Art of Offending

Yesterday some guy crashed his car into the marble Ten Commandments statue in OKC. He said "Satan made him do it." I doubt this to be true. A lot of people are in an uproar about it and I'm sure non-Christians are going to be blamed for the whole thing. The ACLU was in the process of trying to have the Commandments removed on the grounds that this violates Oklahoma's constitution. Another group was in the process of putting a statue of the Devil up in some attempt and equal religious representation. Even if this guy was just crazy, the incident is going to stir up the whole 'religion/non-religion' debate.

To me, the most offensive thing about this story is that a monument was destroyed.  This was a work of art that someone took the time to make. No matter what the art said or represented, it was still art. It was still someone's creation, and as far as I am concerned, destroying someone else's art is wrong. It's always wrong.

Art can be criticized. It can be hated. It can be something that makes you angry.  It can be something that bothers you so much that you stay up at night thinking about it. However, that doesn't give you the right to destroy it.

Trust me. I don't say this lightly. Over the years, especially since more and more people have decided to post pretty offensive things on the internet, my own sense of propriety has been challenged. Some people create art that I find offensive to my core. Pictures of a beaten woman chained to a stove come to mind. I really really HATE that someone would do that, would create that image. Even still, I have no right to destroy it. Art is supposed to provoke. That certainly does.

I guess my perspective on it is that the subject matter is less important that the act of creation itself. Someone took the time to do this. Someone conceptualized, physically worked on, and presented this work for the world to see. Even if the work isn't worthy of my attention, the effort should still be respected.