By: scottlong1980

scottlong1980 — Wed, 23 Nov 2016 04:06:05 +0000

The painting at top, by “Mr. Fish,” parodies a famous self-portrait by American artist and illustrator Norman Rockwell: http://www.nrm.org/MT/text/TripleSelf.html. After I posted it, I was contacted by Rockwell’s granddaughter, who was extremely angry at the parody’s portrayal of the Rockwell figure in a KKK hood. It twists history: in fact, Rockwell not only strongly endorsed the Civil Rights movement, but produced an equally-famous and extremely influential series of paintings in its support. He did some noble work. More on Rockwell and civil rights can be found at http://www.pophistorydig.com/topics/rockwell-and-race-1963-1968/.

I thought about taking the picture down, but decided not to. Norman Rockwell has become “Norman Rockwell,” in that his style is a literally-iconic symbol of certain ideas about Americanness. Employing his work to make a critical statement about the United States doesn’t necessarily mean a critical statement about Norman Rockwell. Given that the picture is already circulating on the web, I thought it would be better to leave it up but use it to draw attention to Rockwell’s actual record. It’s also satisfying to reflect that someone often stereotyped as the emblematic artist of US conservatism actually stood up actively for some of the most progressive forces in US life. Racism is one side of that life. It’s still not the only one.

By: simonjones101

simonjones101 — Sat, 19 Nov 2016 01:37:30 +0000

hi scott,
cool down. trump is neither a racist nor a homophobe. he’s just got a big ego. he won primarily based on white working class WOMEN (65% for him). he promised maternity leave for all women. did hillary?
the dems are already on board for that and infrastructure.

he’s going to make peace with russia. that alone is enough in my books.
here’s my friend and canada’s best
Donald Trump not entirely wrong about NATO and NAFTA: Walkom | Toronto Star

Comments on: Trump

By: scottlong1980

By: simonjones101