# Sick of the Fucking Gates **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 14, 2005, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-of-the-fucking-gates/289961 "2005-02-14T03:35:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hyperelastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Hyperelastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hyperelastic)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-of-the-fucking-gates/289961/1 "2005-02-14T03:35:39Z")
Here’s my summary of the past week’s news: Some guys had a meeting in Egypt. In other news, Have you heard? Some artists put up a bunch of orange gates in Central Park! They’re orange…they’re gates…they are ORANGE GATES!! They look like nice enough gates. I won’t pretend to understand the symbolism, if there is any. They’re ORANGE GATES!!! These wooden gates - they are painted orange, and have orange fabric hanging down. They are placed in Central Park over the sidewalks. They are, you guessed it, orange gates. They are Orange Gates. Orange Fucking Gates are in the mothafuckin house, mothafucka! They are not yellow gates, nor are they red, unless one considers that these orange gates contain yellow and red simultaneously. I just blew my own mind. They are not green at all. By observing and commenting on the orange gates, I am now a part of the art rather than being not of the art. These orange gates - they are in Central Park. Have you heard? One of the artists has orangish hair, too. When we return, sports and weather. ---
**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-of-the-fucking-gates/289961/2 "2005-02-14T03:38:15Z")
Um. Huh? ---
**Author:** ![Rhubarb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/59ef9b/32.png) [@Rhubarb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhubarb)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-of-the-fucking-gates/289961/3 "2005-02-14T03:38:24Z")
Ummm, what color did you say these gates are? ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-of-the-fucking-gates/289961/4 "2005-02-14T03:39:21Z")
Oh. At first, I thought this was going to about the pain that Belinda has to go through just stay on top of her money. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-of-the-fucking-gates/289961/5 "2005-02-14T03:43:09Z")
FWIW her name is Melinda. Belinda was the good witch in Oz, I think. ---
**Author:** ![LilyoftheValley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/54ee81/32.png) [@LilyoftheValley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilyoftheValley)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-of-the-fucking-gates/289961/6 "2005-02-14T03:52:03Z")
They’re not **orange** gates! They’re **saffron-colored** gates! …at least on every single news report I’ve heard. I’m getting mighty sick of hearing about saffron. ---
**Author:** ![DoperChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@DoperChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoperChic)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-of-the-fucking-gates/289961/7 "2005-02-14T03:52:38Z")
> [@Maureen](#): > > Um. Huh? Assuming this isn’t a whoosh, here’s a [link](http://www.christojeanneclaude.net/tg.html). DC ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-of-the-fucking-gates/289961/8 "2005-02-14T04:04:37Z")
The purpose of Art is to make irritating and pretentious snobs a lot of money. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-of-the-fucking-gates/289961/9 "2005-02-14T04:14:29Z")
> [@danceswithcats](#): > > FWIW her name is Melinda. Belinda was the good witch in Oz, I think. That’s _Glinda_. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Venoma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c4cdca/32.png) [@Venoma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Venoma)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-of-the-fucking-gates/289961/10 "2005-02-14T04:19:09Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > The purpose of Art is to make irritating and pretentious snobs a lot of money. The drawings used to design this particular … display… were sold to finance the gates. The gates were paid for in full by the artists, to the tune of about 20 million dollars. Because they wanted to. So, the purpose of Art is to let eccentric people make money and do eccentric things. 🙂 P.S. According to the artists, there is absolutely 0 symbolism intended here - simply beauty was intended. FTR, I kind of like them 🙂 I’d like 1 or 2 in my back yard, I think. Put a hammock between them. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-of-the-fucking-gates/289961/11 "2005-02-14T04:36:27Z")
