Behold Your Betters

Attention, lovers of culture. Commenter Jon Powers wishes to inform you there is performance art afoot.

Update:

The psychodrama progresses as expected.

Update 2: 

By golly, it’s heading this way.

Comments

[Sam]

Two terms it is then.

[jabrwok]

Two terms it is then.

Followed by two terms of President Race Bannon!

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

OK, how are these idiots going to split two pizzas, and why does that one guy have a mop on his head.

OTOH, it has a good beat, but the lyrics are weak, I give it a 2. OTOOH, crack is a terrible drug.

[SumDumGuy]

Anybody want to start a pool on how long it will last?

I give it three days.

[Marko]

It's like the snowflake version of "I am Groot". But because we're not of like mind we can't understand the language and understand what they're truly saying to us. I'm pretty sure the one guy just said "I like to lick bus windows" but to my untrained (conservative) ears it sounded like "he will not divide us".

[TheDiggler]

I wonder, what colour is the sky in their world?

[neal]

I watched until the black guy with the hat took pictures next to the mexican wrestler whatever. Nice hat. I bet he is thinking "worst Sinatra meth gospel tribute band ever".

The coyotes in these parts have better rap/rant skills. At least they end up with dinner for the course.

[WTP]

Soooo...what do you suppose would happen if someone walked up and stated that message in a positive manner? Perhaps by following it with, "He will unite us", just in case they miss the point...or preferrably something similar but more witty?

[Jon Powers]

UPDATE:

This performance art is brought to you by Shia LaBeouf. I'm crossing my fingers for an appearance by Lena Dunham.

http://www.businessinsider.com/shia-labeouf-anti-trump-live-stream-art-2017-1

[Sporkatus]

Sinatra meth gospel tribute band
That sounds like a challenge that would test the mettle of skilled musicians extremely. It also sounds hilarious.

[Sam Duncan]

“HE WILL NOT DIVIDE US”

They're talking about the man who said this today:

It is time to remember that old wisdom our soldiers will never forget: That whether we are black or brown or white, we all bleed the same red blood of patriots, we all enjoy the same glorious freedoms, and we all salute the same great American Flag.

And whether a child is born in the urban sprawl of Detroit or the windswept plains of Nebraska, they look up at the same night sky, they fill their heart with the same dreams and they are infused with the breath of life by the same almighty Creator.

I'm really no fan of the guy, but who's doing the dividing here?

“Two terms it is then.”

Looking more like it every day.

[John D]

I'm really no fan of the guy, but who's doing the dividing here?

As our host would say, "lefties project".

[Nikw211]

Although not a performance piece (at least as such), I think it more likely than not that this qualifies for inclusion in this thread.

[Hal]

Although not a performance piece (at least as such), I think it more likely than not that this qualifies for inclusion in this thread.

Hell's vengeance boils in my heart?

[Farnsworth M. Muldoon]

It is down to two clowns and a lady with a sign.

[Paul Carlton]

They've given up, they're eating pizza. Surely it's not beyond the wit of the offence monkeys towork out that one chants while the other eats pizza and then they swap over.

Capitalism would have worked that out for them.

[Deborah]

Oh boy, Shia just showed up and now they're doing a creepy Children of the Corn chant-along.

Hopefully they've installed some type of auto-stop in case Anthony Weiner happens by.

[Horace Dunn]

Since these people are so much cleverer and more sophisticated than we are, I wonder why they didn't devise something that would be interesting to watch, and perhaps presented some sort of challenging argument to encourage others to adopt their point of view. As it stands the "artwork" is rather boring and just a little creepy. Or am I missing something?

[Matthew McConnagay]

Surely this is just a knowing invitation to a prank. I mean, they can't seriously be so stupid as to think they can leave a camera running in the street, broadcasting live, for some high and mighty purpose, without some shitdick running up and showing his arse or yelling "Fuck her right in the pussy!"... can they?

[Farnsworth M. Muldoon]

I mean, they can't seriously be so stupid as to think they can leave a camera running in the street... in DC without it getting stolen.

[Dan]

OT https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jan/20/the-guardian-view-on-donald-trumps-inauguration-a-declaration-of-political-war?CMP=twt_gu

They seem to be wetting themselves more than usual.

[Randy]

I have to say, David, they we Yanks may have our WaPo's and NYT's, but for sheer nuttiness, you can't beat the Grauniad.

[JuliaM]

The concept of 'graciousness in defeat' appears to be one that we don't teach anymore.

I'd like to bring it back. Also the concept that it's not big or clever to make a spectacle of oneself in public.

[Novus]

Plenty of funny things about the Grauniad's hysterical response. I especially enjoyed the way - through gritted teeth, presumably - they cited Reagan in positive contradistinction.

