Gauguin

Recently in my French class we learned about Impressionists and Post-Impressionists, so hearing about a crazy lady attacking a Gauguin painting really rustled my jimmies. She called it evil and called the two topless women in the painting homosexuals. Don't even get me started on the whole "radio in her head" thing.

It's acts like this that makes me feel sorry for our country. Blatant acts of homophobia and prudishness that could damage what others would call culture and history are uncalled for. Speak your mind, write a letter to the editor, blog. Don't attack it!

And the women in the painting weren't even doing anything vaguely homosexual. One was carrying a platter. The other one wasn't. It's obviously symbolism. And the way she seems to connect homosexuality with evil is heartbreaking.

Now I'm not surprised at how the news shows reported it. They want viewers like any other show and don't want to deter anybody. What shocked me was what they mentioned about the reactions of the 2004 summer Olympics opening ceremony in Athens, where they displayed bare-breasted statues of Greek goddesses.

First we had to be subjected to the breast of Janet Jackson in the [Super Bowl and] now an even more gratuitous display of pornography an [sic] indecency during what was suppose [sic] to be another family viewing event.

Wait what?

How can people be so disgusted and/or offended by seeing a naked breast? One person just outright said “My children saw an exposed breast during the opening ceremonies” as if they hadn't seen one before.

What these people don't seem to realize is how insulting they are to others and their cultures. At the Olympics, they were displaying artifacts of their great history. In Tahiti I wouldn't think it would be too uncommon to be half-nude. And there are many other French paintings that could be considered more "evil". Manet's Olympia anyone?