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innovation-hacking2

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shitposting_dataset1

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[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for." ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?" ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly." ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!" ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)" ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion" ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?" ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance." ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such." ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock" ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd" ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis." ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately" ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week" ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better" ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️" ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one" ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad." ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”" ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head." ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?" ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation" ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it." ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?" ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box." ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King." ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad." ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes" ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library." ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\"." ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly" ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man." ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary." ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck" ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂" ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent." ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!" ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?" ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech." ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong." ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous" ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank." ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times" ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times", ">\n\nThis just became the most famous piece of art in the country right now. \nControversy like this is exactly what they want art to do. Nobody would have cared about another mural to MLK. \nI bet the crowds around this are huge" ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times", ">\n\nThis just became the most famous piece of art in the country right now. \nControversy like this is exactly what they want art to do. Nobody would have cared about another mural to MLK. \nI bet the crowds around this are huge", ">\n\neasy art doesn't make you think" ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times", ">\n\nThis just became the most famous piece of art in the country right now. \nControversy like this is exactly what they want art to do. Nobody would have cared about another mural to MLK. \nI bet the crowds around this are huge", ">\n\neasy art doesn't make you think", ">\n\nWhy are we always supposed to “think”? I prefer to just enjoy art and it not be work for me." ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times", ">\n\nThis just became the most famous piece of art in the country right now. \nControversy like this is exactly what they want art to do. Nobody would have cared about another mural to MLK. \nI bet the crowds around this are huge", ">\n\neasy art doesn't make you think", ">\n\nWhy are we always supposed to “think”? I prefer to just enjoy art and it not be work for me.", ">\n\nThen stick to MCU movies." ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times", ">\n\nThis just became the most famous piece of art in the country right now. \nControversy like this is exactly what they want art to do. Nobody would have cared about another mural to MLK. \nI bet the crowds around this are huge", ">\n\neasy art doesn't make you think", ">\n\nWhy are we always supposed to “think”? I prefer to just enjoy art and it not be work for me.", ">\n\nThen stick to MCU movies.", ">\n\nWhy? I don’t like those" ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times", ">\n\nThis just became the most famous piece of art in the country right now. \nControversy like this is exactly what they want art to do. Nobody would have cared about another mural to MLK. \nI bet the crowds around this are huge", ">\n\neasy art doesn't make you think", ">\n\nWhy are we always supposed to “think”? I prefer to just enjoy art and it not be work for me.", ">\n\nThen stick to MCU movies.", ">\n\nWhy? I don’t like those", ">\n\nThats what that thing is supposed to be?? Actually terrible design" ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times", ">\n\nThis just became the most famous piece of art in the country right now. \nControversy like this is exactly what they want art to do. Nobody would have cared about another mural to MLK. \nI bet the crowds around this are huge", ">\n\neasy art doesn't make you think", ">\n\nWhy are we always supposed to “think”? I prefer to just enjoy art and it not be work for me.", ">\n\nThen stick to MCU movies.", ">\n\nWhy? I don’t like those", ">\n\nThats what that thing is supposed to be?? Actually terrible design", ">\n\nI mean from angles it looks like a metamucil advertisement.\nOr something else is being held. \nI think that the monument needed to be viewed from all angles or be like identifiable and not viewed as potentially abstract." ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times", ">\n\nThis just became the most famous piece of art in the country right now. \nControversy like this is exactly what they want art to do. Nobody would have cared about another mural to MLK. \nI bet the crowds around this are huge", ">\n\neasy art doesn't make you think", ">\n\nWhy are we always supposed to “think”? I prefer to just enjoy art and it not be work for me.", ">\n\nThen stick to MCU movies.", ">\n\nWhy? I don’t like those", ">\n\nThats what that thing is supposed to be?? Actually terrible design", ">\n\nI mean from angles it looks like a metamucil advertisement.\nOr something else is being held. \nI think that the monument needed to be viewed from all angles or be like identifiable and not viewed as potentially abstract.", ">\n\nThe piece is called \"Thanks PF Changs\" and it was sculpted by Singer/Songwriter Lorde." ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times", ">\n\nThis just became the most famous piece of art in the country right now. \nControversy like this is exactly what they want art to do. Nobody would have cared about another mural to MLK. \nI bet the crowds around this are huge", ">\n\neasy art doesn't make you think", ">\n\nWhy are we always supposed to “think”? I prefer to just enjoy art and it not be work for me.", ">\n\nThen stick to MCU movies.", ">\n\nWhy? I don’t like those", ">\n\nThats what that thing is supposed to be?? Actually terrible design", ">\n\nI mean from angles it looks like a metamucil advertisement.\nOr something else is being held. \nI think that the monument needed to be viewed from all angles or be like identifiable and not viewed as potentially abstract.", ">\n\nThe piece is called \"Thanks PF Changs\" and it was sculpted by Singer/Songwriter Lorde.", ">\n\nYeah... They messed this one up. I want to think over time it'll be appreciated, but it is just poorly done. Heck, on another level I don't like it because it is a statue of MLK and his wife, and we know now how much he cheated on her. It just doesn't work on any level and at best its a MLK statue for the sake of MLK, at worse it undermines MLK's legacy." ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times", ">\n\nThis just became the most famous piece of art in the country right now. \nControversy like this is exactly what they want art to do. Nobody would have cared about another mural to MLK. \nI bet the crowds around this are huge", ">\n\neasy art doesn't make you think", ">\n\nWhy are we always supposed to “think”? I prefer to just enjoy art and it not be work for me.", ">\n\nThen stick to MCU movies.", ">\n\nWhy? I don’t like those", ">\n\nThats what that thing is supposed to be?? Actually terrible design", ">\n\nI mean from angles it looks like a metamucil advertisement.\nOr something else is being held. \nI think that the monument needed to be viewed from all angles or be like identifiable and not viewed as potentially abstract.", ">\n\nThe piece is called \"Thanks PF Changs\" and it was sculpted by Singer/Songwriter Lorde.", ">\n\nYeah... They messed this one up. I want to think over time it'll be appreciated, but it is just poorly done. Heck, on another level I don't like it because it is a statue of MLK and his wife, and we know now how much he cheated on her. It just doesn't work on any level and at best its a MLK statue for the sake of MLK, at worse it undermines MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nYikes that’s true. It’s weird to have included her" ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times", ">\n\nThis just became the most famous piece of art in the country right now. \nControversy like this is exactly what they want art to do. Nobody would have cared about another mural to MLK. \nI bet the crowds around this are huge", ">\n\neasy art doesn't make you think", ">\n\nWhy are we always supposed to “think”? I prefer to just enjoy art and it not be work for me.", ">\n\nThen stick to MCU movies.", ">\n\nWhy? I don’t like those", ">\n\nThats what that thing is supposed to be?? Actually terrible design", ">\n\nI mean from angles it looks like a metamucil advertisement.\nOr something else is being held. \nI think that the monument needed to be viewed from all angles or be like identifiable and not viewed as potentially abstract.", ">\n\nThe piece is called \"Thanks PF Changs\" and it was sculpted by Singer/Songwriter Lorde.", ">\n\nYeah... They messed this one up. I want to think over time it'll be appreciated, but it is just poorly done. Heck, on another level I don't like it because it is a statue of MLK and his wife, and we know now how much he cheated on her. It just doesn't work on any level and at best its a MLK statue for the sake of MLK, at worse it undermines MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nYikes that’s true. It’s weird to have included her", ">\n\nIt's like the majority of so-called \"modern art\". It's deliberately pointless, so that people who like to imagine themselves deep thinkers can stand around it pretending they \"get it.\"" ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times", ">\n\nThis just became the most famous piece of art in the country right now. \nControversy like this is exactly what they want art to do. Nobody would have cared about another mural to MLK. \nI bet the crowds around this are huge", ">\n\neasy art doesn't make you think", ">\n\nWhy are we always supposed to “think”? I prefer to just enjoy art and it not be work for me.", ">\n\nThen stick to MCU movies.", ">\n\nWhy? I don’t like those", ">\n\nThats what that thing is supposed to be?? Actually terrible design", ">\n\nI mean from angles it looks like a metamucil advertisement.\nOr something else is being held. \nI think that the monument needed to be viewed from all angles or be like identifiable and not viewed as potentially abstract.", ">\n\nThe piece is called \"Thanks PF Changs\" and it was sculpted by Singer/Songwriter Lorde.", ">\n\nYeah... They messed this one up. I want to think over time it'll be appreciated, but it is just poorly done. Heck, on another level I don't like it because it is a statue of MLK and his wife, and we know now how much he cheated on her. It just doesn't work on any level and at best its a MLK statue for the sake of MLK, at worse it undermines MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nYikes that’s true. It’s weird to have included her", ">\n\nIt's like the majority of so-called \"modern art\". It's deliberately pointless, so that people who like to imagine themselves deep thinkers can stand around it pretending they \"get it.\"", ">\n\nThe phrase 'modern art' is a misnomer." ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times", ">\n\nThis just became the most famous piece of art in the country right now. \nControversy like this is exactly what they want art to do. Nobody would have cared about another mural to MLK. \nI bet the crowds around this are huge", ">\n\neasy art doesn't make you think", ">\n\nWhy are we always supposed to “think”? I prefer to just enjoy art and it not be work for me.", ">\n\nThen stick to MCU movies.", ">\n\nWhy? I don’t like those", ">\n\nThats what that thing is supposed to be?? Actually terrible design", ">\n\nI mean from angles it looks like a metamucil advertisement.\nOr something else is being held. \nI think that the monument needed to be viewed from all angles or be like identifiable and not viewed as potentially abstract.", ">\n\nThe piece is called \"Thanks PF Changs\" and it was sculpted by Singer/Songwriter Lorde.", ">\n\nYeah... They messed this one up. I want to think over time it'll be appreciated, but it is just poorly done. Heck, on another level I don't like it because it is a statue of MLK and his wife, and we know now how much he cheated on her. It just doesn't work on any level and at best its a MLK statue for the sake of MLK, at worse it undermines MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nYikes that’s true. It’s weird to have included her", ">\n\nIt's like the majority of so-called \"modern art\". It's deliberately pointless, so that people who like to imagine themselves deep thinkers can stand around it pretending they \"get it.\"", ">\n\nThe phrase 'modern art' is a misnomer.", ">\n\nIt really is. That entire scene is just a bunch of rich people flexing their wealth because they can. Art has nothing to do with it." ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times", ">\n\nThis just became the most famous piece of art in the country right now. \nControversy like this is exactly what they want art to do. Nobody would have cared about another mural to MLK. \nI bet the crowds around this are huge", ">\n\neasy art doesn't make you think", ">\n\nWhy are we always supposed to “think”? I prefer to just enjoy art and it not be work for me.", ">\n\nThen stick to MCU movies.", ">\n\nWhy? I don’t like those", ">\n\nThats what that thing is supposed to be?? Actually terrible design", ">\n\nI mean from angles it looks like a metamucil advertisement.\nOr something else is being held. \nI think that the monument needed to be viewed from all angles or be like identifiable and not viewed as potentially abstract.", ">\n\nThe piece is called \"Thanks PF Changs\" and it was sculpted by Singer/Songwriter Lorde.", ">\n\nYeah... They messed this one up. I want to think over time it'll be appreciated, but it is just poorly done. Heck, on another level I don't like it because it is a statue of MLK and his wife, and we know now how much he cheated on her. It just doesn't work on any level and at best its a MLK statue for the sake of MLK, at worse it undermines MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nYikes that’s true. It’s weird to have included her", ">\n\nIt's like the majority of so-called \"modern art\". It's deliberately pointless, so that people who like to imagine themselves deep thinkers can stand around it pretending they \"get it.\"", ">\n\nThe phrase 'modern art' is a misnomer.", ">\n\nIt really is. That entire scene is just a bunch of rich people flexing their wealth because they can. Art has nothing to do with it.", ">\n\nThis is so fucking stupid. As if this man was summed up by one single fucking moment in life with that picture. I don't get it. A statue based on a photograph of a portion? Can't come up with something creative? Maybe have a statue of him being publicly executed? For all we know the night of that picture could have been the worst of his and hers. I am not even familiar with the picture. As a kid I knew Dr. King as a man that literally changed my world. I saw how awful the world was and he gave me hope in a better place. We got there for a minute. Most people love their spouses. Most people don't love the world!" ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times", ">\n\nThis just became the most famous piece of art in the country right now. \nControversy like this is exactly what they want art to do. Nobody would have cared about another mural to MLK. \nI bet the crowds around this are huge", ">\n\neasy art doesn't make you think", ">\n\nWhy are we always supposed to “think”? I prefer to just enjoy art and it not be work for me.", ">\n\nThen stick to MCU movies.", ">\n\nWhy? I don’t like those", ">\n\nThats what that thing is supposed to be?? Actually terrible design", ">\n\nI mean from angles it looks like a metamucil advertisement.\nOr something else is being held. \nI think that the monument needed to be viewed from all angles or be like identifiable and not viewed as potentially abstract.", ">\n\nThe piece is called \"Thanks PF Changs\" and it was sculpted by Singer/Songwriter Lorde.", ">\n\nYeah... They messed this one up. I want to think over time it'll be appreciated, but it is just poorly done. Heck, on another level I don't like it because it is a statue of MLK and his wife, and we know now how much he cheated on her. It just doesn't work on any level and at best its a MLK statue for the sake of MLK, at worse it undermines MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nYikes that’s true. It’s weird to have included her", ">\n\nIt's like the majority of so-called \"modern art\". It's deliberately pointless, so that people who like to imagine themselves deep thinkers can stand around it pretending they \"get it.\"", ">\n\nThe phrase 'modern art' is a misnomer.", ">\n\nIt really is. That entire scene is just a bunch of rich people flexing their wealth because they can. Art has nothing to do with it.", ">\n\nThis is so fucking stupid. As if this man was summed up by one single fucking moment in life with that picture. I don't get it. A statue based on a photograph of a portion? Can't come up with something creative? Maybe have a statue of him being publicly executed? For all we know the night of that picture could have been the worst of his and hers. I am not even familiar with the picture. As a kid I knew Dr. King as a man that literally changed my world. I saw how awful the world was and he gave me hope in a better place. We got there for a minute. Most people love their spouses. Most people don't love the world!", ">\n\nIt’s the moment when MLK found out he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Apparently you can walk in the middle of the arm vortex and “feel the embrace” of that moment, which is honestly a pretty cool concept….. The statue is still super meh." ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times", ">\n\nThis just became the most famous piece of art in the country right now. \nControversy like this is exactly what they want art to do. Nobody would have cared about another mural to MLK. \nI bet the crowds around this are huge", ">\n\neasy art doesn't make you think", ">\n\nWhy are we always supposed to “think”? I prefer to just enjoy art and it not be work for me.", ">\n\nThen stick to MCU movies.", ">\n\nWhy? I don’t like those", ">\n\nThats what that thing is supposed to be?? Actually terrible design", ">\n\nI mean from angles it looks like a metamucil advertisement.\nOr something else is being held. \nI think that the monument needed to be viewed from all angles or be like identifiable and not viewed as potentially abstract.", ">\n\nThe piece is called \"Thanks PF Changs\" and it was sculpted by Singer/Songwriter Lorde.", ">\n\nYeah... They messed this one up. I want to think over time it'll be appreciated, but it is just poorly done. Heck, on another level I don't like it because it is a statue of MLK and his wife, and we know now how much he cheated on her. It just doesn't work on any level and at best its a MLK statue for the sake of MLK, at worse it undermines MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nYikes that’s true. It’s weird to have included her", ">\n\nIt's like the majority of so-called \"modern art\". It's deliberately pointless, so that people who like to imagine themselves deep thinkers can stand around it pretending they \"get it.\"", ">\n\nThe phrase 'modern art' is a misnomer.", ">\n\nIt really is. That entire scene is just a bunch of rich people flexing their wealth because they can. Art has nothing to do with it.", ">\n\nThis is so fucking stupid. As if this man was summed up by one single fucking moment in life with that picture. I don't get it. A statue based on a photograph of a portion? Can't come up with something creative? Maybe have a statue of him being publicly executed? For all we know the night of that picture could have been the worst of his and hers. I am not even familiar with the picture. As a kid I knew Dr. King as a man that literally changed my world. I saw how awful the world was and he gave me hope in a better place. We got there for a minute. Most people love their spouses. Most people don't love the world!", ">\n\nIt’s the moment when MLK found out he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Apparently you can walk in the middle of the arm vortex and “feel the embrace” of that moment, which is honestly a pretty cool concept….. The statue is still super meh.", ">\n\nLike is it poop? Or a penis? I dunno" ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times", ">\n\nThis just became the most famous piece of art in the country right now. \nControversy like this is exactly what they want art to do. Nobody would have cared about another mural to MLK. \nI bet the crowds around this are huge", ">\n\neasy art doesn't make you think", ">\n\nWhy are we always supposed to “think”? I prefer to just enjoy art and it not be work for me.", ">\n\nThen stick to MCU movies.", ">\n\nWhy? I don’t like those", ">\n\nThats what that thing is supposed to be?? Actually terrible design", ">\n\nI mean from angles it looks like a metamucil advertisement.\nOr something else is being held. \nI think that the monument needed to be viewed from all angles or be like identifiable and not viewed as potentially abstract.", ">\n\nThe piece is called \"Thanks PF Changs\" and it was sculpted by Singer/Songwriter Lorde.", ">\n\nYeah... They messed this one up. I want to think over time it'll be appreciated, but it is just poorly done. Heck, on another level I don't like it because it is a statue of MLK and his wife, and we know now how much he cheated on her. It just doesn't work on any level and at best its a MLK statue for the sake of MLK, at worse it undermines MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nYikes that’s true. It’s weird to have included her", ">\n\nIt's like the majority of so-called \"modern art\". It's deliberately pointless, so that people who like to imagine themselves deep thinkers can stand around it pretending they \"get it.\"", ">\n\nThe phrase 'modern art' is a misnomer.", ">\n\nIt really is. That entire scene is just a bunch of rich people flexing their wealth because they can. Art has nothing to do with it.", ">\n\nThis is so fucking stupid. As if this man was summed up by one single fucking moment in life with that picture. I don't get it. A statue based on a photograph of a portion? Can't come up with something creative? Maybe have a statue of him being publicly executed? For all we know the night of that picture could have been the worst of his and hers. I am not even familiar with the picture. As a kid I knew Dr. King as a man that literally changed my world. I saw how awful the world was and he gave me hope in a better place. We got there for a minute. Most people love their spouses. Most people don't love the world!", ">\n\nIt’s the moment when MLK found out he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Apparently you can walk in the middle of the arm vortex and “feel the embrace” of that moment, which is honestly a pretty cool concept….. The statue is still super meh.", ">\n\nLike is it poop? Or a penis? I dunno", ">\n\nFirst thought was it’s The Detachable kid from Suicide Squad" ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times", ">\n\nThis just became the most famous piece of art in the country right now. \nControversy like this is exactly what they want art to do. Nobody would have cared about another mural to MLK. \nI bet the crowds around this are huge", ">\n\neasy art doesn't make you think", ">\n\nWhy are we always supposed to “think”? I prefer to just enjoy art and it not be work for me.", ">\n\nThen stick to MCU movies.", ">\n\nWhy? I don’t like those", ">\n\nThats what that thing is supposed to be?? Actually terrible design", ">\n\nI mean from angles it looks like a metamucil advertisement.\nOr something else is being held. \nI think that the monument needed to be viewed from all angles or be like identifiable and not viewed as potentially abstract.", ">\n\nThe piece is called \"Thanks PF Changs\" and it was sculpted by Singer/Songwriter Lorde.", ">\n\nYeah... They messed this one up. I want to think over time it'll be appreciated, but it is just poorly done. Heck, on another level I don't like it because it is a statue of MLK and his wife, and we know now how much he cheated on her. It just doesn't work on any level and at best its a MLK statue for the sake of MLK, at worse it undermines MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nYikes that’s true. It’s weird to have included her", ">\n\nIt's like the majority of so-called \"modern art\". It's deliberately pointless, so that people who like to imagine themselves deep thinkers can stand around it pretending they \"get it.\"", ">\n\nThe phrase 'modern art' is a misnomer.", ">\n\nIt really is. That entire scene is just a bunch of rich people flexing their wealth because they can. Art has nothing to do with it.", ">\n\nThis is so fucking stupid. As if this man was summed up by one single fucking moment in life with that picture. I don't get it. A statue based on a photograph of a portion? Can't come up with something creative? Maybe have a statue of him being publicly executed? For all we know the night of that picture could have been the worst of his and hers. I am not even familiar with the picture. As a kid I knew Dr. King as a man that literally changed my world. I saw how awful the world was and he gave me hope in a better place. We got there for a minute. Most people love their spouses. Most people don't love the world!", ">\n\nIt’s the moment when MLK found out he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Apparently you can walk in the middle of the arm vortex and “feel the embrace” of that moment, which is honestly a pretty cool concept….. The statue is still super meh.", ">\n\nLike is it poop? Or a penis? I dunno", ">\n\nFirst thought was it’s The Detachable kid from Suicide Squad", ">\n\nI was reading this book, it's like a part Indiana Jones, part spy thriller. \nSo the lady archeologist and her obvious love interest are discussing how to get through the second door in a tomb after they solved a puzzle for first one. \nAnd then they hear enemies coming in and they have to rush - they kept talking about what symbols mean on the door. \nThen their obvious comedy relief side kick just runs toward the door, pushes it like a normal door and tells them \n\"Guys, sometimes a door is just a door\". \nI feel sometimes some decisions made for this monument design are unnecessarily trying to be special or unique for no good reason, when they could have followed the straight forward approach." ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times", ">\n\nThis just became the most famous piece of art in the country right now. \nControversy like this is exactly what they want art to do. Nobody would have cared about another mural to MLK. \nI bet the crowds around this are huge", ">\n\neasy art doesn't make you think", ">\n\nWhy are we always supposed to “think”? I prefer to just enjoy art and it not be work for me.", ">\n\nThen stick to MCU movies.", ">\n\nWhy? I don’t like those", ">\n\nThats what that thing is supposed to be?? Actually terrible design", ">\n\nI mean from angles it looks like a metamucil advertisement.\nOr something else is being held. \nI think that the monument needed to be viewed from all angles or be like identifiable and not viewed as potentially abstract.", ">\n\nThe piece is called \"Thanks PF Changs\" and it was sculpted by Singer/Songwriter Lorde.", ">\n\nYeah... They messed this one up. I want to think over time it'll be appreciated, but it is just poorly done. Heck, on another level I don't like it because it is a statue of MLK and his wife, and we know now how much he cheated on her. It just doesn't work on any level and at best its a MLK statue for the sake of MLK, at worse it undermines MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nYikes that’s true. It’s weird to have included her", ">\n\nIt's like the majority of so-called \"modern art\". It's deliberately pointless, so that people who like to imagine themselves deep thinkers can stand around it pretending they \"get it.\"", ">\n\nThe phrase 'modern art' is a misnomer.", ">\n\nIt really is. That entire scene is just a bunch of rich people flexing their wealth because they can. Art has nothing to do with it.", ">\n\nThis is so fucking stupid. As if this man was summed up by one single fucking moment in life with that picture. I don't get it. A statue based on a photograph of a portion? Can't come up with something creative? Maybe have a statue of him being publicly executed? For all we know the night of that picture could have been the worst of his and hers. I am not even familiar with the picture. As a kid I knew Dr. King as a man that literally changed my world. I saw how awful the world was and he gave me hope in a better place. We got there for a minute. Most people love their spouses. Most people don't love the world!", ">\n\nIt’s the moment when MLK found out he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Apparently you can walk in the middle of the arm vortex and “feel the embrace” of that moment, which is honestly a pretty cool concept….. The statue is still super meh.", ">\n\nLike is it poop? Or a penis? I dunno", ">\n\nFirst thought was it’s The Detachable kid from Suicide Squad", ">\n\nI was reading this book, it's like a part Indiana Jones, part spy thriller. \nSo the lady archeologist and her obvious love interest are discussing how to get through the second door in a tomb after they solved a puzzle for first one. \nAnd then they hear enemies coming in and they have to rush - they kept talking about what symbols mean on the door. \nThen their obvious comedy relief side kick just runs toward the door, pushes it like a normal door and tells them \n\"Guys, sometimes a door is just a door\". \nI feel sometimes some decisions made for this monument design are unnecessarily trying to be special or unique for no good reason, when they could have followed the straight forward approach.", ">\n\nI keep waiting for a terrorist organization to call and take credit for wrecking the original sculpture" ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times", ">\n\nThis just became the most famous piece of art in the country right now. \nControversy like this is exactly what they want art to do. Nobody would have cared about another mural to MLK. \nI bet the crowds around this are huge", ">\n\neasy art doesn't make you think", ">\n\nWhy are we always supposed to “think”? I prefer to just enjoy art and it not be work for me.", ">\n\nThen stick to MCU movies.", ">\n\nWhy? I don’t like those", ">\n\nThats what that thing is supposed to be?? Actually terrible design", ">\n\nI mean from angles it looks like a metamucil advertisement.\nOr something else is being held. \nI think that the monument needed to be viewed from all angles or be like identifiable and not viewed as potentially abstract.", ">\n\nThe piece is called \"Thanks PF Changs\" and it was sculpted by Singer/Songwriter Lorde.", ">\n\nYeah... They messed this one up. I want to think over time it'll be appreciated, but it is just poorly done. Heck, on another level I don't like it because it is a statue of MLK and his wife, and we know now how much he cheated on her. It just doesn't work on any level and at best its a MLK statue for the sake of MLK, at worse it undermines MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nYikes that’s true. It’s weird to have included her", ">\n\nIt's like the majority of so-called \"modern art\". It's deliberately pointless, so that people who like to imagine themselves deep thinkers can stand around it pretending they \"get it.