Apparently it was "by turns bitter, blowhard and banal." I'm tempted to remark that this is animosity and the rhetorical urge leading the analysis: I thought that one of the notable things about the speech was that if one didn't know it was Trump making it, one might find much of it unexceptionable.

What truly matters is not which party controls our government, but whether our government is controlled by the people.

That was the essential theme of the speech. Was this bitter, blowhard or banal?

The crowning moment of Grauniadity was when they complained that he "said barely a word about race." He explicitly addressed his remarks to all Americans, and barely mentioned race at all. Must mean he's a Nazi.

[David]

I wonder why they didn’t devise something that would be interesting to watch, and perhaps presented some sort of challenging argument to encourage others to adopt their point of view. As it stands the “artwork” is rather boring and just a little creepy. Or am I missing something?

No, that’s pretty much it, I think. It’s presented as some free-thinking, ongoing act of rebellion, “a show of resistance,” but the title and premise rather beg the question and encourage conformity. The view one ought to have, in eyes of the so-called artists, is simply assumed. And despite the claims of being inclusive and being “guided by the spirit of each individual participant,” the “art” strikes me as faintly alienating in its smugness and conceit. (It’s not unlike the experience of browsing io9 or Metafilter or some other pop culture website and realising that screechy politicised content is becoming more common, more intrusive, and is utterly uniform in its leaning. Apparently, the only position a reader could take on the affairs of the day is a stridently leftist one.)

[ Edited. ]

[Sam]

This.

https://twitter.com/IanHamlett/status/822519146525130752

[The original Mr. X]

I just checked the video feed, and it looks like all the protesters/artists/whatever you want to call them have gotten bored and gone somewhere else. That didn't take long.

[David]

it looks like all the protesters/artists/whatever you want to call them have gotten bored and gone somewhere else.

Yes, but it’s a radical and artistic absence of activity. Obviously.

[David]

This.

That.

[Spiny Norman]

And this over here.

[fnord]

He didn't address the plight of Lefthanded Laotian Lesbians. OUTRAGE!

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

Much to my amazement, the camera has not been ripped off or spray painted, right now some nitwit with Starbucks cup is having a bit of a zen chant with some people looking sheepish in the background generally playing with their phones.

This could actually become a popular site for observing leftist psychopathology, and we could start a pool on when it goes tango uniform.

[David]

some nitwit with Starbucks cup is having a bit of a zen chant with some people looking sheepish in the background generally playing with their phones.

Yes, it all looks a bit low-energy. Not exactly gripping.

[David]

And I somehow doubt that the participants will be reflecting on the extent to which the cultural and political divide is the handiwork of the kind of people who find this activity attractive.

[Burnsie]

Bwaa ha ha ha ha…this is hilarious. They're out in force right now. It's like one of those nature cams where you can watch odd creatures in their nests or hives. Maybe there will be mating activity!

[David]

It’s like one of those nature cams where you can watch odd creatures in their nests or hives.

Yes, and they don’t strike me as the kind of people who’ll register how their own behaviour might be alienating and actually exacerbate any social and political division. Not least by seeming irrational, pretentious and absurd. I mean, given the mindless chanting and what it implies, do they look like people with whom a sane and productive conversation about political differences could take place?

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

Not least by seeming irrational, pretentious and absurd.

I'll see your nature cam, and raise you a womans' march against Trump in Antarctica. On a boat.

[Spiny Norman]

They're chanting again, all edgy and radical-like.

[Horace Dunn]

I somehow doubt that the participants will be reflecting on the extent to which the cultural and political divide is the handiwork of the kind of people who find this activity attractive.

Quite. The title of the "instalation" should really be "This is why he won".

[Killer Marmot]

That voice, it could peel paint off a wall.

[Burnsie]

Ahh, a young beta male has shyly entered the nest. He glances at the alpha female with a look of interest. He joins the chant. Will he edge over closer in a subtle mating gesture? No, he walks away, discouraged — no, wait, he has returned!

[Eric Lacanistram]

..the “art” strikes me as faintly alienating in its smugness and conceit.

This is the Cecily Cardew school of modesty in art - "You see, it is simply a very young girl's record of her own thoughts and impressions, and consequently meant for publication". It isn't the kind of modesty whereby an artist shuns all fashions, turns down all invitations, and spends his life trying to capture the precise way that the sunlight is filtered through the leaves of the tree in his garden. This kind of public art is egotism pretending to be modesty - the artist publishes a half-baked, shoddily executed concept that on its own has zero artistic merit, but that if it goes viral and is multiplied by millions the sheer repetition might have some interest.

Surely this is just a knowing invitation to a prank.

