July 18, 2015

"A Georgia artist wants to add Outkast to the Confederate version of Mount Rushmore."

"In his petition on MoveOn.org, which stemmed from a Facebook exchange with another animator, [Mack] Williams argues that Stone Mountain, though 'an impressive and historic work of art,' is unacceptable. It 'only represents a small, regrettable time in the history of the Peach State. It’s high time we added a bit more of our history and culture to this monument,' he writes in a proposal to Georgia lawmakers: 'I believe that Daddy Fat Sacks [Big Boi] and Three Stacks [Andre 3000] should be carved riding in a Cadillac (as is their wont). This will help the new carving blend nicely with the Confederates who are on horseback. Outkast are two of the greatest Georgians in the history of our state. It’s about time the Empire State of the South paid proper tribute to them, while also improving a great monument and tourist attraction.'"

I was hesitant to post this, on the theory that it might be racist. But the petition is on MoveOn.org, so it's not politically incorrect, right? The article is at Quartz. I don't know what Quartz is. Hmm. Seems to be an offshoot of The Atlantic. That feels safe. I'll add a poll (for further insulation):

Is it racist to be drawn to this story of adding Outkast to Stone Mountain?
 
pollcode.com free polls

37 comments:

Michael said...

All for it. Says it all.

rhhardin said...

Put Stalin up there too.

Paco Wové said...

· Who or what is 'Outkast'?

Ann Althouse said...

I had to redo the poll. Wasn't showing buttons the first time.

Original Mike said...

OK, maybe Althouse is trolling ARM.

Gahrie said...

"Outkast" is a rap group, actually one of the better ones as it goes.

There are in no way deserving of being carved into a mountain however.

How about Clarence Thomas instead?

Hagar said...

They are also going to dig up poor old General Forrest (and his wife!) and re-bury them outside the cemeyary walls.

And remove and melt down all the statues of Confederate generals and other officials and re-name all military bases named for Confederate generals.

Scour Google to look for and take down all photos or written references to the Confederate anything on the Net as well?

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

On race, Althouse is the slow, uncoordinated kid who doesn't understand the other players moves, yet still tries out for the team year after year. It is unlikely that there will be a Rudy Ruettiger moment in Althouse's future.


Humperdink said...

Wouldn't Monsenor Al Sharpton's depiction look good on Stone Mountain? Looking at his life in total, he has clearly contributed mightily to the nation's current cultural state.

Annie said...

'Sharpton'? Ugh, bite your tongue, Humperdink.

Kevin said...

"I was hesitant to post this, on the theory that it might be racist."

That's how the terrorists win.

Humperdink said...

@Annie. Sarc alert.

Birkel said...

MoveOn and The Atlantic are safe? WTF does that even mean? And why consider self-censorship because some dumb ass somewhere will purposefully misinterpret (from the Left) what you wrote?

Confession is good for the soul*, Althouse.

*as an expression, not as a religious matter

Hagar said...

But if you erase the Confederacy from History, how will you justify demanding restitution for something that apparently never happened?

virgil xenophon said...

I voted "Only if you like Stone Mountain" because that's OBVIOUSLY sarc, right, AA? One can admire a piece of art-work qua art-work w.o. being labeled a racist, right? Or have we moved even deeper into the fever-swamps of totalitarian PC territory?

Birches said...

I like Outkast. As silly as Big Boi and Andre3000 might be on Stone Mountain, perhaps the letter writer is on to something. Instead of destroying something because "offensive" why not add to it to how the change of history? Clarence Thomas is actually a great choice to be included.

Laslo Spatula said...

So my Neo-Nazi Girlfriend who Is Not My Girlfriend has good-naturedly gone to the Seven-Eleven to get more Steel Reserves and Twizzlers, and I am sitting in a lawn chair hanging out with F-Ready in the front yard by the chain-link fence. In the background "Straight Outta Compton" is playing on an old boombox and the morning sun feels pretty good indeed with a cold beer in my hand.

"I was just thinking..." I begin.

"Out with it," F-Ready says, eating a Twizzler.

"What if I was black and lived in the hood?"

"You'd make a piss-poor black man, dude. Seriously."

"I mean, would I go gansta because of my environment?"

"Because of your 'environment'?"

"You know: poor, with the police always hassling you."

"You'd last a few weeks in the streets, tops, even if you was black."

"Maybe that Life already makes you harder."

"Gangstas do Gangsta shit: that is how it works."

"Maybe I'd be the Smart Gangsta that people come to respect."

"And maybe you'd be the Fresh Piece of Ass getting ass-fucked in your cell block every night."

"I --"

"Dude, you don't have to be black and in prison to get ass-fucked, if that's what you want. I got a few guys fresh off a stint that would ass-fuck you no problem."

"I don't want to be ass-fucked."

"Good. I was starting to worry about you, son."

"I was just thinking how hard it might be to be black."

"Probably hard to be Chinese, too."

"I don't think it's the same --"

"Black, brown, yellow, red, whatever: being born White is a Gift from God. Stop thinking so much."

"Okay, okay..."

"Thinking Too Much is the White Man's Disease."

"I never thought of it that way before.."

"Of course you hadn't, you're spending all your time thinking stupid shit. Sometimes I wonder what your Girl sees in you. Must get exhausting."

"We talk about a lot of things..."

"Of course you do. Then you bang the shit outta her while talking like a Black Man."

"Wait --"

"I'm only downstairs, bro: I hear that shit. 'White Woman, I'm-a gonna pound you deep with my Big Black Cock.' 'Black man likes it Hard, Little White Girl.' 'Black Man wanna Ass-fuck some White.' Shit like that."