\"", ">\n\nThe phrase 'modern art' is a misnomer.", ">\n\nIt really is. That entire scene is just a bunch of rich people flexing their wealth because they can. Art has nothing to do with it.", ">\n\nThis is so fucking stupid. As if this man was summed up by one single fucking moment in life with that picture. I don't get it. A statue based on a photograph of a portion? Can't come up with something creative? Maybe have a statue of him being publicly executed? For all we know the night of that picture could have been the worst of his and hers. I am not even familiar with the picture. As a kid I knew Dr. King as a man that literally changed my world. I saw how awful the world was and he gave me hope in a better place. We got there for a minute. Most people love their spouses. Most people don't love the world!", ">\n\nIt’s the moment when MLK found out he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Apparently you can walk in the middle of the arm vortex and “feel the embrace” of that moment, which is honestly a pretty cool concept….. The statue is still super meh.", ">\n\nLike is it poop? Or a penis? I dunno", ">\n\nFirst thought was it’s The Detachable kid from Suicide Squad", ">\n\nI was reading this book, it's like a part Indiana Jones, part spy thriller. \nSo the lady archeologist and her obvious love interest are discussing how to get through the second door in a tomb after they solved a puzzle for first one. \nAnd then they hear enemies coming in and they have to rush - they kept talking about what symbols mean on the door. \nThen their obvious comedy relief side kick just runs toward the door, pushes it like a normal door and tells them \n\"Guys, sometimes a door is just a door\". \nI feel sometimes some decisions made for this monument design are unnecessarily trying to be special or unique for no good reason, when they could have followed the straight forward approach.", ">\n\nI keep waiting for a terrorist organization to call and take credit for wrecking the original sculpture", ">\n\nWell do you know who loves the new MLK statue?\nAssy McGee" ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times", ">\n\nThis just became the most famous piece of art in the country right now. \nControversy like this is exactly what they want art to do. Nobody would have cared about another mural to MLK. \nI bet the crowds around this are huge", ">\n\neasy art doesn't make you think", ">\n\nWhy are we always supposed to “think”? I prefer to just enjoy art and it not be work for me.", ">\n\nThen stick to MCU movies.", ">\n\nWhy? I don’t like those", ">\n\nThats what that thing is supposed to be?? Actually terrible design", ">\n\nI mean from angles it looks like a metamucil advertisement.\nOr something else is being held. \nI think that the monument needed to be viewed from all angles or be like identifiable and not viewed as potentially abstract.", ">\n\nThe piece is called \"Thanks PF Changs\" and it was sculpted by Singer/Songwriter Lorde.", ">\n\nYeah... They messed this one up. I want to think over time it'll be appreciated, but it is just poorly done. Heck, on another level I don't like it because it is a statue of MLK and his wife, and we know now how much he cheated on her. It just doesn't work on any level and at best its a MLK statue for the sake of MLK, at worse it undermines MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nYikes that’s true. It’s weird to have included her", ">\n\nIt's like the majority of so-called \"modern art\". It's deliberately pointless, so that people who like to imagine themselves deep thinkers can stand around it pretending they \"get it.\"", ">\n\nThe phrase 'modern art' is a misnomer.", ">\n\nIt really is. That entire scene is just a bunch of rich people flexing their wealth because they can. Art has nothing to do with it.", ">\n\nThis is so fucking stupid. As if this man was summed up by one single fucking moment in life with that picture. I don't get it. A statue based on a photograph of a portion? Can't come up with something creative? Maybe have a statue of him being publicly executed? For all we know the night of that picture could have been the worst of his and hers. I am not even familiar with the picture. As a kid I knew Dr. King as a man that literally changed my world. I saw how awful the world was and he gave me hope in a better place. We got there for a minute. Most people love their spouses. Most people don't love the world!", ">\n\nIt’s the moment when MLK found out he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Apparently you can walk in the middle of the arm vortex and “feel the embrace” of that moment, which is honestly a pretty cool concept….. The statue is still super meh.", ">\n\nLike is it poop? Or a penis? I dunno", ">\n\nFirst thought was it’s The Detachable kid from Suicide Squad", ">\n\nI was reading this book, it's like a part Indiana Jones, part spy thriller. \nSo the lady archeologist and her obvious love interest are discussing how to get through the second door in a tomb after they solved a puzzle for first one. \nAnd then they hear enemies coming in and they have to rush - they kept talking about what symbols mean on the door. \nThen their obvious comedy relief side kick just runs toward the door, pushes it like a normal door and tells them \n\"Guys, sometimes a door is just a door\". \nI feel sometimes some decisions made for this monument design are unnecessarily trying to be special or unique for no good reason, when they could have followed the straight forward approach.", ">\n\nI keep waiting for a terrorist organization to call and take credit for wrecking the original sculpture", ">\n\nWell do you know who loves the new MLK statue?\nAssy McGee", ">\n\nI feel like it has failed completely. People immediately forget about any message as soon as they see it. And it looks objectively awful. From some angles, it looks like someone is eating butt. Not a great tribute." ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times", ">\n\nThis just became the most famous piece of art in the country right now. \nControversy like this is exactly what they want art to do. Nobody would have cared about another mural to MLK. \nI bet the crowds around this are huge", ">\n\neasy art doesn't make you think", ">\n\nWhy are we always supposed to “think”? I prefer to just enjoy art and it not be work for me.", ">\n\nThen stick to MCU movies.", ">\n\nWhy? I don’t like those", ">\n\nThats what that thing is supposed to be?? Actually terrible design", ">\n\nI mean from angles it looks like a metamucil advertisement.\nOr something else is being held. \nI think that the monument needed to be viewed from all angles or be like identifiable and not viewed as potentially abstract.", ">\n\nThe piece is called \"Thanks PF Changs\" and it was sculpted by Singer/Songwriter Lorde.", ">\n\nYeah... They messed this one up. I want to think over time it'll be appreciated, but it is just poorly done. Heck, on another level I don't like it because it is a statue of MLK and his wife, and we know now how much he cheated on her. It just doesn't work on any level and at best its a MLK statue for the sake of MLK, at worse it undermines MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nYikes that’s true. It’s weird to have included her", ">\n\nIt's like the majority of so-called \"modern art\". It's deliberately pointless, so that people who like to imagine themselves deep thinkers can stand around it pretending they \"get it.\"", ">\n\nThe phrase 'modern art' is a misnomer.", ">\n\nIt really is. That entire scene is just a bunch of rich people flexing their wealth because they can. Art has nothing to do with it.", ">\n\nThis is so fucking stupid. As if this man was summed up by one single fucking moment in life with that picture. I don't get it. A statue based on a photograph of a portion? Can't come up with something creative? Maybe have a statue of him being publicly executed? For all we know the night of that picture could have been the worst of his and hers. I am not even familiar with the picture. As a kid I knew Dr. King as a man that literally changed my world. I saw how awful the world was and he gave me hope in a better place. We got there for a minute. Most people love their spouses. Most people don't love the world!", ">\n\nIt’s the moment when MLK found out he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Apparently you can walk in the middle of the arm vortex and “feel the embrace” of that moment, which is honestly a pretty cool concept….. The statue is still super meh.", ">\n\nLike is it poop? Or a penis? I dunno", ">\n\nFirst thought was it’s The Detachable kid from Suicide Squad", ">\n\nI was reading this book, it's like a part Indiana Jones, part spy thriller. \nSo the lady archeologist and her obvious love interest are discussing how to get through the second door in a tomb after they solved a puzzle for first one. \nAnd then they hear enemies coming in and they have to rush - they kept talking about what symbols mean on the door. \nThen their obvious comedy relief side kick just runs toward the door, pushes it like a normal door and tells them \n\"Guys, sometimes a door is just a door\". \nI feel sometimes some decisions made for this monument design are unnecessarily trying to be special or unique for no good reason, when they could have followed the straight forward approach.", ">\n\nI keep waiting for a terrorist organization to call and take credit for wrecking the original sculpture", ">\n\nWell do you know who loves the new MLK statue?\nAssy McGee", ">\n\nI feel like it has failed completely. People immediately forget about any message as soon as they see it. And it looks objectively awful. From some angles, it looks like someone is eating butt. Not a great tribute.", ">\n\nWild that somebody got paid to make this. Where can I sign up?" ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times", ">\n\nThis just became the most famous piece of art in the country right now. \nControversy like this is exactly what they want art to do. Nobody would have cared about another mural to MLK. \nI bet the crowds around this are huge", ">\n\neasy art doesn't make you think", ">\n\nWhy are we always supposed to “think”? I prefer to just enjoy art and it not be work for me.", ">\n\nThen stick to MCU movies.", ">\n\nWhy? I don’t like those", ">\n\nThats what that thing is supposed to be?? Actually terrible design", ">\n\nI mean from angles it looks like a metamucil advertisement.\nOr something else is being held. \nI think that the monument needed to be viewed from all angles or be like identifiable and not viewed as potentially abstract.", ">\n\nThe piece is called \"Thanks PF Changs\" and it was sculpted by Singer/Songwriter Lorde.", ">\n\nYeah... They messed this one up. I want to think over time it'll be appreciated, but it is just poorly done. Heck, on another level I don't like it because it is a statue of MLK and his wife, and we know now how much he cheated on her. It just doesn't work on any level and at best its a MLK statue for the sake of MLK, at worse it undermines MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nYikes that’s true. It’s weird to have included her", ">\n\nIt's like the majority of so-called \"modern art\". It's deliberately pointless, so that people who like to imagine themselves deep thinkers can stand around it pretending they \"get it.\"", ">\n\nThe phrase 'modern art' is a misnomer.", ">\n\nIt really is. That entire scene is just a bunch of rich people flexing their wealth because they can. Art has nothing to do with it.", ">\n\nThis is so fucking stupid. As if this man was summed up by one single fucking moment in life with that picture. I don't get it. A statue based on a photograph of a portion? Can't come up with something creative? Maybe have a statue of him being publicly executed? For all we know the night of that picture could have been the worst of his and hers. I am not even familiar with the picture. As a kid I knew Dr. King as a man that literally changed my world. I saw how awful the world was and he gave me hope in a better place. We got there for a minute. Most people love their spouses. Most people don't love the world!", ">\n\nIt’s the moment when MLK found out he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Apparently you can walk in the middle of the arm vortex and “feel the embrace” of that moment, which is honestly a pretty cool concept….. The statue is still super meh.", ">\n\nLike is it poop? Or a penis? I dunno", ">\n\nFirst thought was it’s The Detachable kid from Suicide Squad", ">\n\nI was reading this book, it's like a part Indiana Jones, part spy thriller. \nSo the lady archeologist and her obvious love interest are discussing how to get through the second door in a tomb after they solved a puzzle for first one. \nAnd then they hear enemies coming in and they have to rush - they kept talking about what symbols mean on the door. \nThen their obvious comedy relief side kick just runs toward the door, pushes it like a normal door and tells them \n\"Guys, sometimes a door is just a door\". \nI feel sometimes some decisions made for this monument design are unnecessarily trying to be special or unique for no good reason, when they could have followed the straight forward approach.", ">\n\nI keep waiting for a terrorist organization to call and take credit for wrecking the original sculpture", ">\n\nWell do you know who loves the new MLK statue?\nAssy McGee", ">\n\nI feel like it has failed completely. People immediately forget about any message as soon as they see it. And it looks objectively awful. From some angles, it looks like someone is eating butt. Not a great tribute.", ">\n\nWild that somebody got paid to make this. Where can I sign up?", ">\n\nI’m an MA resident (and a RISD student for what it’s worth) and this is the first time i’m hearing about voting for this monstrosity so i’d love to know who all voted for this. \nAfter reading the thoughts behind each piece, it seems like the planners went with an organic sense of interacting with it (apparently you can go inside though why you’d want to Ill never understand). the mock up pictures were from the air or one particular angle and appear much more bronze in color than the dark brown of reality. \nThe other contenders were more modern and relied on both tech and the written word to celebrate MLK, so perhaps that’s why? \nIt’s definitely garnering worldwide attention though for none of the reasons one would hope.\nFor anyone interested in viewing the other contenders here’s the link.\nWhat a phenomenal waste of money…" ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times", ">\n\nThis just became the most famous piece of art in the country right now. \nControversy like this is exactly what they want art to do. Nobody would have cared about another mural to MLK. \nI bet the crowds around this are huge", ">\n\neasy art doesn't make you think", ">\n\nWhy are we always supposed to “think”? I prefer to just enjoy art and it not be work for me.", ">\n\nThen stick to MCU movies.", ">\n\nWhy? I don’t like those", ">\n\nThats what that thing is supposed to be?? Actually terrible design", ">\n\nI mean from angles it looks like a metamucil advertisement.\nOr something else is being held. \nI think that the monument needed to be viewed from all angles or be like identifiable and not viewed as potentially abstract.", ">\n\nThe piece is called \"Thanks PF Changs\" and it was sculpted by Singer/Songwriter Lorde.", ">\n\nYeah... They messed this one up. I want to think over time it'll be appreciated, but it is just poorly done. Heck, on another level I don't like it because it is a statue of MLK and his wife, and we know now how much he cheated on her. It just doesn't work on any level and at best its a MLK statue for the sake of MLK, at worse it undermines MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nYikes that’s true. It’s weird to have included her", ">\n\nIt's like the majority of so-called \"modern art\". It's deliberately pointless, so that people who like to imagine themselves deep thinkers can stand around it pretending they \"get it.\"", ">\n\nThe phrase 'modern art' is a misnomer.", ">\n\nIt really is. That entire scene is just a bunch of rich people flexing their wealth because they can. Art has nothing to do with it.", ">\n\nThis is so fucking stupid. As if this man was summed up by one single fucking moment in life with that picture. I don't get it. A statue based on a photograph of a portion? Can't come up with something creative? Maybe have a statue of him being publicly executed? For all we know the night of that picture could have been the worst of his and hers. I am not even familiar with the picture. As a kid I knew Dr. King as a man that literally changed my world. I saw how awful the world was and he gave me hope in a better place. We got there for a minute. Most people love their spouses. Most people don't love the world!", ">\n\nIt’s the moment when MLK found out he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Apparently you can walk in the middle of the arm vortex and “feel the embrace” of that moment, which is honestly a pretty cool concept….. The statue is still super meh.", ">\n\nLike is it poop? Or a penis? I dunno", ">\n\nFirst thought was it’s The Detachable kid from Suicide Squad", ">\n\nI was reading this book, it's like a part Indiana Jones, part spy thriller. \nSo the lady archeologist and her obvious love interest are discussing how to get through the second door in a tomb after they solved a puzzle for first one. \nAnd then they hear enemies coming in and they have to rush - they kept talking about what symbols mean on the door. \nThen their obvious comedy relief side kick just runs toward the door, pushes it like a normal door and tells them \n\"Guys, sometimes a door is just a door\". \nI feel sometimes some decisions made for this monument design are unnecessarily trying to be special or unique for no good reason, when they could have followed the straight forward approach.", ">\n\nI keep waiting for a terrorist organization to call and take credit for wrecking the original sculpture", ">\n\nWell do you know who loves the new MLK statue?\nAssy McGee", ">\n\nI feel like it has failed completely. People immediately forget about any message as soon as they see it. And it looks objectively awful. From some angles, it looks like someone is eating butt. Not a great tribute.", ">\n\nWild that somebody got paid to make this. Where can I sign up?", ">\n\nI’m an MA resident (and a RISD student for what it’s worth) and this is the first time i’m hearing about voting for this monstrosity so i’d love to know who all voted for this. \nAfter reading the thoughts behind each piece, it seems like the planners went with an organic sense of interacting with it (apparently you can go inside though why you’d want to Ill never understand). the mock up pictures were from the air or one particular angle and appear much more bronze in color than the dark brown of reality. \nThe other contenders were more modern and relied on both tech and the written word to celebrate MLK, so perhaps that’s why? \nIt’s definitely garnering worldwide attention though for none of the reasons one would hope.\nFor anyone interested in viewing the other contenders here’s the link.\nWhat a phenomenal waste of money…", ">\n\nI'm also thinking of the mis-monument to him in Washington D.C..\nWhy can't people who want to commemorate him find an artist who will leave things at making a simple likeness of him?" ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times", ">\n\nThis just became the most famous piece of art in the country right now. \nControversy like this is exactly what they want art to do. Nobody would have cared about another mural to MLK. \nI bet the crowds around this are huge", ">\n\neasy art doesn't make you think", ">\n\nWhy are we always supposed to “think”? I prefer to just enjoy art and it not be work for me.", ">\n\nThen stick to MCU movies.", ">\n\nWhy? I don’t like those", ">\n\nThats what that thing is supposed to be?? Actually terrible design", ">\n\nI mean from angles it looks like a metamucil advertisement.\nOr something else is being held. \nI think that the monument needed to be viewed from all angles or be like identifiable and not viewed as potentially abstract.", ">\n\nThe piece is called \"Thanks PF Changs\" and it was sculpted by Singer/Songwriter Lorde.", ">\n\nYeah... They messed this one up. I want to think over time it'll be appreciated, but it is just poorly done. Heck, on another level I don't like it because it is a statue of MLK and his wife, and we know now how much he cheated on her. It just doesn't work on any level and at best its a MLK statue for the sake of MLK, at worse it undermines MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nYikes that’s true. It’s weird to have included her", ">\n\nIt's like the majority of so-called \"modern art\". It's deliberately pointless, so that people who like to imagine themselves deep thinkers can stand around it pretending they \"get it.\"", ">\n\nThe phrase 'modern art' is a misnomer.", ">\n\nIt really is. That entire scene is just a bunch of rich people flexing their wealth because they can. Art has nothing to do with it.", ">\n\nThis is so fucking stupid. As if this man was summed up by one single fucking moment in life with that picture. I don't get it. A statue based on a photograph of a portion? Can't come up with something creative? Maybe have a statue of him being publicly executed? For all we know the night of that picture could have been the worst of his and hers. I am not even familiar with the picture. As a kid I knew Dr. King as a man that literally changed my world. I saw how awful the world was and he gave me hope in a better place. We got there for a minute. Most people love their spouses. Most people don't love the world!", ">\n\nIt’s the moment when MLK found out he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Apparently you can walk in the middle of the arm vortex and “feel the embrace” of that moment, which is honestly a pretty cool concept….. The statue is still super meh.", ">\n\nLike is it poop? Or a penis? I dunno", ">\n\nFirst thought was it’s The Detachable kid from Suicide Squad", ">\n\nI was reading this book, it's like a part Indiana Jones, part spy thriller. \nSo the lady archeologist and her obvious love interest are discussing how to get through the second door in a tomb after they solved a puzzle for first one. \nAnd then they hear enemies coming in and they have to rush - they kept talking about what symbols mean on the door. \nThen their obvious comedy relief side kick just runs toward the door, pushes it like a normal door and tells them \n\"Guys, sometimes a door is just a door\". \nI feel sometimes some decisions made for this monument design are unnecessarily trying to be special or unique for no good reason, when they could have followed the straight forward approach.", ">\n\nI keep waiting for a terrorist organization to call and take credit for wrecking the original sculpture", ">\n\nWell do you know who loves the new MLK statue?\nAssy McGee", ">\n\nI feel like it has failed completely. People immediately forget about any message as soon as they see it. And it looks objectively awful. From some angles, it looks like someone is eating butt. Not a great tribute.", ">\n\nWild that somebody got paid to make this. Where can I sign up?", ">\n\nI’m an MA resident (and a RISD student for what it’s worth) and this is the first time i’m hearing about voting for this monstrosity so i’d love to know who all voted for this. \nAfter reading the thoughts behind each piece, it seems like the planners went with an organic sense of interacting with it (apparently you can go inside though why you’d want to Ill never understand). the mock up pictures were from the air or one particular angle and appear much more bronze in color than the dark brown of reality. \nThe other contenders were more modern and relied on both tech and the written word to celebrate MLK, so perhaps that’s why? \nIt’s definitely garnering worldwide attention though for none of the reasons one would hope.\nFor anyone interested in viewing the other contenders here’s the link.\nWhat a phenomenal waste of money…", ">\n\nI'm also thinking of the mis-monument to him in Washington D.C..\nWhy can't people who want to commemorate him find an artist who will leave things at making a simple likeness of him?", ">\n\nI thought his statue in buffalo ny was bad, and boy is it bad. This one took the cake." ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times", ">\n\nThis just became the most famous piece of art in the country right now. \nControversy like this is exactly what they want art to do. Nobody would have cared about another mural to MLK. \nI bet the crowds around this are huge", ">\n\neasy art doesn't make you think", ">\n\nWhy are we always supposed to “think”? I prefer to just enjoy art and it not be work for me.", ">\n\nThen stick to MCU movies.", ">\n\nWhy? I don’t like those", ">\n\nThats what that thing is supposed to be?? Actually terrible design", ">\n\nI mean from angles it looks like a metamucil advertisement.\nOr something else is being held. \nI think that the monument needed to be viewed from all angles or be like identifiable and not viewed as potentially abstract.", ">\n\nThe piece is called \"Thanks PF Changs\" and it was sculpted by Singer/Songwriter Lorde.", ">\n\nYeah... They messed this one up. I want to think over time it'll be appreciated, but it is just poorly done. Heck, on another level I don't like it because it is a statue of MLK and his wife, and we know now how much he cheated on her. It just doesn't work on any level and at best its a MLK statue for the sake of MLK, at worse it undermines MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nYikes that’s true. It’s weird to have included her", ">\n\nIt's like the majority of so-called \"modern art\". It's deliberately pointless, so that people who like to imagine themselves deep thinkers can stand around it pretending they \"get it.\"", ">\n\nThe phrase 'modern art' is a misnomer.", ">\n\nIt really is. That entire scene is just a bunch of rich people flexing their wealth because they can. Art has nothing to do with it.", ">\n\nThis is so fucking stupid. As if this man was summed up by one single fucking moment in life with that picture. I don't get it. A statue based on a photograph of a portion? Can't come up with something creative? Maybe have a statue of him being publicly executed? For all we know the night of that picture could have been the worst of his and hers. I am not even familiar with the picture. As a kid I knew Dr. King as a man that literally changed my world. I saw how awful the world was and he gave me hope in a better place. We got there for a minute. Most people love their spouses. Most people don't love the world!", ">\n\nIt’s the moment when MLK found out he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Apparently you can walk in the middle of the arm vortex and “feel the embrace” of that moment, which is honestly a pretty cool concept….. The statue is still super meh.", ">\n\nLike is it poop? Or a penis? I dunno", ">\n\nFirst thought was it’s The Detachable kid from Suicide Squad", ">\n\nI was reading this book, it's like a part Indiana Jones, part spy thriller. \nSo the lady archeologist and her obvious love interest are discussing how to get through the second door in a tomb after they solved a puzzle for first one. \nAnd then they hear enemies coming in and they have to rush - they kept talking about what symbols mean on the door. \nThen their obvious comedy relief side kick just runs toward the door, pushes it like a normal door and tells them \n\"Guys, sometimes a door is just a door\". \nI feel sometimes some decisions made for this monument design are unnecessarily trying to be special or unique for no good reason, when they could have followed the straight forward approach.", ">\n\nI keep waiting for a terrorist organization to call and take credit for wrecking the original sculpture", ">\n\nWell do you know who loves the new MLK statue?\nAssy McGee", ">\n\nI feel like it has failed completely. People immediately forget about any message as soon as they see it. And it looks objectively awful. From some angles, it looks like someone is eating butt. Not a great tribute.", ">\n\nWild that somebody got paid to make this. Where can I sign up?", ">\n\nI’m an MA resident (and a RISD student for what it’s worth) and this is the first time i’m hearing about voting for this monstrosity so i’d love to know who all voted for this. \nAfter reading the thoughts behind each piece, it seems like the planners went with an organic sense of interacting with it (apparently you can go inside though why you’d want to Ill never understand). the mock up pictures were from the air or one particular angle and appear much more bronze in color than the dark brown of reality. \nThe other contenders were more modern and relied on both tech and the written word to celebrate MLK, so perhaps that’s why? \nIt’s definitely garnering worldwide attention though for none of the reasons one would hope.\nFor anyone interested in viewing the other contenders here’s the link.\nWhat a phenomenal waste of money…", ">\n\nI'm also thinking of the mis-monument to him in Washington D.C..\nWhy can't people who want to commemorate him find an artist who will leave things at making a simple likeness of him?", ">\n\nI thought his statue in buffalo ny was bad, and boy is it bad. This one took the cake.", ">\n\nIt really is terrible for 10.5M" ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times", ">\n\nThis just became the most famous piece of art in the country right now. \nControversy like this is exactly what they want art to do. Nobody would have cared about another mural to MLK. \nI bet the crowds around this are huge", ">\n\neasy art doesn't make you think", ">\n\nWhy are we always supposed to “think”? I prefer to just enjoy art and it not be work for me.", ">\n\nThen stick to MCU movies.", ">\n\nWhy? I don’t like those", ">\n\nThats what that thing is supposed to be?? Actually terrible design", ">\n\nI mean from angles it looks like a metamucil advertisement.\nOr something else is being held. \nI think that the monument needed to be viewed from all angles or be like identifiable and not viewed as potentially abstract.", ">\n\nThe piece is called \"Thanks PF Changs\" and it was sculpted by Singer/Songwriter Lorde.", ">\n\nYeah... They messed this one up. I want to think over time it'll be appreciated, but it is just poorly done. Heck, on another level I don't like it because it is a statue of MLK and his wife, and we know now how much he cheated on her. It just doesn't work on any level and at best its a MLK statue for the sake of MLK, at worse it undermines MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nYikes that’s true. It’s weird to have included her", ">\n\nIt's like the majority of so-called \"modern art\". It's deliberately pointless, so that people who like to imagine themselves deep thinkers can stand around it pretending they \"get it.\"", ">\n\nThe phrase 'modern art' is a misnomer.", ">\n\nIt really is. That entire scene is just a bunch of rich people flexing their wealth because they can. Art has nothing to do with it.", ">\n\nThis is so fucking stupid. As if this man was summed up by one single fucking moment in life with that picture. I don't get it. A statue based on a photograph of a portion? Can't come up with something creative? Maybe have a statue of him being publicly executed? For all we know the night of that picture could have been the worst of his and hers. I am not even familiar with the picture. As a kid I knew Dr. King as a man that literally changed my world. I saw how awful the world was and he gave me hope in a better place. We got there for a minute. Most people love their spouses. Most people don't love the world!", ">\n\nIt’s the moment when MLK found out he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Apparently you can walk in the middle of the arm vortex and “feel the embrace” of that moment, which is honestly a pretty cool concept….. The statue is still super meh.", ">\n\nLike is it poop? Or a penis? I dunno", ">\n\nFirst thought was it’s The Detachable kid from Suicide Squad", ">\n\nI was reading this book, it's like a part Indiana Jones, part spy thriller. \nSo the lady archeologist and her obvious love interest are discussing how to get through the second door in a tomb after they solved a puzzle for first one. \nAnd then they hear enemies coming in and they have to rush - they kept talking about what symbols mean on the door. \nThen their obvious comedy relief side kick just runs toward the door, pushes it like a normal door and tells them \n\"Guys, sometimes a door is just a door\". \nI feel sometimes some decisions made for this monument design are unnecessarily trying to be special or unique for no good reason, when they could have followed the straight forward approach.", ">\n\nI keep waiting for a terrorist organization to call and take credit for wrecking the original sculpture", ">\n\nWell do you know who loves the new MLK statue?\nAssy McGee", ">\n\nI feel like it has failed completely. People immediately forget about any message as soon as they see it. And it looks objectively awful. From some angles, it looks like someone is eating butt. Not a great tribute.", ">\n\nWild that somebody got paid to make this. Where can I sign up?", ">\n\nI’m an MA resident (and a RISD student for what it’s worth) and this is the first time i’m hearing about voting for this monstrosity so i’d love to know who all voted for this. \nAfter reading the thoughts behind each piece, it seems like the planners went with an organic sense of interacting with it (apparently you can go inside though why you’d want to Ill never understand). the mock up pictures were from the air or one particular angle and appear much more bronze in color than the dark brown of reality. \nThe other contenders were more modern and relied on both tech and the written word to celebrate MLK, so perhaps that’s why? \nIt’s definitely garnering worldwide attention though for none of the reasons one would hope.\nFor anyone interested in viewing the other contenders here’s the link.\nWhat a phenomenal waste of money…", ">\n\nI'm also thinking of the mis-monument to him in Washington D.C..