These people's sense of proportion and probability comes from movies, not from real life. The Reddit group r/ThatHappened is worth a read to get a feel for the thought process. In the movie plot these people live in, the Beavis and Butthead teenagers turn up to bully the leftists and bluehairs and undocumented workers, but their conscience is awakened and they become the most enthusiastic footsoldiers for the movement. And as the tens of protesters turn to hundreds and then thousands, we cut to Trump calling in the white cops with the batons to shut it down, but this only causes the protest to be replicated in ten different places, and soon we see news footage of chanting crowds in Rome and Rio, and we cut to Trump banging the table in frustration at these damn freaks and geeks, and we cut to the Seth Rogen character turning to the Sarah Silverman character and saying "I thought your idea was crazy, but look at what you started".

[wtp]

Easy there EL, or you may find yourself in the awkward position of next having to craft a carefully worded Emmy/Oscar acceptance speech for best screenplay.

[David]

Heh.

Would it count as conceptual art? I reckon it should.

[Horace Dunn]

Would it count as conceptual art? I reckon it should.

Well, it made my day.

It does raise a question, though. Supposing the piece of "performance art" that is the subject of this thread was something mounted by Trump supporters? Imagine exactly the same thing, but the statement being repeated ad nauseam is "He's making us great again".

How long would it be before it was invaded by pompous, intolerant lefties? How long before the police were called to close it down as a potential threat to public safety?

Mind you, since such a thing would rely on a large supply of self-righteous bozos with no responsibilities and lots of free time, it probably wouldn't last that long even without intervention.

[Geezer]

Remember this:

Time spent chanting is time not spent rioting, looting, or vandalizing.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

Time spent chanting is time not spent rioting, looting, or vandalizing.

Assuming it is not their version of a haka. It is Saturday afternoon in New York City (not DC, I was mistaken earlier), if these clowns can't find something better to do, there is no hope for them, and finding them a safe space in Bellevue would be a mercy.

[WTP]

Performance art by a professional performer.

http://www.chicksontheright.com/supreme-hosebeast-ashley-judds-speech-at-million-woman-march-is-insane/

[David]

Performance art by a professional performer.

“We are not here to be debunked!”

[Geezer]

Assuming it is not their version of a haka.

These guys ain't warriors; they's deltas.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

Comedy Gold. You have to stay with this one to the end to watch the SJW's reaction when Lauren Southern points out she is a man - she really isn't, but in an earlier video, she showed how easy is is in Canada to change one's gender.

[David]

Mr LaBeouf’s Twitter stream is equally riveting and profound. He seems to be struggling to organise his thoughts. Or indeed have thoughts.

[Farnsworth M. Muldoon]

Or indeed have thoughts.

Yeah boy howdy, but we he and his followerd do, it is profundity for the ages.

Vegas Lyssa Love @thecampaignbook (M. LeBeef) solid & put under pressure since the dawn of time, we rise to show the essence of our love will out shine this darkness [string of emojis follows]

@thecampaignbook you and me, diamonds

RobertIDK @thecampaignbook You are my diamond Shia

I hope that RobertIDK is being sarcastic, but probably not.

[R. Sherman]

As a palate cleanser, one can enjoy Mr. Labeouf at about 27 seconds here. More profound than his Twitter feed, I dare say.

[Herp McDerp]

You remember that really stupid scene in Indiana Jones: Crystal Skull in which Shia LaBeouf is whacked in the crotch by shrubbery while hanging out of a car going about 30 mph? At the time, I thought it went on and on and on for far too long. Now I wish it had lasted five or six hours ... for real.

[Paul Carlton]

Three guys on a night out saying "Give the President a chance." Shouldn't be allowed.

[Theophrastus]

Meanwhile, Laurie Penny's uterus is responding politically:

My period started with a vengeance in the middle of that speech. I think my uterus is trying to leave America without me. #TrumpInauguration

[David]

it is profundity for the ages.

Sarcasm aside, it does seem inadvertently evocative of a wider malaise. Mr LaBeouf, formerly a mediocre actor, now presumably feels obliged, as an artist, to use Twitter artfully and express deep and artful things. Something, anything, to justify the attention, the self-image. And yet.

[jones]

That corner looks like the ideal place to have an emergency dump (during the hours of darkness that is).

[David]

looks like the ideal place to have an emergency dump

In aesthetic terms, it’s not enormously clear what distinction could be made.

[WTP]

Anyone seeing much about this shooting at a Milo and/or anti-Trump event in Seattle? Only info I can find is sketchy at best. I'm guessing it's sketchy because best I can tell is a leftist shot another leftist in self-defense, thus Teh Narrative needs time to figure out what knot to tie itself into.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/man-shot-seattle-protest-clash-claims-self-defense-article-1.2952840

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

I think my uterus is trying to leave America without me.

OTOH, it could just be her uterus is trying stay in America and be shut of her inanity.

[Franklin]

I'm fairly sure that Trump's inaugural address could have been a reading from Goodnight Moon, and much of the world would interpret it as a declaration of impending fascism.

[David]

Anyone seeing much about this shooting at a Milo and/or anti-Trump event in Seattle?

