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Michael Kimmelman got a call this week from a pair of artists in Berlin who say they were the ones who pulled off the stunt of the summer, hoisting two big all-white American flags atop the Brooklyn Bridge last month, swapping them for the usual Stars and Stripes.
The artists, Mischa Leinkauf and Matthias Wermke, say the flags had nothing to do with terrorism. They only wanted to celebrate "the beauty of public space" and the great American bridge whose German-born engineer, John Roebling, died in 1869 on July 22, the day the white flags appeared.
The artists decided recently to explain themselves, and provided slightly cryptic pictures and videos of the flags, seemingly shot at night from atop the bridge. They point to other such projects they've done in far-flung places that haven't made waves, and they claimed to be somewhat taken aback by the reception here.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday August 13 2014, @06:55PM
*Why* has absolutely everything to do with it.
I'm also glad to learn that "we" haven't started killing anyone yet.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Wednesday August 13 2014, @07:00PM
You can disapprove of/hate/decry/whatever what somebody does without going up and slapping them in the face. There are plenty of things the U.S. does that I don't approve of, but you don't see me burning flags.
And yes, whine whine bitch bitch moan moan, the U.S. has done plenty of killing. Wars usually tend to make that happen. Yes, we've gone into a couple recently for very flimsy reasons, but you're purposely inflating the scale of the issue. I'm talking about one guy burning a flag. You're talking about national policy that culturally makes the guy want to do it. Maybe I should derail it further and talk about how his parents raised him?
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday August 13 2014, @07:26PM
> you don't see me burning flags.
Back to the original post: if the US didn't fly the thing everywhere all the time, people would not use it as a symbol of what they are opposing or hating.
Cans of coke don't burn well.
>>>>> How often do people in the Middle East burn *your* flag?
> you're purposely inflating the scale of the issue. I'm talking about one guy burning a flag.
No, you were not.
> You're talking about national policy that culturally makes the guy want to do it.
I'm talking about people having a giant list of griefs, prompted by their powers-that-be and/or by despair to protest the US rather than their own corrupt (and usually US-supported) governments.
People in the middle-east have many problems. For many reasons, protesting the US is the outlet, whether it's yet again justified, or an indirect way to vent at someone else without getting tortured.
You don't see them burning many Chinese flags.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Wednesday August 13 2014, @07:43PM
Because I bet China has not exerted any political will much to the west of India in the direct manner that the U.S. has, although I suspect that's your point.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 14 2014, @12:32AM
> Because I bet China has not exerted any political will
So that's what you call it. That is some serious minimization going on in your head.