\nWhy can't people who want to commemorate him find an artist who will leave things at making a simple likeness of him?", ">\n\nI thought his statue in buffalo ny was bad, and boy is it bad. This one took the cake.", ">\n\nIt really is terrible for 10.5M", ">\n\nI went to the one in DC right after it was built 10 years ago and it wasn't the best in my opinion either. Almost like they begrudgingly did it." ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times", ">\n\nThis just became the most famous piece of art in the country right now. \nControversy like this is exactly what they want art to do. Nobody would have cared about another mural to MLK. \nI bet the crowds around this are huge", ">\n\neasy art doesn't make you think", ">\n\nWhy are we always supposed to “think”? I prefer to just enjoy art and it not be work for me.", ">\n\nThen stick to MCU movies.", ">\n\nWhy? I don’t like those", ">\n\nThats what that thing is supposed to be?? Actually terrible design", ">\n\nI mean from angles it looks like a metamucil advertisement.\nOr something else is being held. \nI think that the monument needed to be viewed from all angles or be like identifiable and not viewed as potentially abstract.", ">\n\nThe piece is called \"Thanks PF Changs\" and it was sculpted by Singer/Songwriter Lorde.", ">\n\nYeah... They messed this one up. I want to think over time it'll be appreciated, but it is just poorly done. Heck, on another level I don't like it because it is a statue of MLK and his wife, and we know now how much he cheated on her. It just doesn't work on any level and at best its a MLK statue for the sake of MLK, at worse it undermines MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nYikes that’s true. It’s weird to have included her", ">\n\nIt's like the majority of so-called \"modern art\". It's deliberately pointless, so that people who like to imagine themselves deep thinkers can stand around it pretending they \"get it.\"", ">\n\nThe phrase 'modern art' is a misnomer.", ">\n\nIt really is. That entire scene is just a bunch of rich people flexing their wealth because they can. Art has nothing to do with it.", ">\n\nThis is so fucking stupid. As if this man was summed up by one single fucking moment in life with that picture. I don't get it. A statue based on a photograph of a portion? Can't come up with something creative? Maybe have a statue of him being publicly executed? For all we know the night of that picture could have been the worst of his and hers. I am not even familiar with the picture. As a kid I knew Dr. King as a man that literally changed my world. I saw how awful the world was and he gave me hope in a better place. We got there for a minute. Most people love their spouses. Most people don't love the world!", ">\n\nIt’s the moment when MLK found out he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Apparently you can walk in the middle of the arm vortex and “feel the embrace” of that moment, which is honestly a pretty cool concept….. The statue is still super meh.", ">\n\nLike is it poop? Or a penis? I dunno", ">\n\nFirst thought was it’s The Detachable kid from Suicide Squad", ">\n\nI was reading this book, it's like a part Indiana Jones, part spy thriller. \nSo the lady archeologist and her obvious love interest are discussing how to get through the second door in a tomb after they solved a puzzle for first one. \nAnd then they hear enemies coming in and they have to rush - they kept talking about what symbols mean on the door. \nThen their obvious comedy relief side kick just runs toward the door, pushes it like a normal door and tells them \n\"Guys, sometimes a door is just a door\". \nI feel sometimes some decisions made for this monument design are unnecessarily trying to be special or unique for no good reason, when they could have followed the straight forward approach.", ">\n\nI keep waiting for a terrorist organization to call and take credit for wrecking the original sculpture", ">\n\nWell do you know who loves the new MLK statue?\nAssy McGee", ">\n\nI feel like it has failed completely. People immediately forget about any message as soon as they see it. And it looks objectively awful. From some angles, it looks like someone is eating butt. Not a great tribute.", ">\n\nWild that somebody got paid to make this. Where can I sign up?", ">\n\nI’m an MA resident (and a RISD student for what it’s worth) and this is the first time i’m hearing about voting for this monstrosity so i’d love to know who all voted for this. \nAfter reading the thoughts behind each piece, it seems like the planners went with an organic sense of interacting with it (apparently you can go inside though why you’d want to Ill never understand). the mock up pictures were from the air or one particular angle and appear much more bronze in color than the dark brown of reality. \nThe other contenders were more modern and relied on both tech and the written word to celebrate MLK, so perhaps that’s why? \nIt’s definitely garnering worldwide attention though for none of the reasons one would hope.\nFor anyone interested in viewing the other contenders here’s the link.\nWhat a phenomenal waste of money…", ">\n\nI'm also thinking of the mis-monument to him in Washington D.C..\nWhy can't people who want to commemorate him find an artist who will leave things at making a simple likeness of him?", ">\n\nI thought his statue in buffalo ny was bad, and boy is it bad. This one took the cake.", ">\n\nIt really is terrible for 10.5M", ">\n\nI went to the one in DC right after it was built 10 years ago and it wasn't the best in my opinion either. Almost like they begrudgingly did it.", ">\n\nI’ll say this. If every time it’s shown to some one. It needs to be shown with context to make it not look like a turd. \nProbably bad design" ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times", ">\n\nThis just became the most famous piece of art in the country right now. \nControversy like this is exactly what they want art to do. Nobody would have cared about another mural to MLK. \nI bet the crowds around this are huge", ">\n\neasy art doesn't make you think", ">\n\nWhy are we always supposed to “think”? I prefer to just enjoy art and it not be work for me.", ">\n\nThen stick to MCU movies.", ">\n\nWhy? I don’t like those", ">\n\nThats what that thing is supposed to be?? Actually terrible design", ">\n\nI mean from angles it looks like a metamucil advertisement.\nOr something else is being held. \nI think that the monument needed to be viewed from all angles or be like identifiable and not viewed as potentially abstract.", ">\n\nThe piece is called \"Thanks PF Changs\" and it was sculpted by Singer/Songwriter Lorde.", ">\n\nYeah... They messed this one up. I want to think over time it'll be appreciated, but it is just poorly done. Heck, on another level I don't like it because it is a statue of MLK and his wife, and we know now how much he cheated on her. It just doesn't work on any level and at best its a MLK statue for the sake of MLK, at worse it undermines MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nYikes that’s true. It’s weird to have included her", ">\n\nIt's like the majority of so-called \"modern art\". It's deliberately pointless, so that people who like to imagine themselves deep thinkers can stand around it pretending they \"get it.\"", ">\n\nThe phrase 'modern art' is a misnomer.", ">\n\nIt really is. That entire scene is just a bunch of rich people flexing their wealth because they can. Art has nothing to do with it.", ">\n\nThis is so fucking stupid. As if this man was summed up by one single fucking moment in life with that picture. I don't get it. A statue based on a photograph of a portion? Can't come up with something creative? Maybe have a statue of him being publicly executed? For all we know the night of that picture could have been the worst of his and hers. I am not even familiar with the picture. As a kid I knew Dr. King as a man that literally changed my world. I saw how awful the world was and he gave me hope in a better place. We got there for a minute. Most people love their spouses. Most people don't love the world!", ">\n\nIt’s the moment when MLK found out he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Apparently you can walk in the middle of the arm vortex and “feel the embrace” of that moment, which is honestly a pretty cool concept….. The statue is still super meh.", ">\n\nLike is it poop? Or a penis? I dunno", ">\n\nFirst thought was it’s The Detachable kid from Suicide Squad", ">\n\nI was reading this book, it's like a part Indiana Jones, part spy thriller. \nSo the lady archeologist and her obvious love interest are discussing how to get through the second door in a tomb after they solved a puzzle for first one. \nAnd then they hear enemies coming in and they have to rush - they kept talking about what symbols mean on the door. \nThen their obvious comedy relief side kick just runs toward the door, pushes it like a normal door and tells them \n\"Guys, sometimes a door is just a door\". \nI feel sometimes some decisions made for this monument design are unnecessarily trying to be special or unique for no good reason, when they could have followed the straight forward approach.", ">\n\nI keep waiting for a terrorist organization to call and take credit for wrecking the original sculpture", ">\n\nWell do you know who loves the new MLK statue?\nAssy McGee", ">\n\nI feel like it has failed completely. People immediately forget about any message as soon as they see it. And it looks objectively awful. From some angles, it looks like someone is eating butt. Not a great tribute.", ">\n\nWild that somebody got paid to make this. Where can I sign up?", ">\n\nI’m an MA resident (and a RISD student for what it’s worth) and this is the first time i’m hearing about voting for this monstrosity so i’d love to know who all voted for this. \nAfter reading the thoughts behind each piece, it seems like the planners went with an organic sense of interacting with it (apparently you can go inside though why you’d want to Ill never understand). the mock up pictures were from the air or one particular angle and appear much more bronze in color than the dark brown of reality. \nThe other contenders were more modern and relied on both tech and the written word to celebrate MLK, so perhaps that’s why? \nIt’s definitely garnering worldwide attention though for none of the reasons one would hope.\nFor anyone interested in viewing the other contenders here’s the link.\nWhat a phenomenal waste of money…", ">\n\nI'm also thinking of the mis-monument to him in Washington D.C..\nWhy can't people who want to commemorate him find an artist who will leave things at making a simple likeness of him?", ">\n\nI thought his statue in buffalo ny was bad, and boy is it bad. This one took the cake.", ">\n\nIt really is terrible for 10.5M", ">\n\nI went to the one in DC right after it was built 10 years ago and it wasn't the best in my opinion either. Almost like they begrudgingly did it.", ">\n\nI’ll say this. If every time it’s shown to some one. It needs to be shown with context to make it not look like a turd. \nProbably bad design", ">\n\nOf course and many wont publically comment" ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times", ">\n\nThis just became the most famous piece of art in the country right now. \nControversy like this is exactly what they want art to do. Nobody would have cared about another mural to MLK. \nI bet the crowds around this are huge", ">\n\neasy art doesn't make you think", ">\n\nWhy are we always supposed to “think”? I prefer to just enjoy art and it not be work for me.", ">\n\nThen stick to MCU movies.", ">\n\nWhy? I don’t like those", ">\n\nThats what that thing is supposed to be?? Actually terrible design", ">\n\nI mean from angles it looks like a metamucil advertisement.\nOr something else is being held. \nI think that the monument needed to be viewed from all angles or be like identifiable and not viewed as potentially abstract.", ">\n\nThe piece is called \"Thanks PF Changs\" and it was sculpted by Singer/Songwriter Lorde.", ">\n\nYeah... They messed this one up. I want to think over time it'll be appreciated, but it is just poorly done. Heck, on another level I don't like it because it is a statue of MLK and his wife, and we know now how much he cheated on her. It just doesn't work on any level and at best its a MLK statue for the sake of MLK, at worse it undermines MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nYikes that’s true. It’s weird to have included her", ">\n\nIt's like the majority of so-called \"modern art\". It's deliberately pointless, so that people who like to imagine themselves deep thinkers can stand around it pretending they \"get it.\"", ">\n\nThe phrase 'modern art' is a misnomer.", ">\n\nIt really is. That entire scene is just a bunch of rich people flexing their wealth because they can. Art has nothing to do with it.", ">\n\nThis is so fucking stupid. As if this man was summed up by one single fucking moment in life with that picture. I don't get it. A statue based on a photograph of a portion? Can't come up with something creative? Maybe have a statue of him being publicly executed? For all we know the night of that picture could have been the worst of his and hers. I am not even familiar with the picture. As a kid I knew Dr. King as a man that literally changed my world. I saw how awful the world was and he gave me hope in a better place. We got there for a minute. Most people love their spouses. Most people don't love the world!", ">\n\nIt’s the moment when MLK found out he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Apparently you can walk in the middle of the arm vortex and “feel the embrace” of that moment, which is honestly a pretty cool concept….. The statue is still super meh.", ">\n\nLike is it poop? Or a penis? I dunno", ">\n\nFirst thought was it’s The Detachable kid from Suicide Squad", ">\n\nI was reading this book, it's like a part Indiana Jones, part spy thriller. \nSo the lady archeologist and her obvious love interest are discussing how to get through the second door in a tomb after they solved a puzzle for first one. \nAnd then they hear enemies coming in and they have to rush - they kept talking about what symbols mean on the door. \nThen their obvious comedy relief side kick just runs toward the door, pushes it like a normal door and tells them \n\"Guys, sometimes a door is just a door\". \nI feel sometimes some decisions made for this monument design are unnecessarily trying to be special or unique for no good reason, when they could have followed the straight forward approach.", ">\n\nI keep waiting for a terrorist organization to call and take credit for wrecking the original sculpture", ">\n\nWell do you know who loves the new MLK statue?\nAssy McGee", ">\n\nI feel like it has failed completely. People immediately forget about any message as soon as they see it. And it looks objectively awful. From some angles, it looks like someone is eating butt. Not a great tribute.", ">\n\nWild that somebody got paid to make this. Where can I sign up?", ">\n\nI’m an MA resident (and a RISD student for what it’s worth) and this is the first time i’m hearing about voting for this monstrosity so i’d love to know who all voted for this. \nAfter reading the thoughts behind each piece, it seems like the planners went with an organic sense of interacting with it (apparently you can go inside though why you’d want to Ill never understand). the mock up pictures were from the air or one particular angle and appear much more bronze in color than the dark brown of reality. \nThe other contenders were more modern and relied on both tech and the written word to celebrate MLK, so perhaps that’s why? \nIt’s definitely garnering worldwide attention though for none of the reasons one would hope.\nFor anyone interested in viewing the other contenders here’s the link.\nWhat a phenomenal waste of money…", ">\n\nI'm also thinking of the mis-monument to him in Washington D.C..\nWhy can't people who want to commemorate him find an artist who will leave things at making a simple likeness of him?", ">\n\nI thought his statue in buffalo ny was bad, and boy is it bad. This one took the cake.", ">\n\nIt really is terrible for 10.5M", ">\n\nI went to the one in DC right after it was built 10 years ago and it wasn't the best in my opinion either. Almost like they begrudgingly did it.", ">\n\nI’ll say this. If every time it’s shown to some one. It needs to be shown with context to make it not look like a turd. \nProbably bad design", ">\n\nOf course and many wont publically comment", ">\n\nMost iconic art and architecture is panned at first. Time will tell." ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times", ">\n\nThis just became the most famous piece of art in the country right now. \nControversy like this is exactly what they want art to do. Nobody would have cared about another mural to MLK. \nI bet the crowds around this are huge", ">\n\neasy art doesn't make you think", ">\n\nWhy are we always supposed to “think”? I prefer to just enjoy art and it not be work for me.", ">\n\nThen stick to MCU movies.", ">\n\nWhy? I don’t like those", ">\n\nThats what that thing is supposed to be?? Actually terrible design", ">\n\nI mean from angles it looks like a metamucil advertisement.\nOr something else is being held. \nI think that the monument needed to be viewed from all angles or be like identifiable and not viewed as potentially abstract.", ">\n\nThe piece is called \"Thanks PF Changs\" and it was sculpted by Singer/Songwriter Lorde.", ">\n\nYeah... They messed this one up. I want to think over time it'll be appreciated, but it is just poorly done. Heck, on another level I don't like it because it is a statue of MLK and his wife, and we know now how much he cheated on her. It just doesn't work on any level and at best its a MLK statue for the sake of MLK, at worse it undermines MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nYikes that’s true. It’s weird to have included her", ">\n\nIt's like the majority of so-called \"modern art\". It's deliberately pointless, so that people who like to imagine themselves deep thinkers can stand around it pretending they \"get it.\"", ">\n\nThe phrase 'modern art' is a misnomer.", ">\n\nIt really is. That entire scene is just a bunch of rich people flexing their wealth because they can. Art has nothing to do with it.", ">\n\nThis is so fucking stupid. As if this man was summed up by one single fucking moment in life with that picture. I don't get it. A statue based on a photograph of a portion? Can't come up with something creative? Maybe have a statue of him being publicly executed? For all we know the night of that picture could have been the worst of his and hers. I am not even familiar with the picture. As a kid I knew Dr. King as a man that literally changed my world. I saw how awful the world was and he gave me hope in a better place. We got there for a minute. Most people love their spouses. Most people don't love the world!", ">\n\nIt’s the moment when MLK found out he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Apparently you can walk in the middle of the arm vortex and “feel the embrace” of that moment, which is honestly a pretty cool concept….. The statue is still super meh.", ">\n\nLike is it poop? Or a penis? I dunno", ">\n\nFirst thought was it’s The Detachable kid from Suicide Squad", ">\n\nI was reading this book, it's like a part Indiana Jones, part spy thriller. \nSo the lady archeologist and her obvious love interest are discussing how to get through the second door in a tomb after they solved a puzzle for first one. \nAnd then they hear enemies coming in and they have to rush - they kept talking about what symbols mean on the door. \nThen their obvious comedy relief side kick just runs toward the door, pushes it like a normal door and tells them \n\"Guys, sometimes a door is just a door\". \nI feel sometimes some decisions made for this monument design are unnecessarily trying to be special or unique for no good reason, when they could have followed the straight forward approach.", ">\n\nI keep waiting for a terrorist organization to call and take credit for wrecking the original sculpture", ">\n\nWell do you know who loves the new MLK statue?\nAssy McGee", ">\n\nI feel like it has failed completely. People immediately forget about any message as soon as they see it. And it looks objectively awful. From some angles, it looks like someone is eating butt. Not a great tribute.", ">\n\nWild that somebody got paid to make this. Where can I sign up?", ">\n\nI’m an MA resident (and a RISD student for what it’s worth) and this is the first time i’m hearing about voting for this monstrosity so i’d love to know who all voted for this. \nAfter reading the thoughts behind each piece, it seems like the planners went with an organic sense of interacting with it (apparently you can go inside though why you’d want to Ill never understand). the mock up pictures were from the air or one particular angle and appear much more bronze in color than the dark brown of reality. \nThe other contenders were more modern and relied on both tech and the written word to celebrate MLK, so perhaps that’s why? \nIt’s definitely garnering worldwide attention though for none of the reasons one would hope.\nFor anyone interested in viewing the other contenders here’s the link.\nWhat a phenomenal waste of money…", ">\n\nI'm also thinking of the mis-monument to him in Washington D.C..\nWhy can't people who want to commemorate him find an artist who will leave things at making a simple likeness of him?", ">\n\nI thought his statue in buffalo ny was bad, and boy is it bad. This one took the cake.", ">\n\nIt really is terrible for 10.5M", ">\n\nI went to the one in DC right after it was built 10 years ago and it wasn't the best in my opinion either. Almost like they begrudgingly did it.", ">\n\nI’ll say this. If every time it’s shown to some one. It needs to be shown with context to make it not look like a turd. \nProbably bad design", ">\n\nOf course and many wont publically comment", ">\n\nMost iconic art and architecture is panned at first. Time will tell.", ">\n\nBoston, as we know, is a beacon of racial diversity" ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times", ">\n\nThis just became the most famous piece of art in the country right now. \nControversy like this is exactly what they want art to do. Nobody would have cared about another mural to MLK. \nI bet the crowds around this are huge", ">\n\neasy art doesn't make you think", ">\n\nWhy are we always supposed to “think”? I prefer to just enjoy art and it not be work for me.", ">\n\nThen stick to MCU movies.", ">\n\nWhy? I don’t like those", ">\n\nThats what that thing is supposed to be?? Actually terrible design", ">\n\nI mean from angles it looks like a metamucil advertisement.\nOr something else is being held. \nI think that the monument needed to be viewed from all angles or be like identifiable and not viewed as potentially abstract.", ">\n\nThe piece is called \"Thanks PF Changs\" and it was sculpted by Singer/Songwriter Lorde.", ">\n\nYeah... They messed this one up. I want to think over time it'll be appreciated, but it is just poorly done. Heck, on another level I don't like it because it is a statue of MLK and his wife, and we know now how much he cheated on her. It just doesn't work on any level and at best its a MLK statue for the sake of MLK, at worse it undermines MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nYikes that’s true. It’s weird to have included her", ">\n\nIt's like the majority of so-called \"modern art\". It's deliberately pointless, so that people who like to imagine themselves deep thinkers can stand around it pretending they \"get it.\"", ">\n\nThe phrase 'modern art' is a misnomer.", ">\n\nIt really is. That entire scene is just a bunch of rich people flexing their wealth because they can. Art has nothing to do with it.", ">\n\nThis is so fucking stupid. As if this man was summed up by one single fucking moment in life with that picture. I don't get it. A statue based on a photograph of a portion? Can't come up with something creative? Maybe have a statue of him being publicly executed? For all we know the night of that picture could have been the worst of his and hers. I am not even familiar with the picture. As a kid I knew Dr. King as a man that literally changed my world. I saw how awful the world was and he gave me hope in a better place. We got there for a minute. Most people love their spouses. Most people don't love the world!", ">\n\nIt’s the moment when MLK found out he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Apparently you can walk in the middle of the arm vortex and “feel the embrace” of that moment, which is honestly a pretty cool concept….. The statue is still super meh.", ">\n\nLike is it poop? Or a penis? I dunno", ">\n\nFirst thought was it’s The Detachable kid from Suicide Squad", ">\n\nI was reading this book, it's like a part Indiana Jones, part spy thriller. \nSo the lady archeologist and her obvious love interest are discussing how to get through the second door in a tomb after they solved a puzzle for first one. \nAnd then they hear enemies coming in and they have to rush - they kept talking about what symbols mean on the door. \nThen their obvious comedy relief side kick just runs toward the door, pushes it like a normal door and tells them \n\"Guys, sometimes a door is just a door\". \nI feel sometimes some decisions made for this monument design are unnecessarily trying to be special or unique for no good reason, when they could have followed the straight forward approach.", ">\n\nI keep waiting for a terrorist organization to call and take credit for wrecking the original sculpture", ">\n\nWell do you know who loves the new MLK statue?\nAssy McGee", ">\n\nI feel like it has failed completely. People immediately forget about any message as soon as they see it. And it looks objectively awful. From some angles, it looks like someone is eating butt. Not a great tribute.", ">\n\nWild that somebody got paid to make this. Where can I sign up?", ">\n\nI’m an MA resident (and a RISD student for what it’s worth) and this is the first time i’m hearing about voting for this monstrosity so i’d love to know who all voted for this. \nAfter reading the thoughts behind each piece, it seems like the planners went with an organic sense of interacting with it (apparently you can go inside though why you’d want to Ill never understand). the mock up pictures were from the air or one particular angle and appear much more bronze in color than the dark brown of reality. \nThe other contenders were more modern and relied on both tech and the written word to celebrate MLK, so perhaps that’s why? \nIt’s definitely garnering worldwide attention though for none of the reasons one would hope.\nFor anyone interested in viewing the other contenders here’s the link.\nWhat a phenomenal waste of money…", ">\n\nI'm also thinking of the mis-monument to him in Washington D.C..\nWhy can't people who want to commemorate him find an artist who will leave things at making a simple likeness of him?", ">\n\nI thought his statue in buffalo ny was bad, and boy is it bad. This one took the cake.", ">\n\nIt really is terrible for 10.5M", ">\n\nI went to the one in DC right after it was built 10 years ago and it wasn't the best in my opinion either. Almost like they begrudgingly did it.", ">\n\nI’ll say this. If every time it’s shown to some one. It needs to be shown with context to make it not look like a turd. \nProbably bad design", ">\n\nOf course and many wont publically comment", ">\n\nMost iconic art and architecture is panned at first. Time will tell.", ">\n\nBoston, as we know, is a beacon of racial diversity", ">\n\nPretty sure Dr. King preached humility.. He didn't place himself and his ideals as an elevation beyond common understanding, but rather tried to speak to everyone as a preacher and a servant. Why is the statue something so abstract, almost self indulgently so? Why is it so lofty and dominating?\nAnd the rationale is supposed to be about peace and love, a moment of reflection in a quiet part of the city. Celebrating an ideal rather then a man, and his wife who is often overlooked. But yet its so large, dominating all the space, and confusing. Its not familiar, as love should be, but strange. It doesn't feel warm, it feels artificial and cold.\nI like the intent behind it and the idea, but seriously. I thought the whole point was to celebrate something common to most people? I'm pretty sure for most people this is just going to be confusing." ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times", ">\n\nThis just became the most famous piece of art in the country right now. \nControversy like this is exactly what they want art to do. Nobody would have cared about another mural to MLK. \nI bet the crowds around this are huge", ">\n\neasy art doesn't make you think", ">\n\nWhy are we always supposed to “think”? I prefer to just enjoy art and it not be work for me.", ">\n\nThen stick to MCU movies.", ">\n\nWhy? I don’t like those", ">\n\nThats what that thing is supposed to be?? Actually terrible design", ">\n\nI mean from angles it looks like a metamucil advertisement.\nOr something else is being held. \nI think that the monument needed to be viewed from all angles or be like identifiable and not viewed as potentially abstract.", ">\n\nThe piece is called \"Thanks PF Changs\" and it was sculpted by Singer/Songwriter Lorde.", ">\n\nYeah... They messed this one up. I want to think over time it'll be appreciated, but it is just poorly done. Heck, on another level I don't like it because it is a statue of MLK and his wife, and we know now how much he cheated on her. It just doesn't work on any level and at best its a MLK statue for the sake of MLK, at worse it undermines MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nYikes that’s true. It’s weird to have included her", ">\n\nIt's like the majority of so-called \"modern art\". It's deliberately pointless, so that people who like to imagine themselves deep thinkers can stand around it pretending they \"get it.\"", ">\n\nThe phrase 'modern art' is a misnomer.", ">\n\nIt really is. That entire scene is just a bunch of rich people flexing their wealth because they can. Art has nothing to do with it.", ">\n\nThis is so fucking stupid. As if this man was summed up by one single fucking moment in life with that picture. I don't get it. A statue based on a photograph of a portion? Can't come up with something creative? Maybe have a statue of him being publicly executed? For all we know the night of that picture could have been the worst of his and hers. I am not even familiar with the picture. As a kid I knew Dr. King as a man that literally changed my world. I saw how awful the world was and he gave me hope in a better place. We got there for a minute. Most people love their spouses. Most people don't love the world!", ">\n\nIt’s the moment when MLK found out he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Apparently you can walk in the middle of the arm vortex and “feel the embrace” of that moment, which is honestly a pretty cool concept….. The statue is still super meh.", ">\n\nLike is it poop? Or a penis? I dunno", ">\n\nFirst thought was it’s The Detachable kid from Suicide Squad", ">\n\nI was reading this book, it's like a part Indiana Jones, part spy thriller. \nSo the lady archeologist and her obvious love interest are discussing how to get through the second door in a tomb after they solved a puzzle for first one. \nAnd then they hear enemies coming in and they have to rush - they kept talking about what symbols mean on the door. \nThen their obvious comedy relief side kick just runs toward the door, pushes it like a normal door and tells them \n\"Guys, sometimes a door is just a door\". \nI feel sometimes some decisions made for this monument design are unnecessarily trying to be special or unique for no good reason, when they could have followed the straight forward approach.", ">\n\nI keep waiting for a terrorist organization to call and take credit for wrecking the original sculpture", ">\n\nWell do you know who loves the new MLK statue?\nAssy McGee", ">\n\nI feel like it has failed completely. People immediately forget about any message as soon as they see it. And it looks objectively awful. From some angles, it looks like someone is eating butt. Not a great tribute.", ">\n\nWild that somebody got paid to make this. Where can I sign up?", ">\n\nI’m an MA resident (and a RISD student for what it’s worth) and this is the first time i’m hearing about voting for this monstrosity so i’d love to know who all voted for this. \nAfter reading the thoughts behind each piece, it seems like the planners went with an organic sense of interacting with it (apparently you can go inside though why you’d want to Ill never understand). the mock up pictures were from the air or one particular angle and appear much more bronze in color than the dark brown of reality. \nThe other contenders were more modern and relied on both tech and the written word to celebrate MLK, so perhaps that’s why? \nIt’s definitely garnering worldwide attention though for none of the reasons one would hope.\nFor anyone interested in viewing the other contenders here’s the link.\nWhat a phenomenal waste of money…", ">\n\nI'm also thinking of the mis-monument to him in Washington D.C..