eh, sorry, no.
Yes, this is a disaster. an absolute disaster, but in no way is this art worth one human life, so please get some perspective.
(bolding mine)
Tranq didn’t say anything about human life, it was specifically about common heritage. I agree with that sentiment. This one act of destruction may rival all the acts of art destruction by the Taliban.
Killing bad, art good, destroying art bad, making comparisons between killing and destroying art bad.
As I’ve heard other Dopers say in the past, “Its just stuff.”
Marc
Destroying art wasn’t the worst thing the Taliban ever did, nor is it the thing they’re best known for. So it was a bad comparison in the first place. That’s pretty much like saying ‘in terms of taking nice artwork that didn’t belong to him, that thief was right up there with the Nazis’. Superficially true, but meaningless.
And yeah I know about Godwin but I don’t care 
Well, as I see it, a work of art as two types of value. One is an artifact: a physical object that has been around for centuries. The other is as an idea: a thought or image that the artist is communicating to his audience. As an artifact, any work of art has a limited lifespan. Even under the most carefully controlled conditions, everything has a limited lifespan. How much longer can the Mona Lisa hold together? A century? Two?
On the other hand, as an idea, the Mona Lisa will stick around a lot longer. It’s the single most well known painting in history. Long after the canvas is dust, the image will remain. Now with digital storage, it may very well be immortal: any number of images can be perfectly reproduced, and copies made from those copies, and so forth.
Now, I’m not trying to excuse this woman’s actions. Hell, destroying 1.2 billion dollars worth of anything is a crying shame. But I think the greater value of these paintings lay in the idea of them, their exsistence as an act of creation that can be reproduced and preserved long past the demise of the original. And that’s a value that this woman couldn’t possible touch.
Or, as MGibson said, it’s just stuff.
Um, sorry, but read the post:
I didn’t say shit about life.
Just heritage.
Dammit, if she had to destroy art, why couldn’t it have been a couple of Jackson Pollocks?
I disagree. Murderers are executed, at least in some states, and rightfully so. Someone who destroys a work of art is worse than a murderer. S/he has “murdered” more than a person, but the essence which could have gone on. A work of art is more than its creator, often better than its creator. It certainly is not “just stuff,” as MGibson suggests.
Now if only we could agree on what is a work of art.
Tranquillis, my apologies, I misread your text. On reflection I would agree that this womans destruction of the art is equivalent to the Taliban’s destruction of Buddist shrines and Statues.
I most certainly agree that art is more than “just stuff”, but I do not value any work of art as more important than a human life.
I agree with Tranquilis. In terms of robbing the world of its art heritage, what this woman did is on a par with the Taleban blowing up the giant Buddhas.
Peace. It’s cool, and I’ve been a little cranky.
Sorry about that.
A friend of mine commented that the only good thing about the September 11 attacks was that they did away with some Roy Lichtensteins.
See, it wasn’t really worth 1.4bil, really it was more like a few thou.
Cos it was like, just pictures.
I don’t think that’s what I said. Given the choice of whether to destroy a painting or kill a person, of course I’d save the person. But what I was talking about was punishment for a crime. I think the maniac who hammered the Pietá was a far worse criminal than if he had done the same thing to the person Michelangelo Buonarroti. Michelangelo is long since dust, as we all one day will be, but his creation could last forever. To destroy the creation is a greater crime than to destroy the artist.
Just my opinion.
I hope it wasn’t the main objective of the attack. There’s one of these things in the building I work in…
ROTFLMAO!!!
AYSFLYHTUAELA? *
*ARE YOU SO FUCKING LAZY YOU HAVE TO USE AN EIGHT-LETTER ACRONYM?
:rolleyes:
WTF?
WTF=Waste Treatment Facility? How about World Tennis Federation? Or one of thirteen other hits on the Acronym Finder. (Actually, I get that one. :rolleyes: )
The point is, why bother posting at all if your entire post is an acronym that may or may not make sense to readers? Does Tuckerfan assume that Dopers keep a comprehensive list of eight-letter acronyms in their heads? Whatever happened to words, phrases, even the odd cliché? Maybe I’m just suffering from the generalized loss of memory that comes with geezerhood. But I would really appreciate posters taking the time to write the fucking words!
Miller, BlackKnight, MGibson: You guys really need to develop a sense of aesthetics. Great art IS NOT mere stuff.
Kill the cunt.