Saturday, June 14, 2008

Freedom of speech gone wrong








It is very well understood that in America we have a lot of freedom. More so than most countries. But with freedom comes great responsibility. Because we have freedoms such as freedom of speech, we have a responsibility to censor ourselves. A few days ago Yazmany Aborleda, a 27 year old artist from Boston, tested how free American speech really is with a controversial exhibit in Midtown Manhattan called "The assassination of Hillary Clinton/The assassination of Barack Obama". Luckily it was shut down by police before any one could view it but the photos above were salvaged before Aborleda was taken under arrest. In an interview Aborleda defended his work by saying "It's art. It's not supposed to be harmful. It's about character assassination-about how Obama and Hillary have been portrayed by the media." Aborleda's intentions may very well have been good but when I saw the pictures of the exhibit then read his lame excuse about the media I couldn't buy it. Firstly, in his exhibit there appeared to be no writing on the wall explaining his artworks provocative nature. Secondly, artwork needs to be understandable. Some times artists get so entrenched in trying to be "artistic" that comprehension gets lost. Also, even though I don't feel that the media has treated Obama fairly, I've never heard them insinuate that his daughters are nappy headed hoe's or that Black hope is audacious. The penis on the wall is not artistic at all its simply tasteless. It evokes the stereotype that black men are nothing but neanderthals with " big dicks" ready to rape and pillage any white woman in sight. "Once you go Barack", come on! I know that when I write I should be neutral but when something is as offensive as this, neutrality goes out the window.

Ya Basta,
Malcolm





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