\nWhy can't people who want to commemorate him find an artist who will leave things at making a simple likeness of him?", ">\n\nI thought his statue in buffalo ny was bad, and boy is it bad. This one took the cake.", ">\n\nIt really is terrible for 10.5M", ">\n\nI went to the one in DC right after it was built 10 years ago and it wasn't the best in my opinion either. Almost like they begrudgingly did it.", ">\n\nI’ll say this. If every time it’s shown to some one. It needs to be shown with context to make it not look like a turd. \nProbably bad design", ">\n\nOf course and many wont publically comment", ">\n\nMost iconic art and architecture is panned at first. Time will tell.", ">\n\nBoston, as we know, is a beacon of racial diversity", ">\n\nPretty sure Dr. King preached humility.. He didn't place himself and his ideals as an elevation beyond common understanding, but rather tried to speak to everyone as a preacher and a servant. Why is the statue something so abstract, almost self indulgently so? Why is it so lofty and dominating?\nAnd the rationale is supposed to be about peace and love, a moment of reflection in a quiet part of the city. Celebrating an ideal rather then a man, and his wife who is often overlooked. But yet its so large, dominating all the space, and confusing. Its not familiar, as love should be, but strange. It doesn't feel warm, it feels artificial and cold.\nI like the intent behind it and the idea, but seriously. I thought the whole point was to celebrate something common to most people? I'm pretty sure for most people this is just going to be confusing.", ">\n\nIt actually originally had heads, but Bart Simpson wanted to impress the bullies" ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times", ">\n\nThis just became the most famous piece of art in the country right now. \nControversy like this is exactly what they want art to do. Nobody would have cared about another mural to MLK. \nI bet the crowds around this are huge", ">\n\neasy art doesn't make you think", ">\n\nWhy are we always supposed to “think”? I prefer to just enjoy art and it not be work for me.", ">\n\nThen stick to MCU movies.", ">\n\nWhy? I don’t like those", ">\n\nThats what that thing is supposed to be?? Actually terrible design", ">\n\nI mean from angles it looks like a metamucil advertisement.\nOr something else is being held. \nI think that the monument needed to be viewed from all angles or be like identifiable and not viewed as potentially abstract.", ">\n\nThe piece is called \"Thanks PF Changs\" and it was sculpted by Singer/Songwriter Lorde.", ">\n\nYeah... They messed this one up. I want to think over time it'll be appreciated, but it is just poorly done. Heck, on another level I don't like it because it is a statue of MLK and his wife, and we know now how much he cheated on her. It just doesn't work on any level and at best its a MLK statue for the sake of MLK, at worse it undermines MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nYikes that’s true. It’s weird to have included her", ">\n\nIt's like the majority of so-called \"modern art\". It's deliberately pointless, so that people who like to imagine themselves deep thinkers can stand around it pretending they \"get it.\"", ">\n\nThe phrase 'modern art' is a misnomer.", ">\n\nIt really is. That entire scene is just a bunch of rich people flexing their wealth because they can. Art has nothing to do with it.", ">\n\nThis is so fucking stupid. As if this man was summed up by one single fucking moment in life with that picture. I don't get it. A statue based on a photograph of a portion? Can't come up with something creative? Maybe have a statue of him being publicly executed? For all we know the night of that picture could have been the worst of his and hers. I am not even familiar with the picture. As a kid I knew Dr. King as a man that literally changed my world. I saw how awful the world was and he gave me hope in a better place. We got there for a minute. Most people love their spouses. Most people don't love the world!", ">\n\nIt’s the moment when MLK found out he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Apparently you can walk in the middle of the arm vortex and “feel the embrace” of that moment, which is honestly a pretty cool concept….. The statue is still super meh.", ">\n\nLike is it poop? Or a penis? I dunno", ">\n\nFirst thought was it’s The Detachable kid from Suicide Squad", ">\n\nI was reading this book, it's like a part Indiana Jones, part spy thriller. \nSo the lady archeologist and her obvious love interest are discussing how to get through the second door in a tomb after they solved a puzzle for first one. \nAnd then they hear enemies coming in and they have to rush - they kept talking about what symbols mean on the door. \nThen their obvious comedy relief side kick just runs toward the door, pushes it like a normal door and tells them \n\"Guys, sometimes a door is just a door\". \nI feel sometimes some decisions made for this monument design are unnecessarily trying to be special or unique for no good reason, when they could have followed the straight forward approach.", ">\n\nI keep waiting for a terrorist organization to call and take credit for wrecking the original sculpture", ">\n\nWell do you know who loves the new MLK statue?\nAssy McGee", ">\n\nI feel like it has failed completely. People immediately forget about any message as soon as they see it. And it looks objectively awful. From some angles, it looks like someone is eating butt. Not a great tribute.", ">\n\nWild that somebody got paid to make this. Where can I sign up?", ">\n\nI’m an MA resident (and a RISD student for what it’s worth) and this is the first time i’m hearing about voting for this monstrosity so i’d love to know who all voted for this. \nAfter reading the thoughts behind each piece, it seems like the planners went with an organic sense of interacting with it (apparently you can go inside though why you’d want to Ill never understand). the mock up pictures were from the air or one particular angle and appear much more bronze in color than the dark brown of reality. \nThe other contenders were more modern and relied on both tech and the written word to celebrate MLK, so perhaps that’s why? \nIt’s definitely garnering worldwide attention though for none of the reasons one would hope.\nFor anyone interested in viewing the other contenders here’s the link.\nWhat a phenomenal waste of money…", ">\n\nI'm also thinking of the mis-monument to him in Washington D.C..\nWhy can't people who want to commemorate him find an artist who will leave things at making a simple likeness of him?", ">\n\nI thought his statue in buffalo ny was bad, and boy is it bad. This one took the cake.", ">\n\nIt really is terrible for 10.5M", ">\n\nI went to the one in DC right after it was built 10 years ago and it wasn't the best in my opinion either. Almost like they begrudgingly did it.", ">\n\nI’ll say this. If every time it’s shown to some one. It needs to be shown with context to make it not look like a turd. \nProbably bad design", ">\n\nOf course and many wont publically comment", ">\n\nMost iconic art and architecture is panned at first. Time will tell.", ">\n\nBoston, as we know, is a beacon of racial diversity", ">\n\nPretty sure Dr. King preached humility.. He didn't place himself and his ideals as an elevation beyond common understanding, but rather tried to speak to everyone as a preacher and a servant. Why is the statue something so abstract, almost self indulgently so? Why is it so lofty and dominating?\nAnd the rationale is supposed to be about peace and love, a moment of reflection in a quiet part of the city. Celebrating an ideal rather then a man, and his wife who is often overlooked. But yet its so large, dominating all the space, and confusing. Its not familiar, as love should be, but strange. It doesn't feel warm, it feels artificial and cold.\nI like the intent behind it and the idea, but seriously. I thought the whole point was to celebrate something common to most people? I'm pretty sure for most people this is just going to be confusing.", ">\n\nIt actually originally had heads, but Bart Simpson wanted to impress the bullies", ">\n\n10 million dollars for a statue of an aloft turd. That's a 10/10 grift if I've ever seen one, well done" ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times", ">\n\nThis just became the most famous piece of art in the country right now. \nControversy like this is exactly what they want art to do. Nobody would have cared about another mural to MLK. \nI bet the crowds around this are huge", ">\n\neasy art doesn't make you think", ">\n\nWhy are we always supposed to “think”? I prefer to just enjoy art and it not be work for me.", ">\n\nThen stick to MCU movies.", ">\n\nWhy? I don’t like those", ">\n\nThats what that thing is supposed to be?? Actually terrible design", ">\n\nI mean from angles it looks like a metamucil advertisement.\nOr something else is being held. \nI think that the monument needed to be viewed from all angles or be like identifiable and not viewed as potentially abstract.", ">\n\nThe piece is called \"Thanks PF Changs\" and it was sculpted by Singer/Songwriter Lorde.", ">\n\nYeah... They messed this one up. I want to think over time it'll be appreciated, but it is just poorly done. Heck, on another level I don't like it because it is a statue of MLK and his wife, and we know now how much he cheated on her. It just doesn't work on any level and at best its a MLK statue for the sake of MLK, at worse it undermines MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nYikes that’s true. It’s weird to have included her", ">\n\nIt's like the majority of so-called \"modern art\". It's deliberately pointless, so that people who like to imagine themselves deep thinkers can stand around it pretending they \"get it.\"", ">\n\nThe phrase 'modern art' is a misnomer.", ">\n\nIt really is. That entire scene is just a bunch of rich people flexing their wealth because they can. Art has nothing to do with it.", ">\n\nThis is so fucking stupid. As if this man was summed up by one single fucking moment in life with that picture. I don't get it. A statue based on a photograph of a portion? Can't come up with something creative? Maybe have a statue of him being publicly executed? For all we know the night of that picture could have been the worst of his and hers. I am not even familiar with the picture. As a kid I knew Dr. King as a man that literally changed my world. I saw how awful the world was and he gave me hope in a better place. We got there for a minute. Most people love their spouses. Most people don't love the world!", ">\n\nIt’s the moment when MLK found out he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Apparently you can walk in the middle of the arm vortex and “feel the embrace” of that moment, which is honestly a pretty cool concept….. The statue is still super meh.", ">\n\nLike is it poop? Or a penis? I dunno", ">\n\nFirst thought was it’s The Detachable kid from Suicide Squad", ">\n\nI was reading this book, it's like a part Indiana Jones, part spy thriller. \nSo the lady archeologist and her obvious love interest are discussing how to get through the second door in a tomb after they solved a puzzle for first one. \nAnd then they hear enemies coming in and they have to rush - they kept talking about what symbols mean on the door. \nThen their obvious comedy relief side kick just runs toward the door, pushes it like a normal door and tells them \n\"Guys, sometimes a door is just a door\". \nI feel sometimes some decisions made for this monument design are unnecessarily trying to be special or unique for no good reason, when they could have followed the straight forward approach.", ">\n\nI keep waiting for a terrorist organization to call and take credit for wrecking the original sculpture", ">\n\nWell do you know who loves the new MLK statue?\nAssy McGee", ">\n\nI feel like it has failed completely. People immediately forget about any message as soon as they see it. And it looks objectively awful. From some angles, it looks like someone is eating butt. Not a great tribute.", ">\n\nWild that somebody got paid to make this. Where can I sign up?", ">\n\nI’m an MA resident (and a RISD student for what it’s worth) and this is the first time i’m hearing about voting for this monstrosity so i’d love to know who all voted for this. \nAfter reading the thoughts behind each piece, it seems like the planners went with an organic sense of interacting with it (apparently you can go inside though why you’d want to Ill never understand). the mock up pictures were from the air or one particular angle and appear much more bronze in color than the dark brown of reality. \nThe other contenders were more modern and relied on both tech and the written word to celebrate MLK, so perhaps that’s why? \nIt’s definitely garnering worldwide attention though for none of the reasons one would hope.\nFor anyone interested in viewing the other contenders here’s the link.\nWhat a phenomenal waste of money…", ">\n\nI'm also thinking of the mis-monument to him in Washington D.C..\nWhy can't people who want to commemorate him find an artist who will leave things at making a simple likeness of him?", ">\n\nI thought his statue in buffalo ny was bad, and boy is it bad. This one took the cake.", ">\n\nIt really is terrible for 10.5M", ">\n\nI went to the one in DC right after it was built 10 years ago and it wasn't the best in my opinion either. Almost like they begrudgingly did it.", ">\n\nI’ll say this. If every time it’s shown to some one. It needs to be shown with context to make it not look like a turd. \nProbably bad design", ">\n\nOf course and many wont publically comment", ">\n\nMost iconic art and architecture is panned at first. Time will tell.", ">\n\nBoston, as we know, is a beacon of racial diversity", ">\n\nPretty sure Dr. King preached humility.. He didn't place himself and his ideals as an elevation beyond common understanding, but rather tried to speak to everyone as a preacher and a servant. Why is the statue something so abstract, almost self indulgently so? Why is it so lofty and dominating?\nAnd the rationale is supposed to be about peace and love, a moment of reflection in a quiet part of the city. Celebrating an ideal rather then a man, and his wife who is often overlooked. But yet its so large, dominating all the space, and confusing. Its not familiar, as love should be, but strange. It doesn't feel warm, it feels artificial and cold.\nI like the intent behind it and the idea, but seriously. I thought the whole point was to celebrate something common to most people? I'm pretty sure for most people this is just going to be confusing.", ">\n\nIt actually originally had heads, but Bart Simpson wanted to impress the bullies", ">\n\n10 million dollars for a statue of an aloft turd. That's a 10/10 grift if I've ever seen one, well done", ">\n\nIt's not a MLK jr statue..... It's a sculpture of arms. It is inspired by a photograph... of MLK jr's arms around his wife. But no one would know that if they never saw the photo (which I have not...).\nFuture generations will look at this sculpture and wonder \"WTF is this?\" because it conveys zero MLK jr vibes.\nI mean... anyone can make a sculpture based on a photo. How about a famous photo with a face in it... (Is the artist not good with faces?)\nThe public is correct in its mockery of such a dumb object (and the price paid for it)." ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times", ">\n\nThis just became the most famous piece of art in the country right now. \nControversy like this is exactly what they want art to do. Nobody would have cared about another mural to MLK. \nI bet the crowds around this are huge", ">\n\neasy art doesn't make you think", ">\n\nWhy are we always supposed to “think”? I prefer to just enjoy art and it not be work for me.", ">\n\nThen stick to MCU movies.", ">\n\nWhy? I don’t like those", ">\n\nThats what that thing is supposed to be?? Actually terrible design", ">\n\nI mean from angles it looks like a metamucil advertisement.\nOr something else is being held. \nI think that the monument needed to be viewed from all angles or be like identifiable and not viewed as potentially abstract.", ">\n\nThe piece is called \"Thanks PF Changs\" and it was sculpted by Singer/Songwriter Lorde.", ">\n\nYeah... They messed this one up. I want to think over time it'll be appreciated, but it is just poorly done. Heck, on another level I don't like it because it is a statue of MLK and his wife, and we know now how much he cheated on her. It just doesn't work on any level and at best its a MLK statue for the sake of MLK, at worse it undermines MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nYikes that’s true. It’s weird to have included her", ">\n\nIt's like the majority of so-called \"modern art\". It's deliberately pointless, so that people who like to imagine themselves deep thinkers can stand around it pretending they \"get it.\"", ">\n\nThe phrase 'modern art' is a misnomer.", ">\n\nIt really is. That entire scene is just a bunch of rich people flexing their wealth because they can. Art has nothing to do with it.", ">\n\nThis is so fucking stupid. As if this man was summed up by one single fucking moment in life with that picture. I don't get it. A statue based on a photograph of a portion? Can't come up with something creative? Maybe have a statue of him being publicly executed? For all we know the night of that picture could have been the worst of his and hers. I am not even familiar with the picture. As a kid I knew Dr. King as a man that literally changed my world. I saw how awful the world was and he gave me hope in a better place. We got there for a minute. Most people love their spouses. Most people don't love the world!", ">\n\nIt’s the moment when MLK found out he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Apparently you can walk in the middle of the arm vortex and “feel the embrace” of that moment, which is honestly a pretty cool concept….. The statue is still super meh.", ">\n\nLike is it poop? Or a penis? I dunno", ">\n\nFirst thought was it’s The Detachable kid from Suicide Squad", ">\n\nI was reading this book, it's like a part Indiana Jones, part spy thriller. \nSo the lady archeologist and her obvious love interest are discussing how to get through the second door in a tomb after they solved a puzzle for first one. \nAnd then they hear enemies coming in and they have to rush - they kept talking about what symbols mean on the door. \nThen their obvious comedy relief side kick just runs toward the door, pushes it like a normal door and tells them \n\"Guys, sometimes a door is just a door\". \nI feel sometimes some decisions made for this monument design are unnecessarily trying to be special or unique for no good reason, when they could have followed the straight forward approach.", ">\n\nI keep waiting for a terrorist organization to call and take credit for wrecking the original sculpture", ">\n\nWell do you know who loves the new MLK statue?\nAssy McGee", ">\n\nI feel like it has failed completely. People immediately forget about any message as soon as they see it. And it looks objectively awful. From some angles, it looks like someone is eating butt. Not a great tribute.", ">\n\nWild that somebody got paid to make this. Where can I sign up?", ">\n\nI’m an MA resident (and a RISD student for what it’s worth) and this is the first time i’m hearing about voting for this monstrosity so i’d love to know who all voted for this. \nAfter reading the thoughts behind each piece, it seems like the planners went with an organic sense of interacting with it (apparently you can go inside though why you’d want to Ill never understand). the mock up pictures were from the air or one particular angle and appear much more bronze in color than the dark brown of reality. \nThe other contenders were more modern and relied on both tech and the written word to celebrate MLK, so perhaps that’s why? \nIt’s definitely garnering worldwide attention though for none of the reasons one would hope.\nFor anyone interested in viewing the other contenders here’s the link.\nWhat a phenomenal waste of money…", ">\n\nI'm also thinking of the mis-monument to him in Washington D.C..\nWhy can't people who want to commemorate him find an artist who will leave things at making a simple likeness of him?", ">\n\nI thought his statue in buffalo ny was bad, and boy is it bad. This one took the cake.", ">\n\nIt really is terrible for 10.5M", ">\n\nI went to the one in DC right after it was built 10 years ago and it wasn't the best in my opinion either. Almost like they begrudgingly did it.", ">\n\nI’ll say this. If every time it’s shown to some one. It needs to be shown with context to make it not look like a turd. \nProbably bad design", ">\n\nOf course and many wont publically comment", ">\n\nMost iconic art and architecture is panned at first. Time will tell.", ">\n\nBoston, as we know, is a beacon of racial diversity", ">\n\nPretty sure Dr. King preached humility.. He didn't place himself and his ideals as an elevation beyond common understanding, but rather tried to speak to everyone as a preacher and a servant. Why is the statue something so abstract, almost self indulgently so? Why is it so lofty and dominating?\nAnd the rationale is supposed to be about peace and love, a moment of reflection in a quiet part of the city. Celebrating an ideal rather then a man, and his wife who is often overlooked. But yet its so large, dominating all the space, and confusing. Its not familiar, as love should be, but strange. It doesn't feel warm, it feels artificial and cold.\nI like the intent behind it and the idea, but seriously. I thought the whole point was to celebrate something common to most people? I'm pretty sure for most people this is just going to be confusing.", ">\n\nIt actually originally had heads, but Bart Simpson wanted to impress the bullies", ">\n\n10 million dollars for a statue of an aloft turd. That's a 10/10 grift if I've ever seen one, well done", ">\n\nIt's not a MLK jr statue..... It's a sculpture of arms. It is inspired by a photograph... of MLK jr's arms around his wife. But no one would know that if they never saw the photo (which I have not...).\nFuture generations will look at this sculpture and wonder \"WTF is this?\" because it conveys zero MLK jr vibes.\nI mean... anyone can make a sculpture based on a photo. How about a famous photo with a face in it... (Is the artist not good with faces?)\nThe public is correct in its mockery of such a dumb object (and the price paid for it).", ">\n\nWho was crazy enough to trust Boston of all cities to construct a monument for black people?" ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times", ">\n\nThis just became the most famous piece of art in the country right now. \nControversy like this is exactly what they want art to do. Nobody would have cared about another mural to MLK. \nI bet the crowds around this are huge", ">\n\neasy art doesn't make you think", ">\n\nWhy are we always supposed to “think”? I prefer to just enjoy art and it not be work for me.", ">\n\nThen stick to MCU movies.", ">\n\nWhy? I don’t like those", ">\n\nThats what that thing is supposed to be?? Actually terrible design", ">\n\nI mean from angles it looks like a metamucil advertisement.\nOr something else is being held. \nI think that the monument needed to be viewed from all angles or be like identifiable and not viewed as potentially abstract.", ">\n\nThe piece is called \"Thanks PF Changs\" and it was sculpted by Singer/Songwriter Lorde.", ">\n\nYeah... They messed this one up. I want to think over time it'll be appreciated, but it is just poorly done. Heck, on another level I don't like it because it is a statue of MLK and his wife, and we know now how much he cheated on her. It just doesn't work on any level and at best its a MLK statue for the sake of MLK, at worse it undermines MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nYikes that’s true. It’s weird to have included her", ">\n\nIt's like the majority of so-called \"modern art\". It's deliberately pointless, so that people who like to imagine themselves deep thinkers can stand around it pretending they \"get it.\"", ">\n\nThe phrase 'modern art' is a misnomer.", ">\n\nIt really is. That entire scene is just a bunch of rich people flexing their wealth because they can. Art has nothing to do with it.", ">\n\nThis is so fucking stupid. As if this man was summed up by one single fucking moment in life with that picture. I don't get it. A statue based on a photograph of a portion? Can't come up with something creative? Maybe have a statue of him being publicly executed? For all we know the night of that picture could have been the worst of his and hers. I am not even familiar with the picture. As a kid I knew Dr. King as a man that literally changed my world. I saw how awful the world was and he gave me hope in a better place. We got there for a minute. Most people love their spouses. Most people don't love the world!", ">\n\nIt’s the moment when MLK found out he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Apparently you can walk in the middle of the arm vortex and “feel the embrace” of that moment, which is honestly a pretty cool concept….. The statue is still super meh.", ">\n\nLike is it poop? Or a penis? I dunno", ">\n\nFirst thought was it’s The Detachable kid from Suicide Squad", ">\n\nI was reading this book, it's like a part Indiana Jones, part spy thriller. \nSo the lady archeologist and her obvious love interest are discussing how to get through the second door in a tomb after they solved a puzzle for first one. \nAnd then they hear enemies coming in and they have to rush - they kept talking about what symbols mean on the door. \nThen their obvious comedy relief side kick just runs toward the door, pushes it like a normal door and tells them \n\"Guys, sometimes a door is just a door\". \nI feel sometimes some decisions made for this monument design are unnecessarily trying to be special or unique for no good reason, when they could have followed the straight forward approach.", ">\n\nI keep waiting for a terrorist organization to call and take credit for wrecking the original sculpture", ">\n\nWell do you know who loves the new MLK statue?\nAssy McGee", ">\n\nI feel like it has failed completely. People immediately forget about any message as soon as they see it. And it looks objectively awful. From some angles, it looks like someone is eating butt. Not a great tribute.", ">\n\nWild that somebody got paid to make this. Where can I sign up?", ">\n\nI’m an MA resident (and a RISD student for what it’s worth) and this is the first time i’m hearing about voting for this monstrosity so i’d love to know who all voted for this. \nAfter reading the thoughts behind each piece, it seems like the planners went with an organic sense of interacting with it (apparently you can go inside though why you’d want to Ill never understand). the mock up pictures were from the air or one particular angle and appear much more bronze in color than the dark brown of reality. \nThe other contenders were more modern and relied on both tech and the written word to celebrate MLK, so perhaps that’s why? \nIt’s definitely garnering worldwide attention though for none of the reasons one would hope.\nFor anyone interested in viewing the other contenders here’s the link.\nWhat a phenomenal waste of money…", ">\n\nI'm also thinking of the mis-monument to him in Washington D.C..\nWhy can't people who want to commemorate him find an artist who will leave things at making a simple likeness of him?", ">\n\nI thought his statue in buffalo ny was bad, and boy is it bad. This one took the cake.", ">\n\nIt really is terrible for 10.5M", ">\n\nI went to the one in DC right after it was built 10 years ago and it wasn't the best in my opinion either. Almost like they begrudgingly did it.", ">\n\nI’ll say this. If every time it’s shown to some one. It needs to be shown with context to make it not look like a turd. \nProbably bad design", ">\n\nOf course and many wont publically comment", ">\n\nMost iconic art and architecture is panned at first. Time will tell.", ">\n\nBoston, as we know, is a beacon of racial diversity", ">\n\nPretty sure Dr. King preached humility.. He didn't place himself and his ideals as an elevation beyond common understanding, but rather tried to speak to everyone as a preacher and a servant. Why is the statue something so abstract, almost self indulgently so? Why is it so lofty and dominating?\nAnd the rationale is supposed to be about peace and love, a moment of reflection in a quiet part of the city. Celebrating an ideal rather then a man, and his wife who is often overlooked. But yet its so large, dominating all the space, and confusing. Its not familiar, as love should be, but strange. It doesn't feel warm, it feels artificial and cold.\nI like the intent behind it and the idea, but seriously. I thought the whole point was to celebrate something common to most people? I'm pretty sure for most people this is just going to be confusing.", ">\n\nIt actually originally had heads, but Bart Simpson wanted to impress the bullies", ">\n\n10 million dollars for a statue of an aloft turd. That's a 10/10 grift if I've ever seen one, well done", ">\n\nIt's not a MLK jr statue..... It's a sculpture of arms. It is inspired by a photograph... of MLK jr's arms around his wife. But no one would know that if they never saw the photo (which I have not...).\nFuture generations will look at this sculpture and wonder \"WTF is this?\" because it conveys zero MLK jr vibes.\nI mean... anyone can make a sculpture based on a photo. How about a famous photo with a face in it... (Is the artist not good with faces?)\nThe public is correct in its mockery of such a dumb object (and the price paid for it).", ">\n\nWho was crazy enough to trust Boston of all cities to construct a monument for black people?", ">\n\n\nThe art piece, designed by Brooklyn-based conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas\n\nIn case you're wondering, that's Brooklyn, New York." ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times", ">\n\nThis just became the most famous piece of art in the country right now. \nControversy like this is exactly what they want art to do. Nobody would have cared about another mural to MLK. \nI bet the crowds around this are huge", ">\n\neasy art doesn't make you think", ">\n\nWhy are we always supposed to “think”? I prefer to just enjoy art and it not be work for me.", ">\n\nThen stick to MCU movies.", ">\n\nWhy? I don’t like those", ">\n\nThats what that thing is supposed to be?? Actually terrible design", ">\n\nI mean from angles it looks like a metamucil advertisement.\nOr something else is being held. \nI think that the monument needed to be viewed from all angles or be like identifiable and not viewed as potentially abstract.", ">\n\nThe piece is called \"Thanks PF Changs\" and it was sculpted by Singer/Songwriter Lorde.", ">\n\nYeah... They messed this one up. I want to think over time it'll be appreciated, but it is just poorly done. Heck, on another level I don't like it because it is a statue of MLK and his wife, and we know now how much he cheated on her. It just doesn't work on any level and at best its a MLK statue for the sake of MLK, at worse it undermines MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nYikes that’s true. It’s weird to have included her", ">\n\nIt's like the majority of so-called \"modern art\". It's deliberately pointless, so that people who like to imagine themselves deep thinkers can stand around it pretending they \"get it.\"", ">\n\nThe phrase 'modern art' is a misnomer.", ">\n\nIt really is. That entire scene is just a bunch of rich people flexing their wealth because they can. Art has nothing to do with it.", ">\n\nThis is so fucking stupid. As if this man was summed up by one single fucking moment in life with that picture. I don't get it. A statue based on a photograph of a portion? Can't come up with something creative? Maybe have a statue of him being publicly executed? For all we know the night of that picture could have been the worst of his and hers. I am not even familiar with the picture. As a kid I knew Dr. King as a man that literally changed my world. I saw how awful the world was and he gave me hope in a better place. We got there for a minute. Most people love their spouses. Most people don't love the world!", ">\n\nIt’s the moment when MLK found out he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Apparently you can walk in the middle of the arm vortex and “feel the embrace” of that moment, which is honestly a pretty cool concept….. The statue is still super meh.", ">\n\nLike is it poop? Or a penis? I dunno", ">\n\nFirst thought was it’s The Detachable kid from Suicide Squad", ">\n\nI was reading this book, it's like a part Indiana Jones, part spy thriller. \nSo the lady archeologist and her obvious love interest are discussing how to get through the second door in a tomb after they solved a puzzle for first one. \nAnd then they hear enemies coming in and they have to rush - they kept talking about what symbols mean on the door. \nThen their obvious comedy relief side kick just runs toward the door, pushes it like a normal door and tells them \n\"Guys, sometimes a door is just a door\". \nI feel sometimes some decisions made for this monument design are unnecessarily trying to be special or unique for no good reason, when they could have followed the straight forward approach.", ">\n\nI keep waiting for a terrorist organization to call and take credit for wrecking the original sculpture", ">\n\nWell do you know who loves the new MLK statue?