No more than you mention, though I saw something about an attendee, a disabled woman, being repeatedly pelted in the face with paintballs. For “social justice.”

[WTP]

Yes. There was also a teenager who was there with some adult, possibly his father, who apparently got shot in the face with a paintball and beaten up. Par for the course I suppose. But this other part of the story has so many media magnats. Anti-Trump protest, Milo, shots fired, victim in critical condition.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

I'm fairly sure that Trump's inaugural address could have been a reading from Goodnight Moon...

He could have read The Constitution and the same thing would happen.

[David]

Par for the course I suppose.

And yet , like most of the people here, I manage to have political views without feeling an urge to assault random people or destroy their property.

[Randy]

Cool leather jacket, but how do you get your gig line straight?

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

Heh. This thing is addictive - Mr. LeBeef is standing there alone, dude comes up, reads the sign on the wall, asks LeBeef if he can take a selfie with LeBeef, takes pic, walks away.

I am starting to think the main reason people show up is to be seen with a "celebrity". No way this clown show lasts "four years".

[Spiny Norman]

And yet.

WTF am I reading??? {o.O}

...best I can tell is a leftist shot another leftist in self-defense, thus Teh Narrative needs time to figure out what knot to tie itself into.

Angry Hillary supporter shoots angry Bernie supporter because the latter had an anti-fascist tattoo the idiot with a gun thought was a "white-supremacist" symbol, yet the Daily Spew tries its damndest to use the space to bash Milo.

The media's "Trump re-election campaign" has started already.

[David]

Sargon’s ‘Week In Stupid’ inauguration special may amuse, albeit grimly.

Oddly, I can’t help thinking that, amid all the moral dissonance, mental dysfunction and fits of outright lunacy, one of the more telling sights is the staggering amount of garbage left strewn on the street by the feminist protestors. It speaks to the character of those involved.

[jen]

This.

https://twitter.com/GodfreyElfwick/status/822966079798607872

[jen]

And this.

https://twitter.com/FoolishReporter/status/823276834481549313

[David]

And this.

Heh.

[Farnsworth M. Muldoon]

Meanwhile in the wildlife preserve, NYC rozzers have shown up - unclear why, but is seems the "artist" doesn't believe his own mantra as he shows his love for a counter-protester, so I am guessing he had another tantrum.

[Squires]

Must mean he's a Nazi.

If you are not obsessed with race you are a Nazis.

If you throw bricks at people for not being down with your ideology you are Anti-Fascist (with capital letters).

RE: Milo shooting, what little I read had me thinking it was likely someone normal shooting an AntiFa in self-defense. But then, given the great achievements in deception accomplished with the BLM dog-and-pony show, it now occurs to me that they could and would have easily painted a brick-thrower or such as an innocent victim. Left-on-left friendly fire that can't be shoe-horned into the Narrative would better explain the minimalist coverage.

[Hal]

I'm fairly sure that Trump's inaugural address could have been a reading from Goodnight Moon,

Well, recurringly, Scott Adams stated that his read of Trump is that Most people see that type of language as offensive and even dangerous. The exception is people who grew up in New York. We see it as “talking.”

All right then.

[Sporkatus]

"Uterus trying to leave America without me" - actually, it may be trying to tie its own tubes around its neck and commit suicide. This would be the first time for a spontaneous sapience organ homicide of any kind since that unpleasantness at the Vogon poetry reading.

Regarding Shy of Beef, I found his performance in Fury surprisingly compelling, but outside that... We are talking about a man proud that he got his first gig as a child actor by lying to/scaring off other applicants, so a little cluster b on the menu might be expected.

[Joan]

Leftist wife from hell.

http://twitchy.com/gregp-3534/2017/01/22/liberal-berates-trump-supporter-on-an-airplane-gets-escorted-off-by-cops/

[David]

Leftist wife from hell.

Wow. What a cow. “He’s in my space,” she says. Again, projection.

And given the harridan’s subsequent excuse that she and her husband had been to his mother’s funeral, that makes her behaviour even more insulting and self-indulgent.

Something tells me her husband chose poorly. Or lost a bet.

[Hal]

Oh, right, Scott Adams stated that . . . .

[sk60]

LaBeouf meltdown in 3...2...1...

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2017/01/shia-labeouf-melts-gets-physical-counter-protester-dude-ticking-time-bomb-video/

[champ]

Just went to LaBeouf's webpage..it is raining there, no one is chanting "He will not divide us" although there a few idiots standing around in the rain...

[Jen]

The psychodrama progresses as expected.

[David]

Heh.

[David]

One more. I believe the word is irony.

[sk60]

"Shia LaBeouf's 'He Will Not Divide Us' exhibit is shut down due to violence"

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/queens/shia-labeouf-not-divide-shut-due-violence-article-1.2969106?cid=bitly

#Division