03.14.09
Big Brother Is Watching You
The local paper is reporting that my alma mater, the University of Texas at Austin, has commissioned a mural by Shepard Fairey, the guy who created Obama’s now-famous “HOPE” icon.
I guess such a bullshit expenditure in tough times makes sense to someone.
Socialist Realism as an artform is unsubtle and just the sort of shit that totalitarian groupies can rally round, but it does have its appeal. For me, much of that appeal is derived from remembering that such charming propaganda ultimately failed. Whatever alien culture or government it once served did not survive —but now it has re-emerged to represent America’s first post-American President to the rest of the world.
I left my opinion where I found the story, but the wankers at the Statesman will probably flush it from the Intertubes, so here it is again:
Fairey’s HOPE poster is an example of Socialist Realism in the manner of Soviet tractor beefcake. Obamachrist himself recognized that two years ago when he embraced it as part of his brand. So right there should have been warning enough to you puny humans that the man is a straight-up cherry cordial.