\nAssy McGee", ">\n\nI feel like it has failed completely. People immediately forget about any message as soon as they see it. And it looks objectively awful. From some angles, it looks like someone is eating butt. Not a great tribute.", ">\n\nWild that somebody got paid to make this. Where can I sign up?", ">\n\nI’m an MA resident (and a RISD student for what it’s worth) and this is the first time i’m hearing about voting for this monstrosity so i’d love to know who all voted for this. \nAfter reading the thoughts behind each piece, it seems like the planners went with an organic sense of interacting with it (apparently you can go inside though why you’d want to Ill never understand). the mock up pictures were from the air or one particular angle and appear much more bronze in color than the dark brown of reality. \nThe other contenders were more modern and relied on both tech and the written word to celebrate MLK, so perhaps that’s why? \nIt’s definitely garnering worldwide attention though for none of the reasons one would hope.\nFor anyone interested in viewing the other contenders here’s the link.\nWhat a phenomenal waste of money…", ">\n\nI'm also thinking of the mis-monument to him in Washington D.C..\nWhy can't people who want to commemorate him find an artist who will leave things at making a simple likeness of him?", ">\n\nI thought his statue in buffalo ny was bad, and boy is it bad. This one took the cake.", ">\n\nIt really is terrible for 10.5M", ">\n\nI went to the one in DC right after it was built 10 years ago and it wasn't the best in my opinion either. Almost like they begrudgingly did it.", ">\n\nI’ll say this. If every time it’s shown to some one. It needs to be shown with context to make it not look like a turd. \nProbably bad design", ">\n\nOf course and many wont publically comment", ">\n\nMost iconic art and architecture is panned at first. Time will tell.", ">\n\nBoston, as we know, is a beacon of racial diversity", ">\n\nPretty sure Dr. King preached humility.. He didn't place himself and his ideals as an elevation beyond common understanding, but rather tried to speak to everyone as a preacher and a servant. Why is the statue something so abstract, almost self indulgently so? Why is it so lofty and dominating?\nAnd the rationale is supposed to be about peace and love, a moment of reflection in a quiet part of the city. Celebrating an ideal rather then a man, and his wife who is often overlooked. But yet its so large, dominating all the space, and confusing. Its not familiar, as love should be, but strange. It doesn't feel warm, it feels artificial and cold.\nI like the intent behind it and the idea, but seriously. I thought the whole point was to celebrate something common to most people? I'm pretty sure for most people this is just going to be confusing.", ">\n\nIt actually originally had heads, but Bart Simpson wanted to impress the bullies", ">\n\n10 million dollars for a statue of an aloft turd. That's a 10/10 grift if I've ever seen one, well done", ">\n\nIt's not a MLK jr statue..... It's a sculpture of arms. It is inspired by a photograph... of MLK jr's arms around his wife. But no one would know that if they never saw the photo (which I have not...).\nFuture generations will look at this sculpture and wonder \"WTF is this?\" because it conveys zero MLK jr vibes.\nI mean... anyone can make a sculpture based on a photo. How about a famous photo with a face in it... (Is the artist not good with faces?)\nThe public is correct in its mockery of such a dumb object (and the price paid for it).", ">\n\nWho was crazy enough to trust Boston of all cities to construct a monument for black people?", ">\n\n\nThe art piece, designed by Brooklyn-based conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas\n\nIn case you're wondering, that's Brooklyn, New York.", ">\n\nMaybe MLK was hung?\nWe don't know." ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times", ">\n\nThis just became the most famous piece of art in the country right now. \nControversy like this is exactly what they want art to do. Nobody would have cared about another mural to MLK. \nI bet the crowds around this are huge", ">\n\neasy art doesn't make you think", ">\n\nWhy are we always supposed to “think”? I prefer to just enjoy art and it not be work for me.", ">\n\nThen stick to MCU movies.", ">\n\nWhy? I don’t like those", ">\n\nThats what that thing is supposed to be?? Actually terrible design", ">\n\nI mean from angles it looks like a metamucil advertisement.\nOr something else is being held. \nI think that the monument needed to be viewed from all angles or be like identifiable and not viewed as potentially abstract.", ">\n\nThe piece is called \"Thanks PF Changs\" and it was sculpted by Singer/Songwriter Lorde.", ">\n\nYeah... They messed this one up. I want to think over time it'll be appreciated, but it is just poorly done. Heck, on another level I don't like it because it is a statue of MLK and his wife, and we know now how much he cheated on her. It just doesn't work on any level and at best its a MLK statue for the sake of MLK, at worse it undermines MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nYikes that’s true. It’s weird to have included her", ">\n\nIt's like the majority of so-called \"modern art\". It's deliberately pointless, so that people who like to imagine themselves deep thinkers can stand around it pretending they \"get it.\"", ">\n\nThe phrase 'modern art' is a misnomer.", ">\n\nIt really is. That entire scene is just a bunch of rich people flexing their wealth because they can. Art has nothing to do with it.", ">\n\nThis is so fucking stupid. As if this man was summed up by one single fucking moment in life with that picture. I don't get it. A statue based on a photograph of a portion? Can't come up with something creative? Maybe have a statue of him being publicly executed? For all we know the night of that picture could have been the worst of his and hers. I am not even familiar with the picture. As a kid I knew Dr. King as a man that literally changed my world. I saw how awful the world was and he gave me hope in a better place. We got there for a minute. Most people love their spouses. Most people don't love the world!", ">\n\nIt’s the moment when MLK found out he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Apparently you can walk in the middle of the arm vortex and “feel the embrace” of that moment, which is honestly a pretty cool concept….. The statue is still super meh.", ">\n\nLike is it poop? Or a penis? I dunno", ">\n\nFirst thought was it’s The Detachable kid from Suicide Squad", ">\n\nI was reading this book, it's like a part Indiana Jones, part spy thriller. \nSo the lady archeologist and her obvious love interest are discussing how to get through the second door in a tomb after they solved a puzzle for first one. \nAnd then they hear enemies coming in and they have to rush - they kept talking about what symbols mean on the door. \nThen their obvious comedy relief side kick just runs toward the door, pushes it like a normal door and tells them \n\"Guys, sometimes a door is just a door\". \nI feel sometimes some decisions made for this monument design are unnecessarily trying to be special or unique for no good reason, when they could have followed the straight forward approach.", ">\n\nI keep waiting for a terrorist organization to call and take credit for wrecking the original sculpture", ">\n\nWell do you know who loves the new MLK statue?\nAssy McGee", ">\n\nI feel like it has failed completely. People immediately forget about any message as soon as they see it. And it looks objectively awful. From some angles, it looks like someone is eating butt. Not a great tribute.", ">\n\nWild that somebody got paid to make this. Where can I sign up?", ">\n\nI’m an MA resident (and a RISD student for what it’s worth) and this is the first time i’m hearing about voting for this monstrosity so i’d love to know who all voted for this. \nAfter reading the thoughts behind each piece, it seems like the planners went with an organic sense of interacting with it (apparently you can go inside though why you’d want to Ill never understand). the mock up pictures were from the air or one particular angle and appear much more bronze in color than the dark brown of reality. \nThe other contenders were more modern and relied on both tech and the written word to celebrate MLK, so perhaps that’s why? \nIt’s definitely garnering worldwide attention though for none of the reasons one would hope.\nFor anyone interested in viewing the other contenders here’s the link.\nWhat a phenomenal waste of money…", ">\n\nI'm also thinking of the mis-monument to him in Washington D.C..\nWhy can't people who want to commemorate him find an artist who will leave things at making a simple likeness of him?", ">\n\nI thought his statue in buffalo ny was bad, and boy is it bad. This one took the cake.", ">\n\nIt really is terrible for 10.5M", ">\n\nI went to the one in DC right after it was built 10 years ago and it wasn't the best in my opinion either. Almost like they begrudgingly did it.", ">\n\nI’ll say this. If every time it’s shown to some one. It needs to be shown with context to make it not look like a turd. \nProbably bad design", ">\n\nOf course and many wont publically comment", ">\n\nMost iconic art and architecture is panned at first. Time will tell.", ">\n\nBoston, as we know, is a beacon of racial diversity", ">\n\nPretty sure Dr. King preached humility.. He didn't place himself and his ideals as an elevation beyond common understanding, but rather tried to speak to everyone as a preacher and a servant. Why is the statue something so abstract, almost self indulgently so? Why is it so lofty and dominating?\nAnd the rationale is supposed to be about peace and love, a moment of reflection in a quiet part of the city. Celebrating an ideal rather then a man, and his wife who is often overlooked. But yet its so large, dominating all the space, and confusing. Its not familiar, as love should be, but strange. It doesn't feel warm, it feels artificial and cold.\nI like the intent behind it and the idea, but seriously. I thought the whole point was to celebrate something common to most people? I'm pretty sure for most people this is just going to be confusing.", ">\n\nIt actually originally had heads, but Bart Simpson wanted to impress the bullies", ">\n\n10 million dollars for a statue of an aloft turd. That's a 10/10 grift if I've ever seen one, well done", ">\n\nIt's not a MLK jr statue..... It's a sculpture of arms. It is inspired by a photograph... of MLK jr's arms around his wife. But no one would know that if they never saw the photo (which I have not...).\nFuture generations will look at this sculpture and wonder \"WTF is this?\" because it conveys zero MLK jr vibes.\nI mean... anyone can make a sculpture based on a photo. How about a famous photo with a face in it... (Is the artist not good with faces?)\nThe public is correct in its mockery of such a dumb object (and the price paid for it).", ">\n\nWho was crazy enough to trust Boston of all cities to construct a monument for black people?", ">\n\n\nThe art piece, designed by Brooklyn-based conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas\n\nIn case you're wondering, that's Brooklyn, New York.", ">\n\nMaybe MLK was hung?\nWe don't know.", ">\n\nNo, he was shot." ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times", ">\n\nThis just became the most famous piece of art in the country right now. \nControversy like this is exactly what they want art to do. Nobody would have cared about another mural to MLK. \nI bet the crowds around this are huge", ">\n\neasy art doesn't make you think", ">\n\nWhy are we always supposed to “think”? I prefer to just enjoy art and it not be work for me.", ">\n\nThen stick to MCU movies.", ">\n\nWhy? I don’t like those", ">\n\nThats what that thing is supposed to be?? Actually terrible design", ">\n\nI mean from angles it looks like a metamucil advertisement.\nOr something else is being held. \nI think that the monument needed to be viewed from all angles or be like identifiable and not viewed as potentially abstract.", ">\n\nThe piece is called \"Thanks PF Changs\" and it was sculpted by Singer/Songwriter Lorde.", ">\n\nYeah... They messed this one up. I want to think over time it'll be appreciated, but it is just poorly done. Heck, on another level I don't like it because it is a statue of MLK and his wife, and we know now how much he cheated on her. It just doesn't work on any level and at best its a MLK statue for the sake of MLK, at worse it undermines MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nYikes that’s true. It’s weird to have included her", ">\n\nIt's like the majority of so-called \"modern art\". It's deliberately pointless, so that people who like to imagine themselves deep thinkers can stand around it pretending they \"get it.\"", ">\n\nThe phrase 'modern art' is a misnomer.", ">\n\nIt really is. That entire scene is just a bunch of rich people flexing their wealth because they can. Art has nothing to do with it.", ">\n\nThis is so fucking stupid. As if this man was summed up by one single fucking moment in life with that picture. I don't get it. A statue based on a photograph of a portion? Can't come up with something creative? Maybe have a statue of him being publicly executed? For all we know the night of that picture could have been the worst of his and hers. I am not even familiar with the picture. As a kid I knew Dr. King as a man that literally changed my world. I saw how awful the world was and he gave me hope in a better place. We got there for a minute. Most people love their spouses. Most people don't love the world!", ">\n\nIt’s the moment when MLK found out he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Apparently you can walk in the middle of the arm vortex and “feel the embrace” of that moment, which is honestly a pretty cool concept….. The statue is still super meh.", ">\n\nLike is it poop? Or a penis? I dunno", ">\n\nFirst thought was it’s The Detachable kid from Suicide Squad", ">\n\nI was reading this book, it's like a part Indiana Jones, part spy thriller. \nSo the lady archeologist and her obvious love interest are discussing how to get through the second door in a tomb after they solved a puzzle for first one. \nAnd then they hear enemies coming in and they have to rush - they kept talking about what symbols mean on the door. \nThen their obvious comedy relief side kick just runs toward the door, pushes it like a normal door and tells them \n\"Guys, sometimes a door is just a door\". \nI feel sometimes some decisions made for this monument design are unnecessarily trying to be special or unique for no good reason, when they could have followed the straight forward approach.", ">\n\nI keep waiting for a terrorist organization to call and take credit for wrecking the original sculpture", ">\n\nWell do you know who loves the new MLK statue?\nAssy McGee", ">\n\nI feel like it has failed completely. People immediately forget about any message as soon as they see it. And it looks objectively awful. From some angles, it looks like someone is eating butt. Not a great tribute.", ">\n\nWild that somebody got paid to make this. Where can I sign up?", ">\n\nI’m an MA resident (and a RISD student for what it’s worth) and this is the first time i’m hearing about voting for this monstrosity so i’d love to know who all voted for this. \nAfter reading the thoughts behind each piece, it seems like the planners went with an organic sense of interacting with it (apparently you can go inside though why you’d want to Ill never understand). the mock up pictures were from the air or one particular angle and appear much more bronze in color than the dark brown of reality. \nThe other contenders were more modern and relied on both tech and the written word to celebrate MLK, so perhaps that’s why? \nIt’s definitely garnering worldwide attention though for none of the reasons one would hope.\nFor anyone interested in viewing the other contenders here’s the link.\nWhat a phenomenal waste of money…", ">\n\nI'm also thinking of the mis-monument to him in Washington D.C..\nWhy can't people who want to commemorate him find an artist who will leave things at making a simple likeness of him?", ">\n\nI thought his statue in buffalo ny was bad, and boy is it bad. This one took the cake.", ">\n\nIt really is terrible for 10.5M", ">\n\nI went to the one in DC right after it was built 10 years ago and it wasn't the best in my opinion either. Almost like they begrudgingly did it.", ">\n\nI’ll say this. If every time it’s shown to some one. It needs to be shown with context to make it not look like a turd. \nProbably bad design", ">\n\nOf course and many wont publically comment", ">\n\nMost iconic art and architecture is panned at first. Time will tell.", ">\n\nBoston, as we know, is a beacon of racial diversity", ">\n\nPretty sure Dr. King preached humility.. He didn't place himself and his ideals as an elevation beyond common understanding, but rather tried to speak to everyone as a preacher and a servant. Why is the statue something so abstract, almost self indulgently so? Why is it so lofty and dominating?\nAnd the rationale is supposed to be about peace and love, a moment of reflection in a quiet part of the city. Celebrating an ideal rather then a man, and his wife who is often overlooked. But yet its so large, dominating all the space, and confusing. Its not familiar, as love should be, but strange. It doesn't feel warm, it feels artificial and cold.\nI like the intent behind it and the idea, but seriously. I thought the whole point was to celebrate something common to most people? I'm pretty sure for most people this is just going to be confusing.", ">\n\nIt actually originally had heads, but Bart Simpson wanted to impress the bullies", ">\n\n10 million dollars for a statue of an aloft turd. That's a 10/10 grift if I've ever seen one, well done", ">\n\nIt's not a MLK jr statue..... It's a sculpture of arms. It is inspired by a photograph... of MLK jr's arms around his wife. But no one would know that if they never saw the photo (which I have not...).\nFuture generations will look at this sculpture and wonder \"WTF is this?\" because it conveys zero MLK jr vibes.\nI mean... anyone can make a sculpture based on a photo. How about a famous photo with a face in it... (Is the artist not good with faces?)\nThe public is correct in its mockery of such a dumb object (and the price paid for it).", ">\n\nWho was crazy enough to trust Boston of all cities to construct a monument for black people?", ">\n\n\nThe art piece, designed by Brooklyn-based conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas\n\nIn case you're wondering, that's Brooklyn, New York.", ">\n\nMaybe MLK was hung?\nWe don't know.", ">\n\nNo, he was shot.", ">\n\nOh, I'm going to hell..." ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times", ">\n\nThis just became the most famous piece of art in the country right now. \nControversy like this is exactly what they want art to do. Nobody would have cared about another mural to MLK. \nI bet the crowds around this are huge", ">\n\neasy art doesn't make you think", ">\n\nWhy are we always supposed to “think”? I prefer to just enjoy art and it not be work for me.", ">\n\nThen stick to MCU movies.", ">\n\nWhy? I don’t like those", ">\n\nThats what that thing is supposed to be?? Actually terrible design", ">\n\nI mean from angles it looks like a metamucil advertisement.\nOr something else is being held. \nI think that the monument needed to be viewed from all angles or be like identifiable and not viewed as potentially abstract.", ">\n\nThe piece is called \"Thanks PF Changs\" and it was sculpted by Singer/Songwriter Lorde.", ">\n\nYeah... They messed this one up. I want to think over time it'll be appreciated, but it is just poorly done. Heck, on another level I don't like it because it is a statue of MLK and his wife, and we know now how much he cheated on her. It just doesn't work on any level and at best its a MLK statue for the sake of MLK, at worse it undermines MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nYikes that’s true. It’s weird to have included her", ">\n\nIt's like the majority of so-called \"modern art\". It's deliberately pointless, so that people who like to imagine themselves deep thinkers can stand around it pretending they \"get it.\"", ">\n\nThe phrase 'modern art' is a misnomer.", ">\n\nIt really is. That entire scene is just a bunch of rich people flexing their wealth because they can. Art has nothing to do with it.", ">\n\nThis is so fucking stupid. As if this man was summed up by one single fucking moment in life with that picture. I don't get it. A statue based on a photograph of a portion? Can't come up with something creative? Maybe have a statue of him being publicly executed? For all we know the night of that picture could have been the worst of his and hers. I am not even familiar with the picture. As a kid I knew Dr. King as a man that literally changed my world. I saw how awful the world was and he gave me hope in a better place. We got there for a minute. Most people love their spouses. Most people don't love the world!", ">\n\nIt’s the moment when MLK found out he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Apparently you can walk in the middle of the arm vortex and “feel the embrace” of that moment, which is honestly a pretty cool concept….. The statue is still super meh.", ">\n\nLike is it poop? Or a penis? I dunno", ">\n\nFirst thought was it’s The Detachable kid from Suicide Squad", ">\n\nI was reading this book, it's like a part Indiana Jones, part spy thriller. \nSo the lady archeologist and her obvious love interest are discussing how to get through the second door in a tomb after they solved a puzzle for first one. \nAnd then they hear enemies coming in and they have to rush - they kept talking about what symbols mean on the door. \nThen their obvious comedy relief side kick just runs toward the door, pushes it like a normal door and tells them \n\"Guys, sometimes a door is just a door\". \nI feel sometimes some decisions made for this monument design are unnecessarily trying to be special or unique for no good reason, when they could have followed the straight forward approach.", ">\n\nI keep waiting for a terrorist organization to call and take credit for wrecking the original sculpture", ">\n\nWell do you know who loves the new MLK statue?\nAssy McGee", ">\n\nI feel like it has failed completely. People immediately forget about any message as soon as they see it. And it looks objectively awful. From some angles, it looks like someone is eating butt. Not a great tribute.", ">\n\nWild that somebody got paid to make this. Where can I sign up?", ">\n\nI’m an MA resident (and a RISD student for what it’s worth) and this is the first time i’m hearing about voting for this monstrosity so i’d love to know who all voted for this. \nAfter reading the thoughts behind each piece, it seems like the planners went with an organic sense of interacting with it (apparently you can go inside though why you’d want to Ill never understand). the mock up pictures were from the air or one particular angle and appear much more bronze in color than the dark brown of reality. \nThe other contenders were more modern and relied on both tech and the written word to celebrate MLK, so perhaps that’s why? \nIt’s definitely garnering worldwide attention though for none of the reasons one would hope.\nFor anyone interested in viewing the other contenders here’s the link.\nWhat a phenomenal waste of money…", ">\n\nI'm also thinking of the mis-monument to him in Washington D.C..\nWhy can't people who want to commemorate him find an artist who will leave things at making a simple likeness of him?", ">\n\nI thought his statue in buffalo ny was bad, and boy is it bad. This one took the cake.", ">\n\nIt really is terrible for 10.5M", ">\n\nI went to the one in DC right after it was built 10 years ago and it wasn't the best in my opinion either. Almost like they begrudgingly did it.", ">\n\nI’ll say this. If every time it’s shown to some one. It needs to be shown with context to make it not look like a turd. \nProbably bad design", ">\n\nOf course and many wont publically comment", ">\n\nMost iconic art and architecture is panned at first. Time will tell.", ">\n\nBoston, as we know, is a beacon of racial diversity", ">\n\nPretty sure Dr. King preached humility.. He didn't place himself and his ideals as an elevation beyond common understanding, but rather tried to speak to everyone as a preacher and a servant. Why is the statue something so abstract, almost self indulgently so? Why is it so lofty and dominating?\nAnd the rationale is supposed to be about peace and love, a moment of reflection in a quiet part of the city. Celebrating an ideal rather then a man, and his wife who is often overlooked. But yet its so large, dominating all the space, and confusing. Its not familiar, as love should be, but strange. It doesn't feel warm, it feels artificial and cold.\nI like the intent behind it and the idea, but seriously. I thought the whole point was to celebrate something common to most people? I'm pretty sure for most people this is just going to be confusing.", ">\n\nIt actually originally had heads, but Bart Simpson wanted to impress the bullies", ">\n\n10 million dollars for a statue of an aloft turd. That's a 10/10 grift if I've ever seen one, well done", ">\n\nIt's not a MLK jr statue..... It's a sculpture of arms. It is inspired by a photograph... of MLK jr's arms around his wife. But no one would know that if they never saw the photo (which I have not...).\nFuture generations will look at this sculpture and wonder \"WTF is this?\" because it conveys zero MLK jr vibes.\nI mean... anyone can make a sculpture based on a photo. How about a famous photo with a face in it... (Is the artist not good with faces?)\nThe public is correct in its mockery of such a dumb object (and the price paid for it).", ">\n\nWho was crazy enough to trust Boston of all cities to construct a monument for black people?", ">\n\n\nThe art piece, designed by Brooklyn-based conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas\n\nIn case you're wondering, that's Brooklyn, New York.", ">\n\nMaybe MLK was hung?\nWe don't know.", ">\n\nNo, he was shot.", ">\n\nOh, I'm going to hell...", ">\n\nThere are no accidents" ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times", ">\n\nThis just became the most famous piece of art in the country right now. \nControversy like this is exactly what they want art to do. Nobody would have cared about another mural to MLK. \nI bet the crowds around this are huge", ">\n\neasy art doesn't make you think", ">\n\nWhy are we always supposed to “think”? I prefer to just enjoy art and it not be work for me.", ">\n\nThen stick to MCU movies.", ">\n\nWhy? I don’t like those", ">\n\nThats what that thing is supposed to be?? Actually terrible design", ">\n\nI mean from angles it looks like a metamucil advertisement.\nOr something else is being held. \nI think that the monument needed to be viewed from all angles or be like identifiable and not viewed as potentially abstract.", ">\n\nThe piece is called \"Thanks PF Changs\" and it was sculpted by Singer/Songwriter Lorde.", ">\n\nYeah... They messed this one up. I want to think over time it'll be appreciated, but it is just poorly done. Heck, on another level I don't like it because it is a statue of MLK and his wife, and we know now how much he cheated on her. It just doesn't work on any level and at best its a MLK statue for the sake of MLK, at worse it undermines MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nYikes that’s true. It’s weird to have included her", ">\n\nIt's like the majority of so-called \"modern art\". It's deliberately pointless, so that people who like to imagine themselves deep thinkers can stand around it pretending they \"get it.\"", ">\n\nThe phrase 'modern art' is a misnomer.", ">\n\nIt really is. That entire scene is just a bunch of rich people flexing their wealth because they can. Art has nothing to do with it.", ">\n\nThis is so fucking stupid. As if this man was summed up by one single fucking moment in life with that picture. I don't get it. A statue based on a photograph of a portion? Can't come up with something creative? Maybe have a statue of him being publicly executed? For all we know the night of that picture could have been the worst of his and hers. I am not even familiar with the picture. As a kid I knew Dr. King as a man that literally changed my world. I saw how awful the world was and he gave me hope in a better place. We got there for a minute. Most people love their spouses. Most people don't love the world!", ">\n\nIt’s the moment when MLK found out he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Apparently you can walk in the middle of the arm vortex and “feel the embrace” of that moment, which is honestly a pretty cool concept….. The statue is still super meh.", ">\n\nLike is it poop? Or a penis? I dunno", ">\n\nFirst thought was it’s The Detachable kid from Suicide Squad", ">\n\nI was reading this book, it's like a part Indiana Jones, part spy thriller. \nSo the lady archeologist and her obvious love interest are discussing how to get through the second door in a tomb after they solved a puzzle for first one. \nAnd then they hear enemies coming in and they have to rush - they kept talking about what symbols mean on the door. \nThen their obvious comedy relief side kick just runs toward the door, pushes it like a normal door and tells them \n\"Guys, sometimes a door is just a door\". \nI feel sometimes some decisions made for this monument design are unnecessarily trying to be special or unique for no good reason, when they could have followed the straight forward approach.", ">\n\nI keep waiting for a terrorist organization to call and take credit for wrecking the original sculpture", ">\n\nWell do you know who loves the new MLK statue?\nAssy McGee", ">\n\nI feel like it has failed completely. People immediately forget about any message as soon as they see it. And it looks objectively awful. From some angles, it looks like someone is eating butt. Not a great tribute.", ">\n\nWild that somebody got paid to make this. Where can I sign up?", ">\n\nI’m an MA resident (and a RISD student for what it’s worth) and this is the first time i’m hearing about voting for this monstrosity so i’d love to know who all voted for this. \nAfter reading the thoughts behind each piece, it seems like the planners went with an organic sense of interacting with it (apparently you can go inside though why you’d want to Ill never understand). the mock up pictures were from the air or one particular angle and appear much more bronze in color than the dark brown of reality. \nThe other contenders were more modern and relied on both tech and the written word to celebrate MLK, so perhaps that’s why? \nIt’s definitely garnering worldwide attention though for none of the reasons one would hope.\nFor anyone interested in viewing the other contenders here’s the link.\nWhat a phenomenal waste of money…", ">\n\nI'm also thinking of the mis-monument to him in Washington D.C..\nWhy can't people who want to commemorate him find an artist who will leave things at making a simple likeness of him?", ">\n\nI thought his statue in buffalo ny was bad, and boy is it bad. This one took the cake.", ">\n\nIt really is terrible for 10.5M", ">\n\nI went to the one in DC right after it was built 10 years ago and it wasn't the best in my opinion either. Almost like they begrudgingly did it.", ">\n\nI’ll say this. If every time it’s shown to some one. It needs to be shown with context to make it not look like a turd. \nProbably bad design", ">\n\nOf course and many wont publically comment", ">\n\nMost iconic art and architecture is panned at first. Time will tell.", ">\n\nBoston, as we know, is a beacon of racial diversity", ">\n\nPretty sure Dr. King preached humility.. He didn't place himself and his ideals as an elevation beyond common understanding, but rather tried to speak to everyone as a preacher and a servant. Why is the statue something so abstract, almost self indulgently so? Why is it so lofty and dominating?\nAnd the rationale is supposed to be about peace and love, a moment of reflection in a quiet part of the city. Celebrating an ideal rather then a man, and his wife who is often overlooked. But yet its so large, dominating all the space, and confusing. Its not familiar, as love should be, but strange. It doesn't feel warm, it feels artificial and cold.\nI like the intent behind it and the idea, but seriously. I thought the whole point was to celebrate something common to most people? I'm pretty sure for most people this is just going to be confusing.", ">\n\nIt actually originally had heads, but Bart Simpson wanted to impress the bullies", ">\n\n10 million dollars for a statue of an aloft turd. That's a 10/10 grift if I've ever seen one, well done", ">\n\nIt's not a MLK jr statue..... It's a sculpture of arms. It is inspired by a photograph... of MLK jr's arms around his wife. But no one would know that if they never saw the photo (which I have not...).\nFuture generations will look at this sculpture and wonder \"WTF is this?\" because it conveys zero MLK jr vibes.\nI mean... anyone can make a sculpture based on a photo. How about a famous photo with a face in it... (Is the artist not good with faces?)\nThe public is correct in its mockery of such a dumb object (and the price paid for it).", ">\n\nWho was crazy enough to trust Boston of all cities to construct a monument for black people?", ">\n\n\nThe art piece, designed by Brooklyn-based conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas\n\nIn case you're wondering, that's Brooklyn, New York.", ">\n\nMaybe MLK was hung?\nWe don't know.", ">\n\nNo, he was shot.", ">\n\nOh, I'm going to hell...", ">\n\nThere are no accidents", ">\n\nA monumental monument to self-parody and group think that pervades our society" ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times", ">\n\nThis just became the most famous piece of art in the country right now. \nControversy like this is exactly what they want art to do. Nobody would have cared about another mural to MLK. \nI bet the crowds around this are huge", ">\n\neasy art doesn't make you think", ">\n\nWhy are we always supposed to “think”? I prefer to just enjoy art and it not be work for me.", ">\n\nThen stick to MCU movies.", ">\n\nWhy? I don’t like those", ">\n\nThats what that thing is supposed to be?? Actually terrible design", ">\n\nI mean from angles it looks like a metamucil advertisement.