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December 16, 2006
Nazi Gingerbread Men
An artist in Wellington, Ohio is celebrating this holiday season with a public display of Nazi gingerbread men sieg-heiling in front of Christmas trees. The artist, 50-year-old Keith McGuckin, claims not to know that he set up the display on the day before Hanukah begins. As you might expect, the work is supposedly intended to "provoke thought," not offend anybody.
Of course offending people is exactly what it was supposed to do. This doesn't mean McGuckin has anything against Jews or Christmas, any more than Andres Serrano of Piss Christ fame necessarily hates Christians. My guess is that like a lot of artists these days, they are both shallow narcissists who don't care whose toes they step on, so long as they get some attention.
What it does indicate is that like Christianity and Christmas, Jews and the Holocaust are increasingly seen as fair game for ridicule, and not only in Iran. You don't see artists "provoking thought" by making fun Rosa Parks.

On tips from Wiggins and nanc.
Posted by Van Helsing at December 16, 2006 11:15 AM
Comments
If the media didn't give this so-called "art" the time of day
then these narcissists would go away. Better still, they
might get real jobs and actually benefit mankind. That
would be a helluva lot more novel than their lame "creations'.
Posted by: jael at December 16, 2006 11:26 AM
Hey, this gave me an idea.
I'm going to do a dsiplay called "the secret life of artists" made out of gingerbread men that bugger dogs and cats and wank off to internet gay porn all day long and fantasize about killing all the Jews.
Whadda ya think?
Posted by: Doug at December 16, 2006 12:18 PM
OK, my second thought after seeing the picture was
"This means I'm going to hell, right?"
My first reaction was an involuntary snort
and my FIRST thought was
"OK, actually that IS funny....".
I don't know what was in the artist's mind,
but I think the "piece" makes fun of the folks prone to Nazi nonsence....
Posted by: BMasso at December 16, 2006 1:28 PM
It is funny. It's just a shame that the creator (I won't call him an artist because, lets face it, he's more of a baker really) decided to get all pretentious about it with his shtick about "provoking thought". IF he'd simply said "WEll, it seemed like a bit of a laugh" when asked, it would have been tolerable.
I have an idea, though. I'm going to make a cityscape out of chocolate, with a lead statuette of Ray Nagin standing in its centre, put it in a large industrial oven and film the result. I'll call it "Chocolate City Destroyed By Hot Air".
Posted by: Archonix at December 16, 2006 2:19 PM
Where is the Cookie Monster when you need him?
If I want funny send ups of Nazis, then I will watch the Blues Brothers and The Producers.
Posted by: Anna at December 16, 2006 2:50 PM
I don't think I'm as offended by this as some others are. It has a certain "Far Side" cartoon quality to it.
Posted by: V the K at December 16, 2006 4:00 PM
monkeys flinging poop at the zoo have created far better art than what the left believes to be cool. it's all in the eyes of the beholder for sure.
Posted by: nanc at December 16, 2006 4:26 PM
hey - why'd i get a hat tip?
Posted by: nanc at December 16, 2006 4:27 PM
A gentleman always tips his hat to a lady.
Posted by: Farmer John at December 16, 2006 5:15 PM
nanc, you sent me the link to the Iranian cartoon contest.
Posted by: Van Helsing at December 17, 2006 9:55 AM
that's right! i remembered to forget that...oh boo...
Posted by: nanc at December 17, 2006 10:14 AM
Man, now I have to boycott gingerbread man cookies. They're Nazis.
Posted by: Steve at December 17, 2006 6:43 PM
I'm with V the K on this. It does seem to have a 'Far Side' quality to it.
Posted by: Brooklyn Red Leg at December 17, 2006 8:35 PM
then let's pluck all their little eyes out and chew their little arms off and throw them on the grill!!!!!!!!!! after we starve them to stale.
Posted by: nanc at December 17, 2006 8:55 PM
Yeah, it does actually seem kind of funny. I don't know if it's really meant to be offensive or just off-the-wall. Sort of reminds me of the rabbit from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail", supposed to be benign, but watchout! Or Bart Simpson saying he wants to come back to life as a butterfly, supposedly so he can burn down the school: "No one ever suspects...the butterfly!!".
Well at least we won't have gingerbread men rioting in protest. Then schools will have to start teaching class lessons on what it's like to be a gingerbread person, and forced studies on diversity among the gingerbread people and how the Nazi stereotypes inflict pain on them, and so it's our fault the gingerbread folk kill Jews.
Posted by: NudeGayWhalesForJesus at December 18, 2006 11:46 AM

