The artist as a young thug

"Whatever happens, I feel as though my hair is safe at the moment," intones all-about-me Mass College of Art graduate Peter Berdovsky (right, with partner in crime Sean Stevens, left) at his post-arraignment press conference in Boston this afternoon. Sickening to think that the nation's best and bravest men and women are putting their lives on the line in Iraq and Afghanistan to make the world safe for such lightweights to indulge in their monomaniacal marshmallow-fluff fantasies. Maybe a little time in the slammer will knock some sense into the two aging adolescents.

Herbert "the power of negative thinking" Marcuse came home to roost yesterday as the offal of Massachusetts College of Art enjoyed its fifteen minutes of fame, bringing Beantown to its knees. A bit of background before we proceed:

Cultural Marxism is an ideology with deep roots. It did not begin with the counter-culture revolution in the mid-1960s. Its roots go back at least to the 1920s and the writings of the Italian Communist Antonio Gramsci [of whom we've written here from time to time].

Here's John Leo's excellent explanation at City Journal of what went wrong in academia that set the scene for such obscenely soulless "artistic" expressions as yesterday's scam:

Much campus censorship rests on philosophical underpinnings that go back to social theorist Herbert Marcuse, a hero to sixties radicals. Marcuse argued that traditional tolerance is repressive -- it wards off reform by making the status quo . . . well, tolerable. Marcuse favored intolerance of established and conservative views, with tolerance offered only to the opinions of the oppressed, radicals, subversives, and other outsiders. Indoctrination of students and “deeply pervasive” censorship of others would be necessary, starting on the campuses and fanning out from there.

You've obviously got to read -- and savor -- the whole thing, but for the moment, back to Boston's assault by the watered-down spawn of Herbert Marcuse, those Mass College all-about-me, history-free zombies who thought it would be wicked fun to stick their thumbs in the eye of the "establishment." You've no doubt already heard the nuts and bolts of the case -- we were unable to listen, due to the gag factor, to today's post-arraignment presser with the smirking perpetrators -- but why isn't anyone talking about the everyday tragedies this kind of thing mindlessly engenders? Citizens' plans both trivial and earth-shaking were hobbled as local police and Homeland Security types -- spending $750,000 and diverting their energies from regular duties -- tried to secure the city. The Coast Guard even closed off the Charles River that runs between BoTown and Cambridge. What if you had happened to be on your way for cataract surgery at Mass Eye and Ear, as we were last summer, or seeking a miracle for your ailing puddy at Angell Memorial as we were last winter? Or even just trying to meet a customer or a client or one of the eleventy-two interpersonal transactions booked into the calendars of our fellow New Englanders on an average day? Who cares if these clueless punks' "devices" weren't explosives? These young "artists" -- they sound more like a couple of adolescents suffering from arrested development -- are terrorists, plain and simple. They deserve whatever punishment the rule of law may mete out. They need to learn a lesson, and their fellows out there snickering with delight need to learn a lesson as well. Give 'em the chair!  Well, at least give them some time in the Big House, and go ahead, Mayor Manino, and stick it to their boss, Turner Broadcasting with a big, expensive, embarrassing lawsuit. These fools may have inadvertendly afforded us a post-9/11 wake-up call about all that is rotten in the heart of academia.

Comments

[goomp]

Two charming representatives of the sick society generated by too easy a life for the children of the boomers. It won't last long. Islamic fascists will see to that. The real world awaits ignorant academia.

[Teresa]

Weren't they just so cute... talking about hair. What clever little fellows. Too bad we don't have laws like Singapore does... over there they could get a whacking good spanking for this. It's the least that should happen to them for such idiocy.

[Gayle Miller]

Teresa and goomp - be informed that I adore both of you! I couldn't have said it better. I keep imagining the wakeup call these 2 idiotic spoiled brats will receive when they find themselves finally finding out what CONSEQUENCES really are like.

And yes, Turner should be smacked down hard and expensively! Has anyone found out if anyone died as a result of the congestion engendered by this moronic scheme? If an ambulance couldn't get through and someone's life was lost - charge the little s.o.b.s with manslaughter as well!