"Well, she kinda wants me to do that..."

"As I said: You'd make a piss-poor black man, dude. Seriously."

I nod, and finish my beer.

"I hope she gets back soon," F-Ready says. "I'm on my last Twizzler."


I am Laslo.

khematite said...

The state that can lay claim to Little Richard and James Brown should instead carve Outkast into a monument? Ooh, my soul!!

Michael K said...

Moveon.org is a wonderful example of leftist hypocrisy. Maybe they should carve their URL on the mountain.

Big Mike said...

And remove and melt down all the statues of Confederate generals and other officials and re-name all military bases named for Confederate generals.

Well, I hope they don't rename Fort Bragg. The ineptitude of his dispositions at the Battle of Missionary Ridge makes him one of the generals most responsible for the eventual Union victory.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Right, add entertainers to it. Maybe even a minstrel show.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

But if you erase the Confederacy from History, how will you justify demanding restitution for something that apparently never happened?

The inability of these retrogrades to differentiate between commemoration and access to historical study never fails to astound. The equivalent question is asking how we'll ever know anything about Hitler if the swastika was removed from the Bundestag. Better, why even rename it? Keeping the name "Reichstag" would have improved our ability to learn from its history.

Birches said...

Right, add entertainers to it. Maybe even a minstrel show.

Wow. What an unbelievably racist thing to say towards Andre300 and BigBoi.

Sam L. said...

EVERYTHING is racist.

richard mcenroe said...

More racist greyface humor from the white left.

richard mcenroe said...

Notice what the white liberals think properly represent black people.

Static Ping said...

*facepalm*

Where does this one fit on the absurdity scale for this week? Probably going to have to redo my Top 5.

I've been to Stone Mountain. Frankly, I found the sculpture to be underwhelming, which is not surprising given it is unfinished. It actually took me a while to identify where it was. Don't figure that would be an issue with Rushmore. The surrounding park is quite nice.

In any case, the side of the mountain had plenty of space for additional sculpture so in theory they could put more up there and change Stone Mountain from a monument to the Confederacy to a monument to the history of Georgia or the history of the South in general. That would be neat, if the people of Georgia are so inclined to do so. Of course, I do not know how much of the mountain is sufficiently stable to accommodate more sculpture without threatening the integrity of the original or causing the entire mountainside coming down, so it may not be workable. Alas, I do not think that Outkast would be in the top 100 options for new designs. I mean I like to shake it like a Polaroid picture as much as anyone, but they are not exactly the Beatles or Michael Jackson or even Ray Charles in the music pantheon.

Those that want to dynamite it I consider on roughly the same level as the Taliban destroying the Buddhist statues or ISIS wrecking the Palmyra ruins. If you want to erase history, be plain about it.

furious_a said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
furious_a said...

Stone Mtn is like those U-boat pens at St. Nazaire -- the cast-down enemy left an ineradicable reminder of their presence.

Me, I'd wouldn't mind seeing Bernie Mac and/or Dave Chappelle up there in granite.

Temujin said...

But the petition is on MoveOn.org, so it's not politically incorrect, right? Geez.

Anyway- as a verified Atlantan, I'll tell you that we love Stone Mtn. just the way it is. Its a great park. The figures are there, it's part of this nation's history- for good and bad- it's part of where this nation came from. If it bothers you from Wisconsin, look away. If it bothers the editors of The Atlantic from Manhattan, I say, look away. Look at your own history and bury that.

Plus- look at the bright side, they could have put up some Georgia Democrats, like Lester Maddox or Jimmy Carter.

amielalune said...

What a stupid post. Ann, can I have those three minutes of my life back, please????

MountainMan said...

"They are also going to dig up poor old General Forrest (and his wife!) and re-bury them outside the cemeyary walls."

I don't think so. I believe in Tennessee it is against the law to relocate, remove, deface, destroy or in any way alter the appearance or location of any military or war memorial of any kind, by anyone, at anytime, or any place. They are fully protected by law. Memphis may want to move the old general and his wife and monument but I believe they are going to find out they can't. Even if they could move it, I believe Forrest's family is against it and I don't think they could do it without their agreement.

CWJ said...

Temujin,

I saw what you did there.

D.E. Cloutier said...

I am white. I went to school in the racially segregated South for several years. I stood for the "Star-Spangled Banner" at my school's football games. I refused to stand for "Dixie." Three years before Freedom Summer, I participated in a protest against racial segregation in the city where I lived.

One of my ancestors fought for the North at Gettysburg and in sixteen other battles during the Civil War/War Between the States.

In the South, I used to visit an old, wealthy African American woman from time to time when I lived there. She was the daughter of slaves. I learned a lot from her.

Leave the symbols of the Confederacy alone. They are part of my history.

Crimso said...

"Memphis may want to move the old general"

The irony is they don't want to glorify slavery or a slaveholding society. Memphis.


Memphis.

Johanna Lapp said...

Empty symbolism, sure. But it's a lot cheaper and easier than giving kids a good education and adults good jobs. It siphons off the energy of the passionate who could be fighting meaningful battles. In the end, black activists will be happy, white supremacists will be happy. Ordinary black Georgians get nothing.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

I like Andre Benjamin a/k/a Andre3000 and enjoyed his character Tabu in he underappreciated sequel to Get Shorty, Be Cool. He also starred in a Jimi Hendrix biopic but I didn't see it. I'm sure he did fine.

What was the question?