I grew up near Philadelphia, and one year we took a class trip to the Smithsonian Institute. Something tells me my parents would not have wanted me to see this.
The federally funded National Portrait Gallery, one of the museums of the Smithsonian Institution, is currently showing an exhibition that features images of an ant-covered Jesus, male genitals, naked brothers kissing, men in chains, Ellen DeGeneres grabbing her breasts, and a painting the Smithsonian itself describes in the show’s catalog as “homoerotic.”The exhibit, “Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture,” opened on Oct. 30 and will run throughout the Christmas Season, closing on Feb. 13.
The article, which contains some of the images from the exhibit, goes on to present the side of the people running the Smithsonian. They say the exhibit is all about art and social justice and blah, blah, blah. They bill it as a depiction of the struggles of AIDS victims and gays in America. If they were out to win over hearts and minds, this surely isn’t the way to go about it. It’s like saying gays are nothing more than their genitalia.
The exhibits themselves are funded by donors, but we pay their salaries and we fund the building and its maintenance.
Chris Edwards, director of tax policy studies at the Cato Institute and a former senior economist on the congressional Joint Economic Committee, told CNSNews.com, “If the Smithsonian didn’t have the taxpayer-funded building, they would have no space to present the exhibit, right? In my own view, if someone takes taxpayer money, then I think the taxpayers have every right to question the institutions where the money’s going.”
“Think about the Washington Post,” he said. “They don’t have to publish every op-ed that they get, right? They own the platform. In this case [the Smithsonian Institution], the taxpayers own the platform and so the taxpayers should decide what is presented on that platform.”
Gary Scott, an economist who is a senior research fellow at the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, had a similar view.
“Leaving aside the merit or lack of it in the exhibit itself, the notion that taxpayers don’t fund it is unpersuasive,” said Scott. “First, most of the overall budget derives from tax monies for the facility, and maintenance and staff. Second, the exhibit appears inside and is monitored by staff. Finally, if it was funded only by outside funding the exhibit would be outside in a snowdrift.”
Do you think this exhibit is off limits to children? Think again.
On Nov. 21, a “Hide/Seek Family and Friends Day” was held at the gallery in conjunction with the exhibit. The event was publicized on the Web site for the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution and other venues.
The promotion read, in part: “Gallery Talks & Tours, Kids & Families. EVENT LOCATION Throughout the museum COST Free RELATED EXHIBITION Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture … NOTE This friends and family day includes music and hands-on arts activities inspired by the exhibition Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture. Guided tours of the Hide/Seek exhibition also available at special times.”
The “hands-on arts activities” for children inspired by the “Hide/Seek” exhibit were held in the atrium of the gallery.
If a privately owned gallery wants to display this “art,” fine, live and let live. But taxpayers shouldn’t be funding any part of this, especially in a venue frequented by children and families.
Tags: AIDS, ants, art, exhibit, funded, gays, genitalia, Jesus, nude, Smithsonian, taxpayer
[...] Christians, their spiritual leaders and symbols, and Jesus Christ can be mocked, maligned, and depicted in disgusting ways in the name of “art” or “freedom of [...]
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The left blames Bush’s foreign policy for the cause of hatred of America around the world.
They are too self important to see that the cultural and social values they espouse and embody in their art, film and music are probably more a cause than anything Bush ever did.
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They dont have the stones to show mohammad covered in ants
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[...] exhibit at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery earlier this week, as did many other conservative bloggers — it’s doubtful that the left-wing media mentioned it at all, or noted the ugly irony [...]
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[...] I told you about the Smithsonian’s holiday exhibit which features, among other things, video of Jesus Christ covered in ants. It appears that part of [...]
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He if they want a Jesus covered by ants, how about a Quran covered in pig crap or a Picture of Mohamed with pig urine on it
Seems fair
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as you wish. here is your copy of the new testament covered in pig crap.
“Do not do to others what would anger you if done to you by others.” – Isocrates
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