> [@danceswithcats](#): > > FWIW her name is Melinda. Belinda was the good witch in Oz, I think. Belinda was the person who sang “Heaven is a Place on Earth,” and a couple minor hits back in the '80s. And I think the gates are stupid, too. Looks like somebody bought up a bunch of ugly curtains that have been sitting around since 1978 and decided to set them up in the middle of Central Park for reasons that seem bewildering to those of us who aren’t big art fans: > [@Jean Claude's page](#): > > The luminous moving fabric will underline the organic design of the park, while the rectangular poles will be a reminder fo the geometric grid pattern of the city blocks around the park. Yup. You know there are few things higher on my list of pet peeves than going to a park and realizing that there is absolutely _nothing_ there to remind me of the geometric grid pattern of the surrounding city blocks! Also from the page (bolding mine): > [@](#): > > Christo and Jeanne-Claude have performed political, **technical** and financial **miracles to create all their projects, including The Gates** These guys think sheets hanging on gates are a technical miracle? Wait till they see the cotton gin! ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-of-the-fucking-gates/289961/12 "2005-02-14T06:15:04Z")
I think the gates are very beautiful. Runs back to Central Park. ---
**Author:** ![yosemite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3ab097/32.png) [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-of-the-fucking-gates/289961/13 "2005-02-14T06:19:57Z")
You lucky, ungrateful devil. I’d love to see the Gates. They sound fabulous. ---
**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-of-the-fucking-gates/289961/14 "2005-02-14T06:20:05Z")
> [@DoperChic](#): > > Assuming this isn’t a whoosh, here’s a [link](http://www.christojeanneclaude.net/tg.html). > > DC Thanks. No, wasn’t a whoosh. My word, they are hideous, aren’t they? ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-of-the-fucking-gates/289961/15 "2005-02-14T06:36:54Z")
> [@Maureen](#): > > Thanks. No, wasn’t a whoosh. My word, they are hideous, aren’t they? Put me down as thinking the gates look neat. And the _real_ purpose of art is to provoke (and possibly annoy) the culturally clueless, in an attempt to shock them out of their bland notions of taste. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-of-the-fucking-gates/289961/16 "2005-02-14T06:42:22Z")
> [@rjung](#): > > Put me down as thinking the gates look neat. > > And the _real_ purpose of art is to provoke (and possibly annoy) the culturally clueless, in an attempt to shock them out of their bland notions of taste. I’m sure the secondary effect, that of keeping Christo’s name in the papers, never even crossed his mind. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-of-the-fucking-gates/289961/17 "2005-02-14T06:45:56Z")
The gates cost $22 million? That’s what the NY TIMES article said. Anyway, people came from as far away as Germany to see this …spectacle? Man, why can’t I get into this racket? I’d drape sheets from the telephone poles, and call it art. ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-of-the-fucking-gates/289961/18 "2005-02-14T06:51:49Z")
What a waste. Think of how many people could be fed, clothed, housed or recieve medical care for 22 mil. ---
**Author:** ![yosemite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3ab097/32.png) [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-of-the-fucking-gates/289961/19 "2005-02-14T07:05:03Z")
> [@treis](#): > > What a waste. Think of how many people could be fed, clothed, housed or recieve medical care for 22 mil. And on that note, think of how many people could be fed, clothed, and housed if the people who made _Lord of the Rings_ spent the production money on the poor instead of making the movie. Or, for that matter, if you used the money you spend on ISP fees (and in buying your computer) and gave that to the poor. And while we’re at it, do you _really_ need all those clothes? Some of them could clothe the poor. I get sick of this line of reasoning. People have a right to spend money how they see fit. When you start making sanctimonious comments about how much _better_ they could spend the money, you open your own spending habits (and possessions) to the same sort of scrutiny. Fun, isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-of-the-fucking-gates/289961/20 "2005-02-14T07:28:30Z")
> [@rjung](#): > > Put me down as thinking the gates look neat. > > And the _real_ purpose of art is to provoke (and possibly annoy) the culturally clueless, in an attempt to shock them out of their bland notions of taste. That’s nice. And who decides who is culturally clueless, and what defines art? Just because I don’t like something doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate art. It just means I don’t like what you like. I’m not required to. By the same token, you may think Japanese tea gardens are nasty. People are different. That’s considered a good thing. Diversity. Remember? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-of-the-fucking-gates/289961.md?page=2)