San Francisco Will Spend $600,000 to Erase History

[Independent voter]

Arnautoff [the artist], who had assisted Diego Rivera in Mexico, was a committed Communist. “‘Art for art’s sake’ or art as perfume have never appealed to me,” he said in 1935. “The artist is a critic of society.”

In other words, Arnautoff’s purpose was to unsettle the viewer, to provoke young people into looking at American history from a different, darker perspective. Over the past months, art historians, New Deal scholars and even a group called the Congress of Russian Americans have tried to make exactly that point.

“This is a radical and critical work of art,” the school’s alumni association argued. “There are many New Deal murals depicting the founding of our country; very few even acknowledge slavery or the Native genocide. The Arnautoff murals should be preserved for their artistic, historical and educational value. Whitewashing them will simply result in another ‘whitewash’ of the full truth about American history.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/28/o...on-murals.html

So back in the 1930's during the Great Depression, the government hired artists to improve civic buildings with art. This Russia-American, a devout communist painted some murals for a school.

He wan't to point out some of the negatives of American history, something that wasn't taught back in the 1930's, so he showed dead Native Americans, slaves picking cotton, etc.

Some left wing people in San Francisco noticed these murals. Outrage. Complaints were made to city hall. Now they plan on painting the murals over, destroying them.

Do you think we should destroy history that offends us?

[s_bushido]

By now stories of progressive Puritanism (or perhaps the better word is Philistinism) are so commonplace — snowflakes seek safe space! — that it can feel tedious to track the details of the latest outrage.

Get fucked.

The dipshit who wrote that opinion piece seems to ignore that a great many people (who are presumably leftist snowflakes, seeing as they live in the progressive hellhole that is California) are opposed to the decision.

[draynay]

I want to know when the school board decided it was their mission to protect children from knowledge.

These and other explanations from the board’s members reflected the logic of the Reflection and Action Working Group, a committee of activists, students, artists and others put together last year by the district. Arnautoff’s work, the group concluded in February, “glorifies slavery, genocide, colonization, Manifest Destiny, white supremacy, oppression, etc.” The art does not reflect “social justice,”

This is the part that really illustrates how stupid these people are, "glorifies"? Do they even know what that means? Do they know what the mural means? Do they know anything? That they lament the lack of "social justice" in an art piece that calls out the injustice of their own ugly history suggests the answer to all these questions is a resounding "No."

[Mormolyce]

Whether or not removing these murals is a good idea, it will not "erase history". If you're getting your historical education from murals then there's a bigger problem here...

I want to know when the school board decided it was their mission to protect children from knowledge.



This is the part that really illustrates how stupid these people are, "glorifies"? Do they even know what that means? Do they know what the mural means? Do they know anything? That they lament the lack of "social justice" in an art piece that calls out the injustice of their own ugly history suggests the answer to all these questions is a resounding "No."

Isn't this proof that the mural isn't working?

[Nellise]

Whether or not removing these murals is a good idea, it will not "erase history". If you're getting your historical education from murals then there's a bigger problem here...

Isn't this proof that the mural isn't working?

The "history" they're mostly talking about is the murals themselves. They're kinda using it with a double meaning, but the point is mostly about the murals.

[draynay]

Isn't this proof that the mural isn't working?

There will always be handfuls of idiots that don't understand anything, the trouble is when they have the power to destroy it for everyone else.

[downnola]

One would think there are better things to spend that 600k on.

[PACOX]

People need to read more books.

[Orange Joe]

So back in the 1930's during the Great Depression, the government hired artists to improve civic buildings with art. This Russia-American, a devout communist painted some murals for a school.

He wan't to point out some of the negatives of American history, something that wasn't taught back in the 1930's, so he showed dead Native Americans, slaves picking cotton, etc.

Some left wing people in San Francisco noticed these murals. Outrage. Complaints were made to city hall. Now they plan on painting the murals over, destroying them.

Do you think we should destroy history that offends us?

citation please.

[PC2]

- Depicts colonials or pioneers in a bad light.
- Leftist doesn't like it.
- whoosh

[Vankrys]

why people feels the needs to categorized everything left or right? does everything in life have to have a political alignment.

[callipygoustp]

Nice to see the San Francisco school system has money to spare for such ridiculous things.... as opposed to paying teachers a reasonable salary, or providing better supplies/books/etc for students.

Idiots.

[PC2]

why people feels the needs to categorized everything left or right? does everything in life have to have a political alignment.

I think you would need to be a bit naive to think the person who instigated this doesn't tend toward lefty progressivism. In my experience I've come across about 10 lefties that have said "everything is political" and ought to be. I haven't find anyone on the right who says that.

I take the opposite stance on the philosophy of it, art shouldn't be political. It should be about aesthetics and an original organic narrative. For non-fiction it should be about accuracy, which this mural is accurate because it shows how the expansionists ignored the natives or treated them as "just things in our way".

[Orbitus]

Get fucked.

The dipshit who wrote that opinion piece seems to ignore that a great many people (who are presumably leftist snowflakes, seeing as they live in the progressive hellhole that is California) are opposed to the decision.

Bari Weiss. She is an absolute piece of shit apparently, judging by her wikipedia article. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bari_Weiss

The biggest parts being, she doesn't like the #MeToo movement, and believes the accusations against Brett Kavanaugh, but doesn't think it should disqualify him because he was 17 at the time.

[Ghostpanther]

So back in the 1930's during the Great Depression, the government hired artists to improve civic buildings with art. This Russia-American, a devout communist painted some murals for a school.

He wan't to point out some of the negatives of American history, something that wasn't taught back in the 1930's, so he showed dead Native Americans, slaves picking cotton, etc.

Some left wing people in San Francisco noticed these murals. Outrage. Complaints were made to city hall. Now they plan on painting the murals over, destroying them.

Do you think we should destroy history that offends us?

Of course not. Those who forget the past mistakes we have made, are going to repeat them. Sell the mural if that is what post people want there. They shouldn't do it just because of a few getting offended.

[Themius]

Exactly who is complaining the author seems like one of those full of it people looking at history.

“People want things I disagree with it must be the left!”

[Milchshake]

Exactly who is complaining the author seems like one of those full of it people looking at history.

It's a Bari Weiss troll job. This is her follow up column to "Intellectuals of the Dark Web"

Some communities want to get rid of confederate statues. This community wants to get rid of mural of questionable taste.

[Powerogue]

If the logic is "they're offensive", good, as that seems to be the entire point of them. To shine the light on darker periods of our history.

When I was made to read "Fallen Angels" in high school, it immensely offended me. Vulgar languages, vulgar scenarios, the whole buffet of blood, death, and shit that is war was laid out in front of me. The book accomplished exactly what it was supposed to do.

As far as comparing this to other incidents claiming to "erase history", this isn't like a southerner statue standing proud, it's more like a southerner statue pictured beating a slave while being just careful enough to avoid knocking its teeth or eyes out, just like god intended. You'd look at that and be rightly horrified.

[announced]

How the fk does it cost $600,000 for someone to destroy a mural? I know a few guys that could destroy it for $2000 each. Unless the artist painted hundreds of these murals I feel like San Francisco is getting ripped off.