\nOr something else is being held. \nI think that the monument needed to be viewed from all angles or be like identifiable and not viewed as potentially abstract.", ">\n\nThe piece is called \"Thanks PF Changs\" and it was sculpted by Singer/Songwriter Lorde.", ">\n\nYeah... They messed this one up. I want to think over time it'll be appreciated, but it is just poorly done. Heck, on another level I don't like it because it is a statue of MLK and his wife, and we know now how much he cheated on her. It just doesn't work on any level and at best its a MLK statue for the sake of MLK, at worse it undermines MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nYikes that’s true. It’s weird to have included her", ">\n\nIt's like the majority of so-called \"modern art\". It's deliberately pointless, so that people who like to imagine themselves deep thinkers can stand around it pretending they \"get it.\"", ">\n\nThe phrase 'modern art' is a misnomer.", ">\n\nIt really is. That entire scene is just a bunch of rich people flexing their wealth because they can. Art has nothing to do with it.", ">\n\nThis is so fucking stupid. As if this man was summed up by one single fucking moment in life with that picture. I don't get it. A statue based on a photograph of a portion? Can't come up with something creative? Maybe have a statue of him being publicly executed? For all we know the night of that picture could have been the worst of his and hers. I am not even familiar with the picture. As a kid I knew Dr. King as a man that literally changed my world. I saw how awful the world was and he gave me hope in a better place. We got there for a minute. Most people love their spouses. Most people don't love the world!", ">\n\nIt’s the moment when MLK found out he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Apparently you can walk in the middle of the arm vortex and “feel the embrace” of that moment, which is honestly a pretty cool concept….. The statue is still super meh.", ">\n\nLike is it poop? Or a penis? I dunno", ">\n\nFirst thought was it’s The Detachable kid from Suicide Squad", ">\n\nI was reading this book, it's like a part Indiana Jones, part spy thriller. \nSo the lady archeologist and her obvious love interest are discussing how to get through the second door in a tomb after they solved a puzzle for first one. \nAnd then they hear enemies coming in and they have to rush - they kept talking about what symbols mean on the door. \nThen their obvious comedy relief side kick just runs toward the door, pushes it like a normal door and tells them \n\"Guys, sometimes a door is just a door\". \nI feel sometimes some decisions made for this monument design are unnecessarily trying to be special or unique for no good reason, when they could have followed the straight forward approach.", ">\n\nI keep waiting for a terrorist organization to call and take credit for wrecking the original sculpture", ">\n\nWell do you know who loves the new MLK statue?\nAssy McGee", ">\n\nI feel like it has failed completely. People immediately forget about any message as soon as they see it. And it looks objectively awful. From some angles, it looks like someone is eating butt. Not a great tribute.", ">\n\nWild that somebody got paid to make this. Where can I sign up?", ">\n\nI’m an MA resident (and a RISD student for what it’s worth) and this is the first time i’m hearing about voting for this monstrosity so i’d love to know who all voted for this. \nAfter reading the thoughts behind each piece, it seems like the planners went with an organic sense of interacting with it (apparently you can go inside though why you’d want to Ill never understand). the mock up pictures were from the air or one particular angle and appear much more bronze in color than the dark brown of reality. \nThe other contenders were more modern and relied on both tech and the written word to celebrate MLK, so perhaps that’s why? \nIt’s definitely garnering worldwide attention though for none of the reasons one would hope.\nFor anyone interested in viewing the other contenders here’s the link.\nWhat a phenomenal waste of money…", ">\n\nI'm also thinking of the mis-monument to him in Washington D.C..\nWhy can't people who want to commemorate him find an artist who will leave things at making a simple likeness of him?", ">\n\nI thought his statue in buffalo ny was bad, and boy is it bad. This one took the cake.", ">\n\nIt really is terrible for 10.5M", ">\n\nI went to the one in DC right after it was built 10 years ago and it wasn't the best in my opinion either. Almost like they begrudgingly did it.", ">\n\nI’ll say this. If every time it’s shown to some one. It needs to be shown with context to make it not look like a turd. \nProbably bad design", ">\n\nOf course and many wont publically comment", ">\n\nMost iconic art and architecture is panned at first. Time will tell.", ">\n\nBoston, as we know, is a beacon of racial diversity", ">\n\nPretty sure Dr. King preached humility.. He didn't place himself and his ideals as an elevation beyond common understanding, but rather tried to speak to everyone as a preacher and a servant. Why is the statue something so abstract, almost self indulgently so? Why is it so lofty and dominating?\nAnd the rationale is supposed to be about peace and love, a moment of reflection in a quiet part of the city. Celebrating an ideal rather then a man, and his wife who is often overlooked. But yet its so large, dominating all the space, and confusing. Its not familiar, as love should be, but strange. It doesn't feel warm, it feels artificial and cold.\nI like the intent behind it and the idea, but seriously. I thought the whole point was to celebrate something common to most people? I'm pretty sure for most people this is just going to be confusing.", ">\n\nIt actually originally had heads, but Bart Simpson wanted to impress the bullies", ">\n\n10 million dollars for a statue of an aloft turd. That's a 10/10 grift if I've ever seen one, well done", ">\n\nIt's not a MLK jr statue..... It's a sculpture of arms. It is inspired by a photograph... of MLK jr's arms around his wife. But no one would know that if they never saw the photo (which I have not...).\nFuture generations will look at this sculpture and wonder \"WTF is this?\" because it conveys zero MLK jr vibes.\nI mean... anyone can make a sculpture based on a photo. How about a famous photo with a face in it... (Is the artist not good with faces?)\nThe public is correct in its mockery of such a dumb object (and the price paid for it).", ">\n\nWho was crazy enough to trust Boston of all cities to construct a monument for black people?", ">\n\n\nThe art piece, designed by Brooklyn-based conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas\n\nIn case you're wondering, that's Brooklyn, New York.", ">\n\nMaybe MLK was hung?\nWe don't know.", ">\n\nNo, he was shot.", ">\n\nOh, I'm going to hell...", ">\n\nThere are no accidents", ">\n\nA monumental monument to self-parody and group think that pervades our society", ">\n\nThis shit sucks. What a disgrace to the man." ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times", ">\n\nThis just became the most famous piece of art in the country right now. \nControversy like this is exactly what they want art to do. Nobody would have cared about another mural to MLK. \nI bet the crowds around this are huge", ">\n\neasy art doesn't make you think", ">\n\nWhy are we always supposed to “think”? I prefer to just enjoy art and it not be work for me.", ">\n\nThen stick to MCU movies.", ">\n\nWhy? I don’t like those", ">\n\nThats what that thing is supposed to be?? Actually terrible design", ">\n\nI mean from angles it looks like a metamucil advertisement.\nOr something else is being held. \nI think that the monument needed to be viewed from all angles or be like identifiable and not viewed as potentially abstract.", ">\n\nThe piece is called \"Thanks PF Changs\" and it was sculpted by Singer/Songwriter Lorde.", ">\n\nYeah... They messed this one up. I want to think over time it'll be appreciated, but it is just poorly done. Heck, on another level I don't like it because it is a statue of MLK and his wife, and we know now how much he cheated on her. It just doesn't work on any level and at best its a MLK statue for the sake of MLK, at worse it undermines MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nYikes that’s true. It’s weird to have included her", ">\n\nIt's like the majority of so-called \"modern art\". It's deliberately pointless, so that people who like to imagine themselves deep thinkers can stand around it pretending they \"get it.\"", ">\n\nThe phrase 'modern art' is a misnomer.", ">\n\nIt really is. That entire scene is just a bunch of rich people flexing their wealth because they can. Art has nothing to do with it.", ">\n\nThis is so fucking stupid. As if this man was summed up by one single fucking moment in life with that picture. I don't get it. A statue based on a photograph of a portion? Can't come up with something creative? Maybe have a statue of him being publicly executed? For all we know the night of that picture could have been the worst of his and hers. I am not even familiar with the picture. As a kid I knew Dr. King as a man that literally changed my world. I saw how awful the world was and he gave me hope in a better place. We got there for a minute. Most people love their spouses. Most people don't love the world!", ">\n\nIt’s the moment when MLK found out he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Apparently you can walk in the middle of the arm vortex and “feel the embrace” of that moment, which is honestly a pretty cool concept….. The statue is still super meh.", ">\n\nLike is it poop? Or a penis? I dunno", ">\n\nFirst thought was it’s The Detachable kid from Suicide Squad", ">\n\nI was reading this book, it's like a part Indiana Jones, part spy thriller. \nSo the lady archeologist and her obvious love interest are discussing how to get through the second door in a tomb after they solved a puzzle for first one. \nAnd then they hear enemies coming in and they have to rush - they kept talking about what symbols mean on the door. \nThen their obvious comedy relief side kick just runs toward the door, pushes it like a normal door and tells them \n\"Guys, sometimes a door is just a door\". \nI feel sometimes some decisions made for this monument design are unnecessarily trying to be special or unique for no good reason, when they could have followed the straight forward approach.", ">\n\nI keep waiting for a terrorist organization to call and take credit for wrecking the original sculpture", ">\n\nWell do you know who loves the new MLK statue?\nAssy McGee", ">\n\nI feel like it has failed completely. People immediately forget about any message as soon as they see it. And it looks objectively awful. From some angles, it looks like someone is eating butt. Not a great tribute.", ">\n\nWild that somebody got paid to make this. Where can I sign up?", ">\n\nI’m an MA resident (and a RISD student for what it’s worth) and this is the first time i’m hearing about voting for this monstrosity so i’d love to know who all voted for this. \nAfter reading the thoughts behind each piece, it seems like the planners went with an organic sense of interacting with it (apparently you can go inside though why you’d want to Ill never understand). the mock up pictures were from the air or one particular angle and appear much more bronze in color than the dark brown of reality. \nThe other contenders were more modern and relied on both tech and the written word to celebrate MLK, so perhaps that’s why? \nIt’s definitely garnering worldwide attention though for none of the reasons one would hope.\nFor anyone interested in viewing the other contenders here’s the link.\nWhat a phenomenal waste of money…", ">\n\nI'm also thinking of the mis-monument to him in Washington D.C..\nWhy can't people who want to commemorate him find an artist who will leave things at making a simple likeness of him?", ">\n\nI thought his statue in buffalo ny was bad, and boy is it bad. This one took the cake.", ">\n\nIt really is terrible for 10.5M", ">\n\nI went to the one in DC right after it was built 10 years ago and it wasn't the best in my opinion either. Almost like they begrudgingly did it.", ">\n\nI’ll say this. If every time it’s shown to some one. It needs to be shown with context to make it not look like a turd. \nProbably bad design", ">\n\nOf course and many wont publically comment", ">\n\nMost iconic art and architecture is panned at first. Time will tell.", ">\n\nBoston, as we know, is a beacon of racial diversity", ">\n\nPretty sure Dr. King preached humility.. He didn't place himself and his ideals as an elevation beyond common understanding, but rather tried to speak to everyone as a preacher and a servant. Why is the statue something so abstract, almost self indulgently so? Why is it so lofty and dominating?\nAnd the rationale is supposed to be about peace and love, a moment of reflection in a quiet part of the city. Celebrating an ideal rather then a man, and his wife who is often overlooked. But yet its so large, dominating all the space, and confusing. Its not familiar, as love should be, but strange. It doesn't feel warm, it feels artificial and cold.\nI like the intent behind it and the idea, but seriously. I thought the whole point was to celebrate something common to most people? I'm pretty sure for most people this is just going to be confusing.", ">\n\nIt actually originally had heads, but Bart Simpson wanted to impress the bullies", ">\n\n10 million dollars for a statue of an aloft turd. That's a 10/10 grift if I've ever seen one, well done", ">\n\nIt's not a MLK jr statue..... It's a sculpture of arms. It is inspired by a photograph... of MLK jr's arms around his wife. But no one would know that if they never saw the photo (which I have not...).\nFuture generations will look at this sculpture and wonder \"WTF is this?\" because it conveys zero MLK jr vibes.\nI mean... anyone can make a sculpture based on a photo. How about a famous photo with a face in it... (Is the artist not good with faces?)\nThe public is correct in its mockery of such a dumb object (and the price paid for it).", ">\n\nWho was crazy enough to trust Boston of all cities to construct a monument for black people?", ">\n\n\nThe art piece, designed by Brooklyn-based conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas\n\nIn case you're wondering, that's Brooklyn, New York.", ">\n\nMaybe MLK was hung?\nWe don't know.", ">\n\nNo, he was shot.", ">\n\nOh, I'm going to hell...", ">\n\nThere are no accidents", ">\n\nA monumental monument to self-parody and group think that pervades our society", ">\n\nThis shit sucks. What a disgrace to the man.", ">\n\nIt’s a statement about love… you can love the dick or you can love the pussy." ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times", ">\n\nThis just became the most famous piece of art in the country right now. \nControversy like this is exactly what they want art to do. Nobody would have cared about another mural to MLK. \nI bet the crowds around this are huge", ">\n\neasy art doesn't make you think", ">\n\nWhy are we always supposed to “think”? I prefer to just enjoy art and it not be work for me.", ">\n\nThen stick to MCU movies.", ">\n\nWhy? I don’t like those", ">\n\nThats what that thing is supposed to be?? Actually terrible design", ">\n\nI mean from angles it looks like a metamucil advertisement.\nOr something else is being held. \nI think that the monument needed to be viewed from all angles or be like identifiable and not viewed as potentially abstract.", ">\n\nThe piece is called \"Thanks PF Changs\" and it was sculpted by Singer/Songwriter Lorde.", ">\n\nYeah... They messed this one up. I want to think over time it'll be appreciated, but it is just poorly done. Heck, on another level I don't like it because it is a statue of MLK and his wife, and we know now how much he cheated on her. It just doesn't work on any level and at best its a MLK statue for the sake of MLK, at worse it undermines MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nYikes that’s true. It’s weird to have included her", ">\n\nIt's like the majority of so-called \"modern art\". It's deliberately pointless, so that people who like to imagine themselves deep thinkers can stand around it pretending they \"get it.\"", ">\n\nThe phrase 'modern art' is a misnomer.", ">\n\nIt really is. That entire scene is just a bunch of rich people flexing their wealth because they can. Art has nothing to do with it.", ">\n\nThis is so fucking stupid. As if this man was summed up by one single fucking moment in life with that picture. I don't get it. A statue based on a photograph of a portion? Can't come up with something creative? Maybe have a statue of him being publicly executed? For all we know the night of that picture could have been the worst of his and hers. I am not even familiar with the picture. As a kid I knew Dr. King as a man that literally changed my world. I saw how awful the world was and he gave me hope in a better place. We got there for a minute. Most people love their spouses. Most people don't love the world!", ">\n\nIt’s the moment when MLK found out he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Apparently you can walk in the middle of the arm vortex and “feel the embrace” of that moment, which is honestly a pretty cool concept….. The statue is still super meh.", ">\n\nLike is it poop? Or a penis? I dunno", ">\n\nFirst thought was it’s The Detachable kid from Suicide Squad", ">\n\nI was reading this book, it's like a part Indiana Jones, part spy thriller. \nSo the lady archeologist and her obvious love interest are discussing how to get through the second door in a tomb after they solved a puzzle for first one. \nAnd then they hear enemies coming in and they have to rush - they kept talking about what symbols mean on the door. \nThen their obvious comedy relief side kick just runs toward the door, pushes it like a normal door and tells them \n\"Guys, sometimes a door is just a door\". \nI feel sometimes some decisions made for this monument design are unnecessarily trying to be special or unique for no good reason, when they could have followed the straight forward approach.", ">\n\nI keep waiting for a terrorist organization to call and take credit for wrecking the original sculpture", ">\n\nWell do you know who loves the new MLK statue?\nAssy McGee", ">\n\nI feel like it has failed completely. People immediately forget about any message as soon as they see it. And it looks objectively awful. From some angles, it looks like someone is eating butt. Not a great tribute.", ">\n\nWild that somebody got paid to make this. Where can I sign up?", ">\n\nI’m an MA resident (and a RISD student for what it’s worth) and this is the first time i’m hearing about voting for this monstrosity so i’d love to know who all voted for this. \nAfter reading the thoughts behind each piece, it seems like the planners went with an organic sense of interacting with it (apparently you can go inside though why you’d want to Ill never understand). the mock up pictures were from the air or one particular angle and appear much more bronze in color than the dark brown of reality. \nThe other contenders were more modern and relied on both tech and the written word to celebrate MLK, so perhaps that’s why? \nIt’s definitely garnering worldwide attention though for none of the reasons one would hope.\nFor anyone interested in viewing the other contenders here’s the link.\nWhat a phenomenal waste of money…", ">\n\nI'm also thinking of the mis-monument to him in Washington D.C..\nWhy can't people who want to commemorate him find an artist who will leave things at making a simple likeness of him?", ">\n\nI thought his statue in buffalo ny was bad, and boy is it bad. This one took the cake.", ">\n\nIt really is terrible for 10.5M", ">\n\nI went to the one in DC right after it was built 10 years ago and it wasn't the best in my opinion either. Almost like they begrudgingly did it.", ">\n\nI’ll say this. If every time it’s shown to some one. It needs to be shown with context to make it not look like a turd. \nProbably bad design", ">\n\nOf course and many wont publically comment", ">\n\nMost iconic art and architecture is panned at first. Time will tell.", ">\n\nBoston, as we know, is a beacon of racial diversity", ">\n\nPretty sure Dr. King preached humility.. He didn't place himself and his ideals as an elevation beyond common understanding, but rather tried to speak to everyone as a preacher and a servant. Why is the statue something so abstract, almost self indulgently so? Why is it so lofty and dominating?\nAnd the rationale is supposed to be about peace and love, a moment of reflection in a quiet part of the city. Celebrating an ideal rather then a man, and his wife who is often overlooked. But yet its so large, dominating all the space, and confusing. Its not familiar, as love should be, but strange. It doesn't feel warm, it feels artificial and cold.\nI like the intent behind it and the idea, but seriously. I thought the whole point was to celebrate something common to most people? I'm pretty sure for most people this is just going to be confusing.", ">\n\nIt actually originally had heads, but Bart Simpson wanted to impress the bullies", ">\n\n10 million dollars for a statue of an aloft turd. That's a 10/10 grift if I've ever seen one, well done", ">\n\nIt's not a MLK jr statue..... It's a sculpture of arms. It is inspired by a photograph... of MLK jr's arms around his wife. But no one would know that if they never saw the photo (which I have not...).\nFuture generations will look at this sculpture and wonder \"WTF is this?\" because it conveys zero MLK jr vibes.\nI mean... anyone can make a sculpture based on a photo. How about a famous photo with a face in it... (Is the artist not good with faces?)\nThe public is correct in its mockery of such a dumb object (and the price paid for it).", ">\n\nWho was crazy enough to trust Boston of all cities to construct a monument for black people?", ">\n\n\nThe art piece, designed by Brooklyn-based conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas\n\nIn case you're wondering, that's Brooklyn, New York.", ">\n\nMaybe MLK was hung?\nWe don't know.", ">\n\nNo, he was shot.", ">\n\nOh, I'm going to hell...", ">\n\nThere are no accidents", ">\n\nA monumental monument to self-parody and group think that pervades our society", ">\n\nThis shit sucks. What a disgrace to the man.", ">\n\nIt’s a statement about love… you can love the dick or you can love the pussy.", ">\n\nWell it's Boston, home of mockery." ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times", ">\n\nThis just became the most famous piece of art in the country right now. \nControversy like this is exactly what they want art to do. Nobody would have cared about another mural to MLK. \nI bet the crowds around this are huge", ">\n\neasy art doesn't make you think", ">\n\nWhy are we always supposed to “think”? I prefer to just enjoy art and it not be work for me.", ">\n\nThen stick to MCU movies.", ">\n\nWhy? I don’t like those", ">\n\nThats what that thing is supposed to be?? Actually terrible design", ">\n\nI mean from angles it looks like a metamucil advertisement.\nOr something else is being held. \nI think that the monument needed to be viewed from all angles or be like identifiable and not viewed as potentially abstract.", ">\n\nThe piece is called \"Thanks PF Changs\" and it was sculpted by Singer/Songwriter Lorde.", ">\n\nYeah... They messed this one up. I want to think over time it'll be appreciated, but it is just poorly done. Heck, on another level I don't like it because it is a statue of MLK and his wife, and we know now how much he cheated on her. It just doesn't work on any level and at best its a MLK statue for the sake of MLK, at worse it undermines MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nYikes that’s true. It’s weird to have included her", ">\n\nIt's like the majority of so-called \"modern art\". It's deliberately pointless, so that people who like to imagine themselves deep thinkers can stand around it pretending they \"get it.\"", ">\n\nThe phrase 'modern art' is a misnomer.", ">\n\nIt really is. That entire scene is just a bunch of rich people flexing their wealth because they can. Art has nothing to do with it.", ">\n\nThis is so fucking stupid. As if this man was summed up by one single fucking moment in life with that picture. I don't get it. A statue based on a photograph of a portion? Can't come up with something creative? Maybe have a statue of him being publicly executed? For all we know the night of that picture could have been the worst of his and hers. I am not even familiar with the picture. As a kid I knew Dr. King as a man that literally changed my world. I saw how awful the world was and he gave me hope in a better place. We got there for a minute. Most people love their spouses. Most people don't love the world!", ">\n\nIt’s the moment when MLK found out he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Apparently you can walk in the middle of the arm vortex and “feel the embrace” of that moment, which is honestly a pretty cool concept….. The statue is still super meh.", ">\n\nLike is it poop? Or a penis? I dunno", ">\n\nFirst thought was it’s The Detachable kid from Suicide Squad", ">\n\nI was reading this book, it's like a part Indiana Jones, part spy thriller. \nSo the lady archeologist and her obvious love interest are discussing how to get through the second door in a tomb after they solved a puzzle for first one. \nAnd then they hear enemies coming in and they have to rush - they kept talking about what symbols mean on the door. \nThen their obvious comedy relief side kick just runs toward the door, pushes it like a normal door and tells them \n\"Guys, sometimes a door is just a door\". \nI feel sometimes some decisions made for this monument design are unnecessarily trying to be special or unique for no good reason, when they could have followed the straight forward approach.", ">\n\nI keep waiting for a terrorist organization to call and take credit for wrecking the original sculpture", ">\n\nWell do you know who loves the new MLK statue?\nAssy McGee", ">\n\nI feel like it has failed completely. People immediately forget about any message as soon as they see it. And it looks objectively awful. From some angles, it looks like someone is eating butt. Not a great tribute.", ">\n\nWild that somebody got paid to make this. Where can I sign up?", ">\n\nI’m an MA resident (and a RISD student for what it’s worth) and this is the first time i’m hearing about voting for this monstrosity so i’d love to know who all voted for this. \nAfter reading the thoughts behind each piece, it seems like the planners went with an organic sense of interacting with it (apparently you can go inside though why you’d want to Ill never understand). the mock up pictures were from the air or one particular angle and appear much more bronze in color than the dark brown of reality. \nThe other contenders were more modern and relied on both tech and the written word to celebrate MLK, so perhaps that’s why? \nIt’s definitely garnering worldwide attention though for none of the reasons one would hope.\nFor anyone interested in viewing the other contenders here’s the link.\nWhat a phenomenal waste of money…", ">\n\nI'm also thinking of the mis-monument to him in Washington D.C..\nWhy can't people who want to commemorate him find an artist who will leave things at making a simple likeness of him?", ">\n\nI thought his statue in buffalo ny was bad, and boy is it bad. This one took the cake.", ">\n\nIt really is terrible for 10.5M", ">\n\nI went to the one in DC right after it was built 10 years ago and it wasn't the best in my opinion either. Almost like they begrudgingly did it.", ">\n\nI’ll say this. If every time it’s shown to some one. It needs to be shown with context to make it not look like a turd. \nProbably bad design", ">\n\nOf course and many wont publically comment", ">\n\nMost iconic art and architecture is panned at first. Time will tell.", ">\n\nBoston, as we know, is a beacon of racial diversity", ">\n\nPretty sure Dr. King preached humility.. He didn't place himself and his ideals as an elevation beyond common understanding, but rather tried to speak to everyone as a preacher and a servant. Why is the statue something so abstract, almost self indulgently so? Why is it so lofty and dominating?\nAnd the rationale is supposed to be about peace and love, a moment of reflection in a quiet part of the city. Celebrating an ideal rather then a man, and his wife who is often overlooked. But yet its so large, dominating all the space, and confusing. Its not familiar, as love should be, but strange. It doesn't feel warm, it feels artificial and cold.\nI like the intent behind it and the idea, but seriously. I thought the whole point was to celebrate something common to most people? I'm pretty sure for most people this is just going to be confusing.", ">\n\nIt actually originally had heads, but Bart Simpson wanted to impress the bullies", ">\n\n10 million dollars for a statue of an aloft turd. That's a 10/10 grift if I've ever seen one, well done", ">\n\nIt's not a MLK jr statue..... It's a sculpture of arms. It is inspired by a photograph... of MLK jr's arms around his wife. But no one would know that if they never saw the photo (which I have not...).\nFuture generations will look at this sculpture and wonder \"WTF is this?\" because it conveys zero MLK jr vibes.\nI mean... anyone can make a sculpture based on a photo. How about a famous photo with a face in it... (Is the artist not good with faces?)\nThe public is correct in its mockery of such a dumb object (and the price paid for it).", ">\n\nWho was crazy enough to trust Boston of all cities to construct a monument for black people?", ">\n\n\nThe art piece, designed by Brooklyn-based conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas\n\nIn case you're wondering, that's Brooklyn, New York.", ">\n\nMaybe MLK was hung?\nWe don't know.", ">\n\nNo, he was shot.", ">\n\nOh, I'm going to hell...", ">\n\nThere are no accidents", ">\n\nA monumental monument to self-parody and group think that pervades our society", ">\n\nThis shit sucks. What a disgrace to the man.", ">\n\nIt’s a statement about love… you can love the dick or you can love the pussy.", ">\n\nWell it's Boston, home of mockery.", ">\n\nIronically, I think some people need to exercise a little tolerance towards the art piece." ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times", ">\n\nThis just became the most famous piece of art in the country right now. \nControversy like this is exactly what they want art to do. Nobody would have cared about another mural to MLK. \nI bet the crowds around this are huge", ">\n\neasy art doesn't make you think", ">\n\nWhy are we always supposed to “think”? I prefer to just enjoy art and it not be work for me.", ">\n\nThen stick to MCU movies.", ">\n\nWhy? I don’t like those", ">\n\nThats what that thing is supposed to be?? Actually terrible design", ">\n\nI mean from angles it looks like a metamucil advertisement.\nOr something else is being held. \nI think that the monument needed to be viewed from all angles or be like identifiable and not viewed as potentially abstract.", ">\n\nThe piece is called \"Thanks PF Changs\" and it was sculpted by Singer/Songwriter Lorde.", ">\n\nYeah... They messed this one up. I want to think over time it'll be appreciated, but it is just poorly done. Heck, on another level I don't like it because it is a statue of MLK and his wife, and we know now how much he cheated on her. It just doesn't work on any level and at best its a MLK statue for the sake of MLK, at worse it undermines MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nYikes that’s true. It’s weird to have included her", ">\n\nIt's like the majority of so-called \"modern art\". It's deliberately pointless, so that people who like to imagine themselves deep thinkers can stand around it pretending they \"get it.\"", ">\n\nThe phrase 'modern art' is a misnomer.", ">\n\nIt really is. That entire scene is just a bunch of rich people flexing their wealth because they can. Art has nothing to do with it.", ">\n\nThis is so fucking stupid. As if this man was summed up by one single fucking moment in life with that picture. I don't get it. A statue based on a photograph of a portion? Can't come up with something creative? Maybe have a statue of him being publicly executed? For all we know the night of that picture could have been the worst of his and hers. I am not even familiar with the picture. As a kid I knew Dr. King as a man that literally changed my world. I saw how awful the world was and he gave me hope in a better place. We got there for a minute. Most people love their spouses. Most people don't love the world!", ">\n\nIt’s the moment when MLK found out he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Apparently you can walk in the middle of the arm vortex and “feel the embrace” of that moment, which is honestly a pretty cool concept….. The statue is still super meh.", ">\n\nLike is it poop? Or a penis? I dunno", ">\n\nFirst thought was it’s The Detachable kid from Suicide Squad", ">\n\nI was reading this book, it's like a part Indiana Jones, part spy thriller. \nSo the lady archeologist and her obvious love interest are discussing how to get through the second door in a tomb after they solved a puzzle for first one. \nAnd then they hear enemies coming in and they have to rush - they kept talking about what symbols mean on the door. \nThen their obvious comedy relief side kick just runs toward the door, pushes it like a normal door and tells them \n\"Guys, sometimes a door is just a door\". \nI feel sometimes some decisions made for this monument design are unnecessarily trying to be special or unique for no good reason, when they could have followed the straight forward approach.", ">\n\nI keep waiting for a terrorist organization to call and take credit for wrecking the original sculpture", ">\n\nWell do you know who loves the new MLK statue?