On 7/27/05, Diane Gutenkauf <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Why can't lynching (or genocide, or anything else that makes us
> uncomfortable) be appropriate topics for "dialogue"

It wasn't the topic of the Confederate flag that I thought was
inappropriate or even lynching but it was the "lynching of the flag"
exhibit which I thought was deliberately inflamatory. It would be like
a foreigner burning a US flag to start a discussion on the war in
Iraq.

A critical look at difficult periods in history is definitely needed
as history shouldn't be overlooked because it wasn't a happy time. But
there's a way to appropriately hold such a discussion.

And I'm all for "difficult" art which display disturbing images but
again, there's an appropriate time and place to display such art. Like
Candace's experience with her "gay frakktur" exhibit, I thought it was
extremely rude for the artist to include pieces in his exhibit which
he knew would be against the host institution's religious beliefs. If
the exhibit were being held in a public institution or one that
clearly had an all-inclusion type policy, I'd say that the artist
could display whatever he wanted.

Likewise, the part of the confederate flag exhibit that is about
different ways to color the flag is interesting and creates diaglogue.
But since the exhibit is being hosted at an institution where people
take their flag seriously, exhibiting a "flag lynching" can only be
seen as inflamatory. Hence my example of trying to start a
conversation by punching someone in the face.

So to get back to your original question, I guess I was wrong when I
said "when has the subject of lynching ever opened up a dialogue." I
should have said, "when has lynching someone or something ever opened
up a dialogue?" Perhaps it will long after the unfortunate event and
when tempers have cooled down but not at the time that it originally
happens.

deb

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