activist puppeteers. But there's always room for one more, and Jeffrey's schoolmarm was thrilled at the way he did it so cutely, draping a swastika on one side and the Stars and Stripes on the other, and putting in little plastic soldiers -- Nazi and American, though who can tell the difference, right? -- and then adding his own penetrating observations on both Bush (''Saddam had no affiliation with the Taliban'') and his predecessor as Fuhrer (''Hitler's own justification was his own hatred.'' Hmm. What a testament to the quality of Rhode Island's ''Social Studies'' curriculum).Kitty covered the
Jeffrey Eden art over at Lifelike, with the interesting result that Lifelike now comes up as the #1 result on Google for the young man's name. It's a great post, and includes a picture of the offensive art project.
Now, my point here is not to bash young Mr Eden. He's a foolish young lad, but the possibility exists that he will outgrow it. What about the adults in this tale? As Steyn notes:
But what are we to make of everyone else in this sorry story? The art teacher who gave him an A. The 15 judges in the Rhode Island Scholastic Art Awards who awarded him their ''silver key.'' The proprietor of Alperts Furniture Showroom in Seekonk where the winning ''art'' work is proudly on display. Are there no grown-ups left in Rhode Island?Well, yes, actually there are some. Last year President Bush received the votes of 159,000 Rhode Islanders. It wasn't nearly enough to overcome the 259,000 who voted for Nuancy Boy. As for Mr Alberts, here's what
he had to say:
"I wouldn't comment on any piece of art here," the furniture store's owner, Hershel Alpert, said last week, noting that he isn't an art expert. "It's not my position to comment on any of this art."The left never seems to get this. Comparing Bush to Hitler does not convince people that Bush is evil. It convinces young men like Jeffrey that Hitler wasn't all that bad.