\nAssy McGee", ">\n\nI feel like it has failed completely. People immediately forget about any message as soon as they see it. And it looks objectively awful. From some angles, it looks like someone is eating butt. Not a great tribute.", ">\n\nWild that somebody got paid to make this. Where can I sign up?", ">\n\nI’m an MA resident (and a RISD student for what it’s worth) and this is the first time i’m hearing about voting for this monstrosity so i’d love to know who all voted for this. \nAfter reading the thoughts behind each piece, it seems like the planners went with an organic sense of interacting with it (apparently you can go inside though why you’d want to Ill never understand). the mock up pictures were from the air or one particular angle and appear much more bronze in color than the dark brown of reality. \nThe other contenders were more modern and relied on both tech and the written word to celebrate MLK, so perhaps that’s why? \nIt’s definitely garnering worldwide attention though for none of the reasons one would hope.\nFor anyone interested in viewing the other contenders here’s the link.\nWhat a phenomenal waste of money…", ">\n\nI'm also thinking of the mis-monument to him in Washington D.C..\nWhy can't people who want to commemorate him find an artist who will leave things at making a simple likeness of him?", ">\n\nI thought his statue in buffalo ny was bad, and boy is it bad. This one took the cake.", ">\n\nIt really is terrible for 10.5M", ">\n\nI went to the one in DC right after it was built 10 years ago and it wasn't the best in my opinion either. Almost like they begrudgingly did it.", ">\n\nI’ll say this. If every time it’s shown to some one. It needs to be shown with context to make it not look like a turd. \nProbably bad design", ">\n\nOf course and many wont publically comment", ">\n\nMost iconic art and architecture is panned at first. Time will tell.", ">\n\nBoston, as we know, is a beacon of racial diversity", ">\n\nPretty sure Dr. King preached humility.. He didn't place himself and his ideals as an elevation beyond common understanding, but rather tried to speak to everyone as a preacher and a servant. Why is the statue something so abstract, almost self indulgently so? Why is it so lofty and dominating?\nAnd the rationale is supposed to be about peace and love, a moment of reflection in a quiet part of the city. Celebrating an ideal rather then a man, and his wife who is often overlooked. But yet its so large, dominating all the space, and confusing. Its not familiar, as love should be, but strange. It doesn't feel warm, it feels artificial and cold.\nI like the intent behind it and the idea, but seriously. I thought the whole point was to celebrate something common to most people? I'm pretty sure for most people this is just going to be confusing.", ">\n\nIt actually originally had heads, but Bart Simpson wanted to impress the bullies", ">\n\n10 million dollars for a statue of an aloft turd. That's a 10/10 grift if I've ever seen one, well done", ">\n\nIt's not a MLK jr statue..... It's a sculpture of arms. It is inspired by a photograph... of MLK jr's arms around his wife. But no one would know that if they never saw the photo (which I have not...).\nFuture generations will look at this sculpture and wonder \"WTF is this?\" because it conveys zero MLK jr vibes.\nI mean... anyone can make a sculpture based on a photo. How about a famous photo with a face in it... (Is the artist not good with faces?)\nThe public is correct in its mockery of such a dumb object (and the price paid for it).", ">\n\nWho was crazy enough to trust Boston of all cities to construct a monument for black people?", ">\n\n\nThe art piece, designed by Brooklyn-based conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas\n\nIn case you're wondering, that's Brooklyn, New York.", ">\n\nMaybe MLK was hung?\nWe don't know.", ">\n\nNo, he was shot.", ">\n\nOh, I'm going to hell...", ">\n\nThere are no accidents", ">\n\nA monumental monument to self-parody and group think that pervades our society", ">\n\nThis shit sucks. What a disgrace to the man.", ">\n\nIt’s a statement about love… you can love the dick or you can love the pussy.", ">\n\nWell it's Boston, home of mockery.", ">\n\nIronically, I think some people need to exercise a little tolerance towards the art piece.", ">\n\nYou do the math. You have 10 million\nWhat do you choose?\nThis statute\nOr\nA small squadron of F-104 Starfighters \n...........\nThe choice is clear, only corruption would sway away from the enlightened path" ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times", ">\n\nThis just became the most famous piece of art in the country right now. \nControversy like this is exactly what they want art to do. Nobody would have cared about another mural to MLK. \nI bet the crowds around this are huge", ">\n\neasy art doesn't make you think", ">\n\nWhy are we always supposed to “think”? I prefer to just enjoy art and it not be work for me.", ">\n\nThen stick to MCU movies.", ">\n\nWhy? I don’t like those", ">\n\nThats what that thing is supposed to be?? Actually terrible design", ">\n\nI mean from angles it looks like a metamucil advertisement.\nOr something else is being held. \nI think that the monument needed to be viewed from all angles or be like identifiable and not viewed as potentially abstract.", ">\n\nThe piece is called \"Thanks PF Changs\" and it was sculpted by Singer/Songwriter Lorde.", ">\n\nYeah... They messed this one up. I want to think over time it'll be appreciated, but it is just poorly done. Heck, on another level I don't like it because it is a statue of MLK and his wife, and we know now how much he cheated on her. It just doesn't work on any level and at best its a MLK statue for the sake of MLK, at worse it undermines MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nYikes that’s true. It’s weird to have included her", ">\n\nIt's like the majority of so-called \"modern art\". It's deliberately pointless, so that people who like to imagine themselves deep thinkers can stand around it pretending they \"get it.\"", ">\n\nThe phrase 'modern art' is a misnomer.", ">\n\nIt really is. That entire scene is just a bunch of rich people flexing their wealth because they can. Art has nothing to do with it.", ">\n\nThis is so fucking stupid. As if this man was summed up by one single fucking moment in life with that picture. I don't get it. A statue based on a photograph of a portion? Can't come up with something creative? Maybe have a statue of him being publicly executed? For all we know the night of that picture could have been the worst of his and hers. I am not even familiar with the picture. As a kid I knew Dr. King as a man that literally changed my world. I saw how awful the world was and he gave me hope in a better place. We got there for a minute. Most people love their spouses. Most people don't love the world!", ">\n\nIt’s the moment when MLK found out he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Apparently you can walk in the middle of the arm vortex and “feel the embrace” of that moment, which is honestly a pretty cool concept….. The statue is still super meh.", ">\n\nLike is it poop? Or a penis? I dunno", ">\n\nFirst thought was it’s The Detachable kid from Suicide Squad", ">\n\nI was reading this book, it's like a part Indiana Jones, part spy thriller. \nSo the lady archeologist and her obvious love interest are discussing how to get through the second door in a tomb after they solved a puzzle for first one. \nAnd then they hear enemies coming in and they have to rush - they kept talking about what symbols mean on the door. \nThen their obvious comedy relief side kick just runs toward the door, pushes it like a normal door and tells them \n\"Guys, sometimes a door is just a door\". \nI feel sometimes some decisions made for this monument design are unnecessarily trying to be special or unique for no good reason, when they could have followed the straight forward approach.", ">\n\nI keep waiting for a terrorist organization to call and take credit for wrecking the original sculpture", ">\n\nWell do you know who loves the new MLK statue?\nAssy McGee", ">\n\nI feel like it has failed completely. People immediately forget about any message as soon as they see it. And it looks objectively awful. From some angles, it looks like someone is eating butt. Not a great tribute.", ">\n\nWild that somebody got paid to make this. Where can I sign up?", ">\n\nI’m an MA resident (and a RISD student for what it’s worth) and this is the first time i’m hearing about voting for this monstrosity so i’d love to know who all voted for this. \nAfter reading the thoughts behind each piece, it seems like the planners went with an organic sense of interacting with it (apparently you can go inside though why you’d want to Ill never understand). the mock up pictures were from the air or one particular angle and appear much more bronze in color than the dark brown of reality. \nThe other contenders were more modern and relied on both tech and the written word to celebrate MLK, so perhaps that’s why? \nIt’s definitely garnering worldwide attention though for none of the reasons one would hope.\nFor anyone interested in viewing the other contenders here’s the link.\nWhat a phenomenal waste of money…", ">\n\nI'm also thinking of the mis-monument to him in Washington D.C..\nWhy can't people who want to commemorate him find an artist who will leave things at making a simple likeness of him?", ">\n\nI thought his statue in buffalo ny was bad, and boy is it bad. This one took the cake.", ">\n\nIt really is terrible for 10.5M", ">\n\nI went to the one in DC right after it was built 10 years ago and it wasn't the best in my opinion either. Almost like they begrudgingly did it.", ">\n\nI’ll say this. If every time it’s shown to some one. It needs to be shown with context to make it not look like a turd. \nProbably bad design", ">\n\nOf course and many wont publically comment", ">\n\nMost iconic art and architecture is panned at first. Time will tell.", ">\n\nBoston, as we know, is a beacon of racial diversity", ">\n\nPretty sure Dr. King preached humility.. He didn't place himself and his ideals as an elevation beyond common understanding, but rather tried to speak to everyone as a preacher and a servant. Why is the statue something so abstract, almost self indulgently so? Why is it so lofty and dominating?\nAnd the rationale is supposed to be about peace and love, a moment of reflection in a quiet part of the city. Celebrating an ideal rather then a man, and his wife who is often overlooked. But yet its so large, dominating all the space, and confusing. Its not familiar, as love should be, but strange. It doesn't feel warm, it feels artificial and cold.\nI like the intent behind it and the idea, but seriously. I thought the whole point was to celebrate something common to most people? I'm pretty sure for most people this is just going to be confusing.", ">\n\nIt actually originally had heads, but Bart Simpson wanted to impress the bullies", ">\n\n10 million dollars for a statue of an aloft turd. That's a 10/10 grift if I've ever seen one, well done", ">\n\nIt's not a MLK jr statue..... It's a sculpture of arms. It is inspired by a photograph... of MLK jr's arms around his wife. But no one would know that if they never saw the photo (which I have not...).\nFuture generations will look at this sculpture and wonder \"WTF is this?\" because it conveys zero MLK jr vibes.\nI mean... anyone can make a sculpture based on a photo. How about a famous photo with a face in it... (Is the artist not good with faces?)\nThe public is correct in its mockery of such a dumb object (and the price paid for it).", ">\n\nWho was crazy enough to trust Boston of all cities to construct a monument for black people?", ">\n\n\nThe art piece, designed by Brooklyn-based conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas\n\nIn case you're wondering, that's Brooklyn, New York.", ">\n\nMaybe MLK was hung?\nWe don't know.", ">\n\nNo, he was shot.", ">\n\nOh, I'm going to hell...", ">\n\nThere are no accidents", ">\n\nA monumental monument to self-parody and group think that pervades our society", ">\n\nThis shit sucks. What a disgrace to the man.", ">\n\nIt’s a statement about love… you can love the dick or you can love the pussy.", ">\n\nWell it's Boston, home of mockery.", ">\n\nIronically, I think some people need to exercise a little tolerance towards the art piece.", ">\n\nYou do the math. You have 10 million\nWhat do you choose?\nThis statute\nOr\nA small squadron of F-104 Starfighters \n...........\nThe choice is clear, only corruption would sway away from the enlightened path", ">\n\nfrom this angle it looks like im about to get goatse’d" ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times", ">\n\nThis just became the most famous piece of art in the country right now. \nControversy like this is exactly what they want art to do. Nobody would have cared about another mural to MLK. \nI bet the crowds around this are huge", ">\n\neasy art doesn't make you think", ">\n\nWhy are we always supposed to “think”? I prefer to just enjoy art and it not be work for me.", ">\n\nThen stick to MCU movies.", ">\n\nWhy? I don’t like those", ">\n\nThats what that thing is supposed to be?? Actually terrible design", ">\n\nI mean from angles it looks like a metamucil advertisement.\nOr something else is being held. \nI think that the monument needed to be viewed from all angles or be like identifiable and not viewed as potentially abstract.", ">\n\nThe piece is called \"Thanks PF Changs\" and it was sculpted by Singer/Songwriter Lorde.", ">\n\nYeah... They messed this one up. I want to think over time it'll be appreciated, but it is just poorly done. Heck, on another level I don't like it because it is a statue of MLK and his wife, and we know now how much he cheated on her. It just doesn't work on any level and at best its a MLK statue for the sake of MLK, at worse it undermines MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nYikes that’s true. It’s weird to have included her", ">\n\nIt's like the majority of so-called \"modern art\". It's deliberately pointless, so that people who like to imagine themselves deep thinkers can stand around it pretending they \"get it.\"", ">\n\nThe phrase 'modern art' is a misnomer.", ">\n\nIt really is. That entire scene is just a bunch of rich people flexing their wealth because they can. Art has nothing to do with it.", ">\n\nThis is so fucking stupid. As if this man was summed up by one single fucking moment in life with that picture. I don't get it. A statue based on a photograph of a portion? Can't come up with something creative? Maybe have a statue of him being publicly executed? For all we know the night of that picture could have been the worst of his and hers. I am not even familiar with the picture. As a kid I knew Dr. King as a man that literally changed my world. I saw how awful the world was and he gave me hope in a better place. We got there for a minute. Most people love their spouses. Most people don't love the world!", ">\n\nIt’s the moment when MLK found out he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Apparently you can walk in the middle of the arm vortex and “feel the embrace” of that moment, which is honestly a pretty cool concept….. The statue is still super meh.", ">\n\nLike is it poop? Or a penis? I dunno", ">\n\nFirst thought was it’s The Detachable kid from Suicide Squad", ">\n\nI was reading this book, it's like a part Indiana Jones, part spy thriller. \nSo the lady archeologist and her obvious love interest are discussing how to get through the second door in a tomb after they solved a puzzle for first one. \nAnd then they hear enemies coming in and they have to rush - they kept talking about what symbols mean on the door. \nThen their obvious comedy relief side kick just runs toward the door, pushes it like a normal door and tells them \n\"Guys, sometimes a door is just a door\". \nI feel sometimes some decisions made for this monument design are unnecessarily trying to be special or unique for no good reason, when they could have followed the straight forward approach.", ">\n\nI keep waiting for a terrorist organization to call and take credit for wrecking the original sculpture", ">\n\nWell do you know who loves the new MLK statue?\nAssy McGee", ">\n\nI feel like it has failed completely. People immediately forget about any message as soon as they see it. And it looks objectively awful. From some angles, it looks like someone is eating butt. Not a great tribute.", ">\n\nWild that somebody got paid to make this. Where can I sign up?", ">\n\nI’m an MA resident (and a RISD student for what it’s worth) and this is the first time i’m hearing about voting for this monstrosity so i’d love to know who all voted for this. \nAfter reading the thoughts behind each piece, it seems like the planners went with an organic sense of interacting with it (apparently you can go inside though why you’d want to Ill never understand). the mock up pictures were from the air or one particular angle and appear much more bronze in color than the dark brown of reality. \nThe other contenders were more modern and relied on both tech and the written word to celebrate MLK, so perhaps that’s why? \nIt’s definitely garnering worldwide attention though for none of the reasons one would hope.\nFor anyone interested in viewing the other contenders here’s the link.\nWhat a phenomenal waste of money…", ">\n\nI'm also thinking of the mis-monument to him in Washington D.C..\nWhy can't people who want to commemorate him find an artist who will leave things at making a simple likeness of him?", ">\n\nI thought his statue in buffalo ny was bad, and boy is it bad. This one took the cake.", ">\n\nIt really is terrible for 10.5M", ">\n\nI went to the one in DC right after it was built 10 years ago and it wasn't the best in my opinion either. Almost like they begrudgingly did it.", ">\n\nI’ll say this. If every time it’s shown to some one. It needs to be shown with context to make it not look like a turd. \nProbably bad design", ">\n\nOf course and many wont publically comment", ">\n\nMost iconic art and architecture is panned at first. Time will tell.", ">\n\nBoston, as we know, is a beacon of racial diversity", ">\n\nPretty sure Dr. King preached humility.. He didn't place himself and his ideals as an elevation beyond common understanding, but rather tried to speak to everyone as a preacher and a servant. Why is the statue something so abstract, almost self indulgently so? Why is it so lofty and dominating?\nAnd the rationale is supposed to be about peace and love, a moment of reflection in a quiet part of the city. Celebrating an ideal rather then a man, and his wife who is often overlooked. But yet its so large, dominating all the space, and confusing. Its not familiar, as love should be, but strange. It doesn't feel warm, it feels artificial and cold.\nI like the intent behind it and the idea, but seriously. I thought the whole point was to celebrate something common to most people? I'm pretty sure for most people this is just going to be confusing.", ">\n\nIt actually originally had heads, but Bart Simpson wanted to impress the bullies", ">\n\n10 million dollars for a statue of an aloft turd. That's a 10/10 grift if I've ever seen one, well done", ">\n\nIt's not a MLK jr statue..... It's a sculpture of arms. It is inspired by a photograph... of MLK jr's arms around his wife. But no one would know that if they never saw the photo (which I have not...).\nFuture generations will look at this sculpture and wonder \"WTF is this?\" because it conveys zero MLK jr vibes.\nI mean... anyone can make a sculpture based on a photo. How about a famous photo with a face in it... (Is the artist not good with faces?)\nThe public is correct in its mockery of such a dumb object (and the price paid for it).", ">\n\nWho was crazy enough to trust Boston of all cities to construct a monument for black people?", ">\n\n\nThe art piece, designed by Brooklyn-based conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas\n\nIn case you're wondering, that's Brooklyn, New York.", ">\n\nMaybe MLK was hung?\nWe don't know.", ">\n\nNo, he was shot.", ">\n\nOh, I'm going to hell...", ">\n\nThere are no accidents", ">\n\nA monumental monument to self-parody and group think that pervades our society", ">\n\nThis shit sucks. What a disgrace to the man.", ">\n\nIt’s a statement about love… you can love the dick or you can love the pussy.", ">\n\nWell it's Boston, home of mockery.", ">\n\nIronically, I think some people need to exercise a little tolerance towards the art piece.", ">\n\nYou do the math. You have 10 million\nWhat do you choose?\nThis statute\nOr\nA small squadron of F-104 Starfighters \n...........\nThe choice is clear, only corruption would sway away from the enlightened path", ">\n\nfrom this angle it looks like im about to get goatse’d", ">\n\nMaybe an AI made that sculpture" ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times", ">\n\nThis just became the most famous piece of art in the country right now. \nControversy like this is exactly what they want art to do. Nobody would have cared about another mural to MLK. \nI bet the crowds around this are huge", ">\n\neasy art doesn't make you think", ">\n\nWhy are we always supposed to “think”? I prefer to just enjoy art and it not be work for me.", ">\n\nThen stick to MCU movies.", ">\n\nWhy? I don’t like those", ">\n\nThats what that thing is supposed to be?? Actually terrible design", ">\n\nI mean from angles it looks like a metamucil advertisement.\nOr something else is being held. \nI think that the monument needed to be viewed from all angles or be like identifiable and not viewed as potentially abstract.", ">\n\nThe piece is called \"Thanks PF Changs\" and it was sculpted by Singer/Songwriter Lorde.", ">\n\nYeah... They messed this one up. I want to think over time it'll be appreciated, but it is just poorly done. Heck, on another level I don't like it because it is a statue of MLK and his wife, and we know now how much he cheated on her. It just doesn't work on any level and at best its a MLK statue for the sake of MLK, at worse it undermines MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nYikes that’s true. It’s weird to have included her", ">\n\nIt's like the majority of so-called \"modern art\". It's deliberately pointless, so that people who like to imagine themselves deep thinkers can stand around it pretending they \"get it.\"", ">\n\nThe phrase 'modern art' is a misnomer.", ">\n\nIt really is. That entire scene is just a bunch of rich people flexing their wealth because they can. Art has nothing to do with it.", ">\n\nThis is so fucking stupid. As if this man was summed up by one single fucking moment in life with that picture. I don't get it. A statue based on a photograph of a portion? Can't come up with something creative? Maybe have a statue of him being publicly executed? For all we know the night of that picture could have been the worst of his and hers. I am not even familiar with the picture. As a kid I knew Dr. King as a man that literally changed my world. I saw how awful the world was and he gave me hope in a better place. We got there for a minute. Most people love their spouses. Most people don't love the world!", ">\n\nIt’s the moment when MLK found out he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Apparently you can walk in the middle of the arm vortex and “feel the embrace” of that moment, which is honestly a pretty cool concept….. The statue is still super meh.", ">\n\nLike is it poop? Or a penis? I dunno", ">\n\nFirst thought was it’s The Detachable kid from Suicide Squad", ">\n\nI was reading this book, it's like a part Indiana Jones, part spy thriller. \nSo the lady archeologist and her obvious love interest are discussing how to get through the second door in a tomb after they solved a puzzle for first one. \nAnd then they hear enemies coming in and they have to rush - they kept talking about what symbols mean on the door. \nThen their obvious comedy relief side kick just runs toward the door, pushes it like a normal door and tells them \n\"Guys, sometimes a door is just a door\". \nI feel sometimes some decisions made for this monument design are unnecessarily trying to be special or unique for no good reason, when they could have followed the straight forward approach.", ">\n\nI keep waiting for a terrorist organization to call and take credit for wrecking the original sculpture", ">\n\nWell do you know who loves the new MLK statue?\nAssy McGee", ">\n\nI feel like it has failed completely. People immediately forget about any message as soon as they see it. And it looks objectively awful. From some angles, it looks like someone is eating butt. Not a great tribute.", ">\n\nWild that somebody got paid to make this. Where can I sign up?", ">\n\nI’m an MA resident (and a RISD student for what it’s worth) and this is the first time i’m hearing about voting for this monstrosity so i’d love to know who all voted for this. \nAfter reading the thoughts behind each piece, it seems like the planners went with an organic sense of interacting with it (apparently you can go inside though why you’d want to Ill never understand). the mock up pictures were from the air or one particular angle and appear much more bronze in color than the dark brown of reality. \nThe other contenders were more modern and relied on both tech and the written word to celebrate MLK, so perhaps that’s why? \nIt’s definitely garnering worldwide attention though for none of the reasons one would hope.\nFor anyone interested in viewing the other contenders here’s the link.\nWhat a phenomenal waste of money…", ">\n\nI'm also thinking of the mis-monument to him in Washington D.C..\nWhy can't people who want to commemorate him find an artist who will leave things at making a simple likeness of him?", ">\n\nI thought his statue in buffalo ny was bad, and boy is it bad. This one took the cake.", ">\n\nIt really is terrible for 10.5M", ">\n\nI went to the one in DC right after it was built 10 years ago and it wasn't the best in my opinion either. Almost like they begrudgingly did it.", ">\n\nI’ll say this. If every time it’s shown to some one. It needs to be shown with context to make it not look like a turd. \nProbably bad design", ">\n\nOf course and many wont publically comment", ">\n\nMost iconic art and architecture is panned at first. Time will tell.", ">\n\nBoston, as we know, is a beacon of racial diversity", ">\n\nPretty sure Dr. King preached humility.. He didn't place himself and his ideals as an elevation beyond common understanding, but rather tried to speak to everyone as a preacher and a servant. Why is the statue something so abstract, almost self indulgently so? Why is it so lofty and dominating?\nAnd the rationale is supposed to be about peace and love, a moment of reflection in a quiet part of the city. Celebrating an ideal rather then a man, and his wife who is often overlooked. But yet its so large, dominating all the space, and confusing. Its not familiar, as love should be, but strange. It doesn't feel warm, it feels artificial and cold.\nI like the intent behind it and the idea, but seriously. I thought the whole point was to celebrate something common to most people? I'm pretty sure for most people this is just going to be confusing.", ">\n\nIt actually originally had heads, but Bart Simpson wanted to impress the bullies", ">\n\n10 million dollars for a statue of an aloft turd. That's a 10/10 grift if I've ever seen one, well done", ">\n\nIt's not a MLK jr statue..... It's a sculpture of arms. It is inspired by a photograph... of MLK jr's arms around his wife. But no one would know that if they never saw the photo (which I have not...).\nFuture generations will look at this sculpture and wonder \"WTF is this?\" because it conveys zero MLK jr vibes.\nI mean... anyone can make a sculpture based on a photo. How about a famous photo with a face in it... (Is the artist not good with faces?)\nThe public is correct in its mockery of such a dumb object (and the price paid for it).", ">\n\nWho was crazy enough to trust Boston of all cities to construct a monument for black people?", ">\n\n\nThe art piece, designed by Brooklyn-based conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas\n\nIn case you're wondering, that's Brooklyn, New York.", ">\n\nMaybe MLK was hung?\nWe don't know.", ">\n\nNo, he was shot.", ">\n\nOh, I'm going to hell...", ">\n\nThere are no accidents", ">\n\nA monumental monument to self-parody and group think that pervades our society", ">\n\nThis shit sucks. What a disgrace to the man.", ">\n\nIt’s a statement about love… you can love the dick or you can love the pussy.", ">\n\nWell it's Boston, home of mockery.", ">\n\nIronically, I think some people need to exercise a little tolerance towards the art piece.", ">\n\nYou do the math. You have 10 million\nWhat do you choose?\nThis statute\nOr\nA small squadron of F-104 Starfighters \n...........\nThe choice is clear, only corruption would sway away from the enlightened path", ">\n\nfrom this angle it looks like im about to get goatse’d", ">\n\nMaybe an AI made that sculpture", ">\n\nIt's just a sculpture of arms. What's the big deal." ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times", ">\n\nThis just became the most famous piece of art in the country right now. \nControversy like this is exactly what they want art to do. Nobody would have cared about another mural to MLK. \nI bet the crowds around this are huge", ">\n\neasy art doesn't make you think", ">\n\nWhy are we always supposed to “think”? I prefer to just enjoy art and it not be work for me.", ">\n\nThen stick to MCU movies.", ">\n\nWhy? I don’t like those", ">\n\nThats what that thing is supposed to be?? Actually terrible design", ">\n\nI mean from angles it looks like a metamucil advertisement.\nOr something else is being held. \nI think that the monument needed to be viewed from all angles or be like identifiable and not viewed as potentially abstract.", ">\n\nThe piece is called \"Thanks PF Changs\" and it was sculpted by Singer/Songwriter Lorde.", ">\n\nYeah... They messed this one up. I want to think over time it'll be appreciated, but it is just poorly done. Heck, on another level I don't like it because it is a statue of MLK and his wife, and we know now how much he cheated on her. It just doesn't work on any level and at best its a MLK statue for the sake of MLK, at worse it undermines MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nYikes that’s true. It’s weird to have included her", ">\n\nIt's like the majority of so-called \"modern art\". It's deliberately pointless, so that people who like to imagine themselves deep thinkers can stand around it pretending they \"get it.\"", ">\n\nThe phrase 'modern art' is a misnomer.", ">\n\nIt really is. That entire scene is just a bunch of rich people flexing their wealth because they can. Art has nothing to do with it.", ">\n\nThis is so fucking stupid. As if this man was summed up by one single fucking moment in life with that picture. I don't get it. A statue based on a photograph of a portion? Can't come up with something creative? Maybe have a statue of him being publicly executed? For all we know the night of that picture could have been the worst of his and hers. I am not even familiar with the picture. As a kid I knew Dr. King as a man that literally changed my world. I saw how awful the world was and he gave me hope in a better place. We got there for a minute. Most people love their spouses. Most people don't love the world!", ">\n\nIt’s the moment when MLK found out he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Apparently you can walk in the middle of the arm vortex and “feel the embrace” of that moment, which is honestly a pretty cool concept….. The statue is still super meh.", ">\n\nLike is it poop? Or a penis? I dunno", ">\n\nFirst thought was it’s The Detachable kid from Suicide Squad", ">\n\nI was reading this book, it's like a part Indiana Jones, part spy thriller. \nSo the lady archeologist and her obvious love interest are discussing how to get through the second door in a tomb after they solved a puzzle for first one. \nAnd then they hear enemies coming in and they have to rush - they kept talking about what symbols mean on the door. \nThen their obvious comedy relief side kick just runs toward the door, pushes it like a normal door and tells them \n\"Guys, sometimes a door is just a door\". \nI feel sometimes some decisions made for this monument design are unnecessarily trying to be special or unique for no good reason, when they could have followed the straight forward approach.", ">\n\nI keep waiting for a terrorist organization to call and take credit for wrecking the original sculpture", ">\n\nWell do you know who loves the new MLK statue?