[be]

I work and live in this neighborhood. Over the past few months we've seen two bomb threats, a fatal laboratory explosion, as well as a number of false and real fire alarms. (Won't even get into the threats we get from certain groups to ourselves/building due to what our line of work is.) As a result, we tend to be a bit jumpy.

The day this particular incident went down, my boss was trying to make it back to Charlestown (a 15 minute drive on a good day) to get to a(n albeit minor, outpatient) surgery appointment. She ended up stuck in traffic for 1 1/2 hours. The next available date she could get was mid-March. Neither she nor any of us around here is looking at this with amusement.

[mediageek]

Your blog entry is one of the best bits of satire I've seen in quite some time.

Thank you.

[Sissy Willis]

Thank you Goomp, Teresa, Gayle and Be for your thoughtful and worthy contributions. May I assume, mediageek, that you -- with your fake email address -- are a fellow traveler of the perpetrators?

[marvin]

Have you ever heard of the phrase "Monday Morning Quaterbacking?" Well, you all just indulged yourself a bit there.

I don't know how your bomb squads work, but usually they robotically identify the threat first. They also will send in trained bomb defusers with blast suits if they feel the threat is not about to explode. It would appear from reports that they took their sweet time in actually identifying the devices and then continued to not tell the public that they were not bombs until late in the afternoon, some 8 hours after the first calls came in.

NYC had some 6000 unmarked packages in 2006 called in. That equals about 250 in a day---such a large number in fact, that it would be impossible to have bomb squads deal with each one individually. NYPD responds and has regular officers check out the situation first. Personally I've seen officers on subways check unmarked packages by hand and/ or with dogs. They don't shut down the whole station, block, bridge, or whatever.

It would apear some readers want more 9/11's so they can say that what happened in Boston was justified (goomp). It would also appear that some believe in physical abuse and torture for dealing with anyone that doesn't do anything more creative in their lives than make a pb&j for lunch (teresa). However, it is people like you that slow the progress of society and interfere in creative and constructive projects. One recent event that comes to mind was when I had someone come in to do a survey of the surrounding neighborhood to build a preconstruction report in order to document prior conditions should anything happen during the lowering of the water table for an excavation. They were repeatedly harassed and had the police called on them several times because they were walking on public streets and taking photos.

To attack these two is completely off-base. They are obviously good at what they do in order to have their company hired by Turner Media to promote this TV show. Just because they don't go on camera and dance for you all does not justify these ad hominem against their looks and their attitude. They did not do this on purpose, nor do they cause the issue to escalate. Blame your media for jumping on a story with few details. Blame your officials for wagging their egos and calling all your emergency units and failing to release any information until long after the hysteria got out of control.

The human condition is such that we worry and tend to see the worst in a situation involving safety. Incidents like this are a testament to that. I love how your mayor is all about recouping the costs that the city endured for their operation. Isn't that money well spent? If those devices truly were bombs, then half a million is cheap compared to what could have been wrought. It only makes him look like he's just a cheapskate and wants to go after Turner's deep pockets for some easy cash. $500,000 really is chump change for a major city's dealings with bomb threats. If this is how boston deals with bomb threats on a regular basis, that amount is a drop in the pan and Menino ought to be looking at reducing time in bomb identifying procedures and probably invest in some training and better equipment at the same time.

[Sissy Willis]

Marvin, darling. Longwindedness is a sign of muddy thinking, but nevertheless, in this great country of ours you have a right to try to get people to listen to your holier-than-thou rantings and ravings. One thing, though . . . If you want to bloviate, I suggest you get your own blog, and don't trash your hostess or her worthy readers. Thank you for your interest.

One more thing, sonny boy. I made no reference to the appearance of "these two." Thou dost protest too much. Have a nice day.

[Gayle Miller]

But speaking of their appearance, a nice hot bath might materially improve it! I consider poor personal hygiene to be a sign of many more internal problems - psychically and physically.