Occupy the Smithsonian

We’ve noted that the National Endowment for the Humanities has taken a sharp left turn into politics and inanity in the Age of Obama under Chairman Jim Leach. The Smithsonian apparently doesn’t want to be left behind in the culture wars. It’s in a hurry to join Leach. You might say it can’t wait!

Maura Judkis reports at the Washington Post’s ArtsPost blog that representatives from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History are collecting signs and ephemera from Occupy Wall Street and Occupy D.C. for potential exhibitions about the movement. “And they have plenty to choose from,” she notes somewhat breathlessly. “New images of the already iconic Occupy signs come across the wires every day.” (The iconic use of “iconic” is itself a sign that brain death approaches.)

The Smithsonian will surely avert its eyes from the anti-Semitic signs that occasionally appeared at the OWS protests. Judkis includes a set of “already iconic Occupy signs” in her report and invites readers to vote on which should be included in the Smithsonian’s exhibit. Among the available choices are “Pepper spray Goldman $achs” and “None of these.” Unfortunately, “The Smithsoanian is out of its mind — I want my money back” is not one of the options.

UPDATE: Will someone please contact the Smithsonian curator and let him know that there should be lots of good signs at the OWS protests covered in this AP report? Thanks.

Notice: All comments are subject to moderation. Our comments are intended to be a forum for civil discourse bearing on the subject under discussion. Commenters who stray beyond the bounds of civility or employ what we deem gratuitous vulgarity in a comment — including, but not limited to, “s***,” “f***,” “a*******,” or one of their many variants — will be banned without further notice in the sole discretion of the site moderator.

Responses