Posted on 02/07/2005 8:12:08 AM PST by owls_man
ROCKLAND - Free speech clashed with free expression on a downtown street corner Saturday as artists opposed to war protested the showing of combat paintings of Marine Sgt. Michael Fay at the Farnsworth Art Museum. Sgt. Fay stood ramrod straight when confronted by the small group of protesters upset with the Farnsworth for exhibiting his paintings of combat forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. The afternoon sun reflected off the combat ribbons pinned to his green uniform, and the red chevrons on his sleeves glinted in the finish of his spit-shined shoes as Fay listened to his challengers.
Fay told the group he recognized their right to voice their opinion but reminded them that he had a right to express himself as well.
"I think it's great that we can have a passionate debate," Fay told the protesters. "I am not a spokesman for the war. But am I proud to be a Marine? You bet."
About a half-dozen artists carried signs and stood vigil outside the Farnsworth as the show "Fire and Ice: Marine Corps Combat Art from Afghanistan and Iraq" was previewed for museum members. Fay's paintings show soldiers carrying out their daily duties while serving on hostile ground.
Fay's paintings and drawings do not depict war, but there is no doubt as to their nature. They are set in a combat zone and include images of tanks, bombs, planes, ambulances and rifle-carrying soldiers.
The protesters objected to the show's content and what they claimed was the museum's "implicit support of war." They said a more balanced show would include images of civilian deaths and mass destruction. To represent one facet of military life in combat zones without placing it in the context of the true costs of war displayed a lack of sensitivity, they said.
(Excerpt) Read more at bangornews.com ...
What a nice display of hate shown to this Marine and the Gold Star mom that lives in that town.
nonono, i heard the left was for the troops (only when it serves thier politics).
And the local media is cheering on the commie scum as they protest.
I think the world has gone crazy. What a shameful display of hate.
Every day they get more and more brazen in their attempts to silence anybody that doesn't believe their ideology.
if it was "piss christ" or the madonna smeared in elephant dung, they'd be fighting for their right to show it.
nope - to the left free speech "applies to me and never to thee".
This is terrible. I hope it gets widely reported.
Hopefully more and more average Americans will see the rage and venom of the left -- that's about the only "good" that could come out of this sorry episode.
That only happens if it serves their purpose. If not, all that free speech and tolerance stuff goes down the tubes.
Soooooooo, what they're saying is that the museum is being insensitive by NOT showing scenes of death and destruction?
Where do we start here?
1. Sgt. Fay is both a marine and an artist, not two separate men.
2. "Real expression"!? Why isn't it real?
3. Why can't art be from a "military point of view"?
4. This is, the day-to-day part of war, if the non-combat part. (I assume that's case, never having served.)
5. If she's talking about "needing to see" combat images, those would have to be done by people at the front. Who would most likely be soldiers. Who would then be painting from a "military point of view."
The real complaint here is that this is art that's not from a leftist perspective. The left sees itself as the only ones having imagination and sensibilities. They see everyone else as unimaginative rubes.
When the see art, poetry, literature, etc. that's not from a left wing perspective, it is a greater challenge to their world-view than just about anything else. Everything else that goes against them, they can see as coerced (Iraqi elections), fraud (American elections), or the results of propaganda. Creative expression from than their political ilk cannot be explained away, even to their own satisfaction.
Unless, of course, the depiction wereof mass detruction, etc... - then any counter-balanceing of the message would be deemed hateful to the victims.
Semper Fi, Marine and Thanks!!
"The fact that he would come not dressed as an artist, but as a Marine is an affront," said Natasha Mayers of Whitefield. "I'm for real expression that's not paid for. This guy is paid for, he's been a Marine all his life, and this is a military point of view." (emphasis added)
This is probably the most shocking part of this shocking story.
Sweeeeeeet. Artist intolerant of art.
I think you're right. They're just angry that his art isn't designed to support their hate-America talking points -- that makes it illegitimate.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't regulations say you can't wear your uniform except for offical military business?
L8R
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