Academic

Holy Snowflake!!

By firstamendmentblogger

In a culture over-saturated with sex, it's funny to think what still offends.  Take the Venus de Milo to the left, created by a family in New Jersey who received a visit from the cops following an anonymous complaint.  The report says "the officer was apologetic and appreciative of the sculpture's assets," but asked the family to cover her up nonetheless.  Constitution be damned!  

To the right is another example from . . . I want to say Detroit.  The artist painted a replica of Michelangelo's famous mural on the outside of his shop, but was told to take it down because the image was obscene (just like that smut in the Sistine Chapel).  I show this to my First Amendment class every year, and more often than not they don't even notice what caused all the fuss, that is, until I show the censored version below, at which point we all have a good laugh.

It's funny in one sense, but this business of censoring art is serious stuff because so much discretion comes into play.  It's true from a First Amendment standpoint there are limits on the artwork one has a constitutional right to publicly display, but could anyone seriously argue that the snow-venus crossed the line?

-Kathleen Bergin

Full post as published by The Faculty Lounge on March 04, 2010 (boomark / email).