\nAssy McGee", ">\n\nI feel like it has failed completely. People immediately forget about any message as soon as they see it. And it looks objectively awful. From some angles, it looks like someone is eating butt. Not a great tribute.", ">\n\nWild that somebody got paid to make this. Where can I sign up?", ">\n\nI’m an MA resident (and a RISD student for what it’s worth) and this is the first time i’m hearing about voting for this monstrosity so i’d love to know who all voted for this. \nAfter reading the thoughts behind each piece, it seems like the planners went with an organic sense of interacting with it (apparently you can go inside though why you’d want to Ill never understand). the mock up pictures were from the air or one particular angle and appear much more bronze in color than the dark brown of reality. \nThe other contenders were more modern and relied on both tech and the written word to celebrate MLK, so perhaps that’s why? \nIt’s definitely garnering worldwide attention though for none of the reasons one would hope.\nFor anyone interested in viewing the other contenders here’s the link.\nWhat a phenomenal waste of money…", ">\n\nI'm also thinking of the mis-monument to him in Washington D.C..\nWhy can't people who want to commemorate him find an artist who will leave things at making a simple likeness of him?", ">\n\nI thought his statue in buffalo ny was bad, and boy is it bad. This one took the cake.", ">\n\nIt really is terrible for 10.5M", ">\n\nI went to the one in DC right after it was built 10 years ago and it wasn't the best in my opinion either. Almost like they begrudgingly did it.", ">\n\nI’ll say this. If every time it’s shown to some one. It needs to be shown with context to make it not look like a turd. \nProbably bad design", ">\n\nOf course and many wont publically comment", ">\n\nMost iconic art and architecture is panned at first. Time will tell.", ">\n\nBoston, as we know, is a beacon of racial diversity", ">\n\nPretty sure Dr. King preached humility.. He didn't place himself and his ideals as an elevation beyond common understanding, but rather tried to speak to everyone as a preacher and a servant. Why is the statue something so abstract, almost self indulgently so? Why is it so lofty and dominating?\nAnd the rationale is supposed to be about peace and love, a moment of reflection in a quiet part of the city. Celebrating an ideal rather then a man, and his wife who is often overlooked. But yet its so large, dominating all the space, and confusing. Its not familiar, as love should be, but strange. It doesn't feel warm, it feels artificial and cold.\nI like the intent behind it and the idea, but seriously. I thought the whole point was to celebrate something common to most people? I'm pretty sure for most people this is just going to be confusing.", ">\n\nIt actually originally had heads, but Bart Simpson wanted to impress the bullies", ">\n\n10 million dollars for a statue of an aloft turd. That's a 10/10 grift if I've ever seen one, well done", ">\n\nIt's not a MLK jr statue..... It's a sculpture of arms. It is inspired by a photograph... of MLK jr's arms around his wife. But no one would know that if they never saw the photo (which I have not...).\nFuture generations will look at this sculpture and wonder \"WTF is this?\" because it conveys zero MLK jr vibes.\nI mean... anyone can make a sculpture based on a photo. How about a famous photo with a face in it... (Is the artist not good with faces?)\nThe public is correct in its mockery of such a dumb object (and the price paid for it).", ">\n\nWho was crazy enough to trust Boston of all cities to construct a monument for black people?", ">\n\n\nThe art piece, designed by Brooklyn-based conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas\n\nIn case you're wondering, that's Brooklyn, New York.", ">\n\nMaybe MLK was hung?\nWe don't know.", ">\n\nNo, he was shot.", ">\n\nOh, I'm going to hell...", ">\n\nThere are no accidents", ">\n\nA monumental monument to self-parody and group think that pervades our society", ">\n\nThis shit sucks. What a disgrace to the man.", ">\n\nIt’s a statement about love… you can love the dick or you can love the pussy.", ">\n\nWell it's Boston, home of mockery.", ">\n\nIronically, I think some people need to exercise a little tolerance towards the art piece.", ">\n\nYou do the math. You have 10 million\nWhat do you choose?\nThis statute\nOr\nA small squadron of F-104 Starfighters \n...........\nThe choice is clear, only corruption would sway away from the enlightened path", ">\n\nfrom this angle it looks like im about to get goatse’d", ">\n\nMaybe an AI made that sculpture", ">\n\nIt's just a sculpture of arms. What's the big deal.", ">\n\nHis dad was a known cheater. Love story? 😂" ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times", ">\n\nThis just became the most famous piece of art in the country right now. \nControversy like this is exactly what they want art to do. Nobody would have cared about another mural to MLK. \nI bet the crowds around this are huge", ">\n\neasy art doesn't make you think", ">\n\nWhy are we always supposed to “think”? I prefer to just enjoy art and it not be work for me.", ">\n\nThen stick to MCU movies.", ">\n\nWhy? I don’t like those", ">\n\nThats what that thing is supposed to be?? Actually terrible design", ">\n\nI mean from angles it looks like a metamucil advertisement.\nOr something else is being held. \nI think that the monument needed to be viewed from all angles or be like identifiable and not viewed as potentially abstract.", ">\n\nThe piece is called \"Thanks PF Changs\" and it was sculpted by Singer/Songwriter Lorde.", ">\n\nYeah... They messed this one up. I want to think over time it'll be appreciated, but it is just poorly done. Heck, on another level I don't like it because it is a statue of MLK and his wife, and we know now how much he cheated on her. It just doesn't work on any level and at best its a MLK statue for the sake of MLK, at worse it undermines MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nYikes that’s true. It’s weird to have included her", ">\n\nIt's like the majority of so-called \"modern art\". It's deliberately pointless, so that people who like to imagine themselves deep thinkers can stand around it pretending they \"get it.\"", ">\n\nThe phrase 'modern art' is a misnomer.", ">\n\nIt really is. That entire scene is just a bunch of rich people flexing their wealth because they can. Art has nothing to do with it.", ">\n\nThis is so fucking stupid. As if this man was summed up by one single fucking moment in life with that picture. I don't get it. A statue based on a photograph of a portion? Can't come up with something creative? Maybe have a statue of him being publicly executed? For all we know the night of that picture could have been the worst of his and hers. I am not even familiar with the picture. As a kid I knew Dr. King as a man that literally changed my world. I saw how awful the world was and he gave me hope in a better place. We got there for a minute. Most people love their spouses. Most people don't love the world!", ">\n\nIt’s the moment when MLK found out he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Apparently you can walk in the middle of the arm vortex and “feel the embrace” of that moment, which is honestly a pretty cool concept….. The statue is still super meh.", ">\n\nLike is it poop? Or a penis? I dunno", ">\n\nFirst thought was it’s The Detachable kid from Suicide Squad", ">\n\nI was reading this book, it's like a part Indiana Jones, part spy thriller. \nSo the lady archeologist and her obvious love interest are discussing how to get through the second door in a tomb after they solved a puzzle for first one. \nAnd then they hear enemies coming in and they have to rush - they kept talking about what symbols mean on the door. \nThen their obvious comedy relief side kick just runs toward the door, pushes it like a normal door and tells them \n\"Guys, sometimes a door is just a door\". \nI feel sometimes some decisions made for this monument design are unnecessarily trying to be special or unique for no good reason, when they could have followed the straight forward approach.", ">\n\nI keep waiting for a terrorist organization to call and take credit for wrecking the original sculpture", ">\n\nWell do you know who loves the new MLK statue?\nAssy McGee", ">\n\nI feel like it has failed completely. People immediately forget about any message as soon as they see it. And it looks objectively awful. From some angles, it looks like someone is eating butt. Not a great tribute.", ">\n\nWild that somebody got paid to make this. Where can I sign up?", ">\n\nI’m an MA resident (and a RISD student for what it’s worth) and this is the first time i’m hearing about voting for this monstrosity so i’d love to know who all voted for this. \nAfter reading the thoughts behind each piece, it seems like the planners went with an organic sense of interacting with it (apparently you can go inside though why you’d want to Ill never understand). the mock up pictures were from the air or one particular angle and appear much more bronze in color than the dark brown of reality. \nThe other contenders were more modern and relied on both tech and the written word to celebrate MLK, so perhaps that’s why? \nIt’s definitely garnering worldwide attention though for none of the reasons one would hope.\nFor anyone interested in viewing the other contenders here’s the link.\nWhat a phenomenal waste of money…", ">\n\nI'm also thinking of the mis-monument to him in Washington D.C..\nWhy can't people who want to commemorate him find an artist who will leave things at making a simple likeness of him?", ">\n\nI thought his statue in buffalo ny was bad, and boy is it bad. This one took the cake.", ">\n\nIt really is terrible for 10.5M", ">\n\nI went to the one in DC right after it was built 10 years ago and it wasn't the best in my opinion either. Almost like they begrudgingly did it.", ">\n\nI’ll say this. If every time it’s shown to some one. It needs to be shown with context to make it not look like a turd. \nProbably bad design", ">\n\nOf course and many wont publically comment", ">\n\nMost iconic art and architecture is panned at first. Time will tell.", ">\n\nBoston, as we know, is a beacon of racial diversity", ">\n\nPretty sure Dr. King preached humility.. He didn't place himself and his ideals as an elevation beyond common understanding, but rather tried to speak to everyone as a preacher and a servant. Why is the statue something so abstract, almost self indulgently so? Why is it so lofty and dominating?\nAnd the rationale is supposed to be about peace and love, a moment of reflection in a quiet part of the city. Celebrating an ideal rather then a man, and his wife who is often overlooked. But yet its so large, dominating all the space, and confusing. Its not familiar, as love should be, but strange. It doesn't feel warm, it feels artificial and cold.\nI like the intent behind it and the idea, but seriously. I thought the whole point was to celebrate something common to most people? I'm pretty sure for most people this is just going to be confusing.", ">\n\nIt actually originally had heads, but Bart Simpson wanted to impress the bullies", ">\n\n10 million dollars for a statue of an aloft turd. That's a 10/10 grift if I've ever seen one, well done", ">\n\nIt's not a MLK jr statue..... It's a sculpture of arms. It is inspired by a photograph... of MLK jr's arms around his wife. But no one would know that if they never saw the photo (which I have not...).\nFuture generations will look at this sculpture and wonder \"WTF is this?\" because it conveys zero MLK jr vibes.\nI mean... anyone can make a sculpture based on a photo. How about a famous photo with a face in it... (Is the artist not good with faces?)\nThe public is correct in its mockery of such a dumb object (and the price paid for it).", ">\n\nWho was crazy enough to trust Boston of all cities to construct a monument for black people?", ">\n\n\nThe art piece, designed by Brooklyn-based conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas\n\nIn case you're wondering, that's Brooklyn, New York.", ">\n\nMaybe MLK was hung?\nWe don't know.", ">\n\nNo, he was shot.", ">\n\nOh, I'm going to hell...", ">\n\nThere are no accidents", ">\n\nA monumental monument to self-parody and group think that pervades our society", ">\n\nThis shit sucks. What a disgrace to the man.", ">\n\nIt’s a statement about love… you can love the dick or you can love the pussy.", ">\n\nWell it's Boston, home of mockery.", ">\n\nIronically, I think some people need to exercise a little tolerance towards the art piece.", ">\n\nYou do the math. You have 10 million\nWhat do you choose?\nThis statute\nOr\nA small squadron of F-104 Starfighters \n...........\nThe choice is clear, only corruption would sway away from the enlightened path", ">\n\nfrom this angle it looks like im about to get goatse’d", ">\n\nMaybe an AI made that sculpture", ">\n\nIt's just a sculpture of arms. What's the big deal.", ">\n\nHis dad was a known cheater. Love story? 😂", ">\n\nsocial media extra angry lately. I blame winter and lack of sun" ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times", ">\n\nThis just became the most famous piece of art in the country right now. \nControversy like this is exactly what they want art to do. Nobody would have cared about another mural to MLK. \nI bet the crowds around this are huge", ">\n\neasy art doesn't make you think", ">\n\nWhy are we always supposed to “think”? I prefer to just enjoy art and it not be work for me.", ">\n\nThen stick to MCU movies.", ">\n\nWhy? I don’t like those", ">\n\nThats what that thing is supposed to be?? Actually terrible design", ">\n\nI mean from angles it looks like a metamucil advertisement.\nOr something else is being held. \nI think that the monument needed to be viewed from all angles or be like identifiable and not viewed as potentially abstract.", ">\n\nThe piece is called \"Thanks PF Changs\" and it was sculpted by Singer/Songwriter Lorde.", ">\n\nYeah... They messed this one up. I want to think over time it'll be appreciated, but it is just poorly done. Heck, on another level I don't like it because it is a statue of MLK and his wife, and we know now how much he cheated on her. It just doesn't work on any level and at best its a MLK statue for the sake of MLK, at worse it undermines MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nYikes that’s true. It’s weird to have included her", ">\n\nIt's like the majority of so-called \"modern art\". It's deliberately pointless, so that people who like to imagine themselves deep thinkers can stand around it pretending they \"get it.\"", ">\n\nThe phrase 'modern art' is a misnomer.", ">\n\nIt really is. That entire scene is just a bunch of rich people flexing their wealth because they can. Art has nothing to do with it.", ">\n\nThis is so fucking stupid. As if this man was summed up by one single fucking moment in life with that picture. I don't get it. A statue based on a photograph of a portion? Can't come up with something creative? Maybe have a statue of him being publicly executed? For all we know the night of that picture could have been the worst of his and hers. I am not even familiar with the picture. As a kid I knew Dr. King as a man that literally changed my world. I saw how awful the world was and he gave me hope in a better place. We got there for a minute. Most people love their spouses. Most people don't love the world!", ">\n\nIt’s the moment when MLK found out he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Apparently you can walk in the middle of the arm vortex and “feel the embrace” of that moment, which is honestly a pretty cool concept….. The statue is still super meh.", ">\n\nLike is it poop? Or a penis? I dunno", ">\n\nFirst thought was it’s The Detachable kid from Suicide Squad", ">\n\nI was reading this book, it's like a part Indiana Jones, part spy thriller. \nSo the lady archeologist and her obvious love interest are discussing how to get through the second door in a tomb after they solved a puzzle for first one. \nAnd then they hear enemies coming in and they have to rush - they kept talking about what symbols mean on the door. \nThen their obvious comedy relief side kick just runs toward the door, pushes it like a normal door and tells them \n\"Guys, sometimes a door is just a door\". \nI feel sometimes some decisions made for this monument design are unnecessarily trying to be special or unique for no good reason, when they could have followed the straight forward approach.", ">\n\nI keep waiting for a terrorist organization to call and take credit for wrecking the original sculpture", ">\n\nWell do you know who loves the new MLK statue?\nAssy McGee", ">\n\nI feel like it has failed completely. People immediately forget about any message as soon as they see it. And it looks objectively awful. From some angles, it looks like someone is eating butt. Not a great tribute.", ">\n\nWild that somebody got paid to make this. Where can I sign up?", ">\n\nI’m an MA resident (and a RISD student for what it’s worth) and this is the first time i’m hearing about voting for this monstrosity so i’d love to know who all voted for this. \nAfter reading the thoughts behind each piece, it seems like the planners went with an organic sense of interacting with it (apparently you can go inside though why you’d want to Ill never understand). the mock up pictures were from the air or one particular angle and appear much more bronze in color than the dark brown of reality. \nThe other contenders were more modern and relied on both tech and the written word to celebrate MLK, so perhaps that’s why? \nIt’s definitely garnering worldwide attention though for none of the reasons one would hope.\nFor anyone interested in viewing the other contenders here’s the link.\nWhat a phenomenal waste of money…", ">\n\nI'm also thinking of the mis-monument to him in Washington D.C..\nWhy can't people who want to commemorate him find an artist who will leave things at making a simple likeness of him?", ">\n\nI thought his statue in buffalo ny was bad, and boy is it bad. This one took the cake.", ">\n\nIt really is terrible for 10.5M", ">\n\nI went to the one in DC right after it was built 10 years ago and it wasn't the best in my opinion either. Almost like they begrudgingly did it.", ">\n\nI’ll say this. If every time it’s shown to some one. It needs to be shown with context to make it not look like a turd. \nProbably bad design", ">\n\nOf course and many wont publically comment", ">\n\nMost iconic art and architecture is panned at first. Time will tell.", ">\n\nBoston, as we know, is a beacon of racial diversity", ">\n\nPretty sure Dr. King preached humility.. He didn't place himself and his ideals as an elevation beyond common understanding, but rather tried to speak to everyone as a preacher and a servant. Why is the statue something so abstract, almost self indulgently so? Why is it so lofty and dominating?\nAnd the rationale is supposed to be about peace and love, a moment of reflection in a quiet part of the city. Celebrating an ideal rather then a man, and his wife who is often overlooked. But yet its so large, dominating all the space, and confusing. Its not familiar, as love should be, but strange. It doesn't feel warm, it feels artificial and cold.\nI like the intent behind it and the idea, but seriously. I thought the whole point was to celebrate something common to most people? I'm pretty sure for most people this is just going to be confusing.", ">\n\nIt actually originally had heads, but Bart Simpson wanted to impress the bullies", ">\n\n10 million dollars for a statue of an aloft turd. That's a 10/10 grift if I've ever seen one, well done", ">\n\nIt's not a MLK jr statue..... It's a sculpture of arms. It is inspired by a photograph... of MLK jr's arms around his wife. But no one would know that if they never saw the photo (which I have not...).\nFuture generations will look at this sculpture and wonder \"WTF is this?\" because it conveys zero MLK jr vibes.\nI mean... anyone can make a sculpture based on a photo. How about a famous photo with a face in it... (Is the artist not good with faces?)\nThe public is correct in its mockery of such a dumb object (and the price paid for it).", ">\n\nWho was crazy enough to trust Boston of all cities to construct a monument for black people?", ">\n\n\nThe art piece, designed by Brooklyn-based conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas\n\nIn case you're wondering, that's Brooklyn, New York.", ">\n\nMaybe MLK was hung?\nWe don't know.", ">\n\nNo, he was shot.", ">\n\nOh, I'm going to hell...", ">\n\nThere are no accidents", ">\n\nA monumental monument to self-parody and group think that pervades our society", ">\n\nThis shit sucks. What a disgrace to the man.", ">\n\nIt’s a statement about love… you can love the dick or you can love the pussy.", ">\n\nWell it's Boston, home of mockery.", ">\n\nIronically, I think some people need to exercise a little tolerance towards the art piece.", ">\n\nYou do the math. You have 10 million\nWhat do you choose?\nThis statute\nOr\nA small squadron of F-104 Starfighters \n...........\nThe choice is clear, only corruption would sway away from the enlightened path", ">\n\nfrom this angle it looks like im about to get goatse’d", ">\n\nMaybe an AI made that sculpture", ">\n\nIt's just a sculpture of arms. What's the big deal.", ">\n\nHis dad was a known cheater. Love story? 😂", ">\n\nsocial media extra angry lately. I blame winter and lack of sun", ">\n\nIt’s a recreation of a picture. Problem is that picture is from one perspective and is 2 dimensional \nNow it’s 3 dimensional and can be seen from all perspectives and that doesn’t translate\nAlso it cost $10 million fucking dollars to make. That’s money very poorly spent. It looks like two hot dogs wrestling when not viewed from that one special perspective point" ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times", ">\n\nThis just became the most famous piece of art in the country right now. \nControversy like this is exactly what they want art to do. Nobody would have cared about another mural to MLK. \nI bet the crowds around this are huge", ">\n\neasy art doesn't make you think", ">\n\nWhy are we always supposed to “think”? I prefer to just enjoy art and it not be work for me.", ">\n\nThen stick to MCU movies.", ">\n\nWhy? I don’t like those", ">\n\nThats what that thing is supposed to be?? Actually terrible design", ">\n\nI mean from angles it looks like a metamucil advertisement.\nOr something else is being held. \nI think that the monument needed to be viewed from all angles or be like identifiable and not viewed as potentially abstract.", ">\n\nThe piece is called \"Thanks PF Changs\" and it was sculpted by Singer/Songwriter Lorde.", ">\n\nYeah... They messed this one up. I want to think over time it'll be appreciated, but it is just poorly done. Heck, on another level I don't like it because it is a statue of MLK and his wife, and we know now how much he cheated on her. It just doesn't work on any level and at best its a MLK statue for the sake of MLK, at worse it undermines MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nYikes that’s true. It’s weird to have included her", ">\n\nIt's like the majority of so-called \"modern art\". It's deliberately pointless, so that people who like to imagine themselves deep thinkers can stand around it pretending they \"get it.\"", ">\n\nThe phrase 'modern art' is a misnomer.", ">\n\nIt really is. That entire scene is just a bunch of rich people flexing their wealth because they can. Art has nothing to do with it.", ">\n\nThis is so fucking stupid. As if this man was summed up by one single fucking moment in life with that picture. I don't get it. A statue based on a photograph of a portion? Can't come up with something creative? Maybe have a statue of him being publicly executed? For all we know the night of that picture could have been the worst of his and hers. I am not even familiar with the picture. As a kid I knew Dr. King as a man that literally changed my world. I saw how awful the world was and he gave me hope in a better place. We got there for a minute. Most people love their spouses. Most people don't love the world!", ">\n\nIt’s the moment when MLK found out he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Apparently you can walk in the middle of the arm vortex and “feel the embrace” of that moment, which is honestly a pretty cool concept….. The statue is still super meh.", ">\n\nLike is it poop? Or a penis? I dunno", ">\n\nFirst thought was it’s The Detachable kid from Suicide Squad", ">\n\nI was reading this book, it's like a part Indiana Jones, part spy thriller. \nSo the lady archeologist and her obvious love interest are discussing how to get through the second door in a tomb after they solved a puzzle for first one. \nAnd then they hear enemies coming in and they have to rush - they kept talking about what symbols mean on the door. \nThen their obvious comedy relief side kick just runs toward the door, pushes it like a normal door and tells them \n\"Guys, sometimes a door is just a door\". \nI feel sometimes some decisions made for this monument design are unnecessarily trying to be special or unique for no good reason, when they could have followed the straight forward approach.", ">\n\nI keep waiting for a terrorist organization to call and take credit for wrecking the original sculpture", ">\n\nWell do you know who loves the new MLK statue?\nAssy McGee", ">\n\nI feel like it has failed completely. People immediately forget about any message as soon as they see it. And it looks objectively awful. From some angles, it looks like someone is eating butt. Not a great tribute.", ">\n\nWild that somebody got paid to make this. Where can I sign up?", ">\n\nI’m an MA resident (and a RISD student for what it’s worth) and this is the first time i’m hearing about voting for this monstrosity so i’d love to know who all voted for this. \nAfter reading the thoughts behind each piece, it seems like the planners went with an organic sense of interacting with it (apparently you can go inside though why you’d want to Ill never understand). the mock up pictures were from the air or one particular angle and appear much more bronze in color than the dark brown of reality. \nThe other contenders were more modern and relied on both tech and the written word to celebrate MLK, so perhaps that’s why? \nIt’s definitely garnering worldwide attention though for none of the reasons one would hope.\nFor anyone interested in viewing the other contenders here’s the link.\nWhat a phenomenal waste of money…", ">\n\nI'm also thinking of the mis-monument to him in Washington D.C..\nWhy can't people who want to commemorate him find an artist who will leave things at making a simple likeness of him?", ">\n\nI thought his statue in buffalo ny was bad, and boy is it bad. This one took the cake.", ">\n\nIt really is terrible for 10.5M", ">\n\nI went to the one in DC right after it was built 10 years ago and it wasn't the best in my opinion either. Almost like they begrudgingly did it.", ">\n\nI’ll say this. If every time it’s shown to some one. It needs to be shown with context to make it not look like a turd. \nProbably bad design", ">\n\nOf course and many wont publically comment", ">\n\nMost iconic art and architecture is panned at first. Time will tell.", ">\n\nBoston, as we know, is a beacon of racial diversity", ">\n\nPretty sure Dr. King preached humility.. He didn't place himself and his ideals as an elevation beyond common understanding, but rather tried to speak to everyone as a preacher and a servant. Why is the statue something so abstract, almost self indulgently so? Why is it so lofty and dominating?\nAnd the rationale is supposed to be about peace and love, a moment of reflection in a quiet part of the city. Celebrating an ideal rather then a man, and his wife who is often overlooked. But yet its so large, dominating all the space, and confusing. Its not familiar, as love should be, but strange. It doesn't feel warm, it feels artificial and cold.\nI like the intent behind it and the idea, but seriously. I thought the whole point was to celebrate something common to most people? I'm pretty sure for most people this is just going to be confusing.", ">\n\nIt actually originally had heads, but Bart Simpson wanted to impress the bullies", ">\n\n10 million dollars for a statue of an aloft turd. That's a 10/10 grift if I've ever seen one, well done", ">\n\nIt's not a MLK jr statue..... It's a sculpture of arms. It is inspired by a photograph... of MLK jr's arms around his wife. But no one would know that if they never saw the photo (which I have not...).\nFuture generations will look at this sculpture and wonder \"WTF is this?\" because it conveys zero MLK jr vibes.\nI mean... anyone can make a sculpture based on a photo. How about a famous photo with a face in it... (Is the artist not good with faces?)\nThe public is correct in its mockery of such a dumb object (and the price paid for it).", ">\n\nWho was crazy enough to trust Boston of all cities to construct a monument for black people?", ">\n\n\nThe art piece, designed by Brooklyn-based conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas\n\nIn case you're wondering, that's Brooklyn, New York.", ">\n\nMaybe MLK was hung?\nWe don't know.", ">\n\nNo, he was shot.", ">\n\nOh, I'm going to hell...", ">\n\nThere are no accidents", ">\n\nA monumental monument to self-parody and group think that pervades our society", ">\n\nThis shit sucks. What a disgrace to the man.", ">\n\nIt’s a statement about love… you can love the dick or you can love the pussy.", ">\n\nWell it's Boston, home of mockery.", ">\n\nIronically, I think some people need to exercise a little tolerance towards the art piece.", ">\n\nYou do the math. You have 10 million\nWhat do you choose?\nThis statute\nOr\nA small squadron of F-104 Starfighters \n...........\nThe choice is clear, only corruption would sway away from the enlightened path", ">\n\nfrom this angle it looks like im about to get goatse’d", ">\n\nMaybe an AI made that sculpture", ">\n\nIt's just a sculpture of arms. What's the big deal.", ">\n\nHis dad was a known cheater. Love story? 😂", ">\n\nsocial media extra angry lately. I blame winter and lack of sun", ">\n\nIt’s a recreation of a picture. Problem is that picture is from one perspective and is 2 dimensional \nNow it’s 3 dimensional and can be seen from all perspectives and that doesn’t translate\nAlso it cost $10 million fucking dollars to make. That’s money very poorly spent. It looks like two hot dogs wrestling when not viewed from that one special perspective point", ">\n\nWhat happened to the days when we built statutes of famous people that actually looked like them? A realistic bronze statue of MLK on marble pillar would have looked so much better." ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times", ">\n\nThis just became the most famous piece of art in the country right now. \nControversy like this is exactly what they want art to do. Nobody would have cared about another mural to MLK. \nI bet the crowds around this are huge", ">\n\neasy art doesn't make you think", ">\n\nWhy are we always supposed to “think”? I prefer to just enjoy art and it not be work for me.", ">\n\nThen stick to MCU movies.", ">\n\nWhy? I don’t like those", ">\n\nThats what that thing is supposed to be?? Actually terrible design", ">\n\nI mean from angles it looks like a metamucil advertisement.\nOr something else is being held. \nI think that the monument needed to be viewed from all angles or be like identifiable and not viewed as potentially abstract.", ">\n\nThe piece is called \"Thanks PF Changs\" and it was sculpted by Singer/Songwriter Lorde.", ">\n\nYeah... They messed this one up. I want to think over time it'll be appreciated, but it is just poorly done. Heck, on another level I don't like it because it is a statue of MLK and his wife, and we know now how much he cheated on her. It just doesn't work on any level and at best its a MLK statue for the sake of MLK, at worse it undermines MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nYikes that’s true. It’s weird to have included her", ">\n\nIt's like the majority of so-called \"modern art\". It's deliberately pointless, so that people who like to imagine themselves deep thinkers can stand around it pretending they \"get it.\"", ">\n\nThe phrase 'modern art' is a misnomer.", ">\n\nIt really is. That entire scene is just a bunch of rich people flexing their wealth because they can. Art has nothing to do with it.", ">\n\nThis is so fucking stupid. As if this man was summed up by one single fucking moment in life with that picture. I don't get it. A statue based on a photograph of a portion? Can't come up with something creative? Maybe have a statue of him being publicly executed? For all we know the night of that picture could have been the worst of his and hers. I am not even familiar with the picture. As a kid I knew Dr. King as a man that literally changed my world. I saw how awful the world was and he gave me hope in a better place. We got there for a minute. Most people love their spouses. Most people don't love the world!", ">\n\nIt’s the moment when MLK found out he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Apparently you can walk in the middle of the arm vortex and “feel the embrace” of that moment, which is honestly a pretty cool concept….. The statue is still super meh.", ">\n\nLike is it poop? Or a penis? I dunno", ">\n\nFirst thought was it’s The Detachable kid from Suicide Squad", ">\n\nI was reading this book, it's like a part Indiana Jones, part spy thriller. \nSo the lady archeologist and her obvious love interest are discussing how to get through the second door in a tomb after they solved a puzzle for first one. \nAnd then they hear enemies coming in and they have to rush - they kept talking about what symbols mean on the door. \nThen their obvious comedy relief side kick just runs toward the door, pushes it like a normal door and tells them \n\"Guys, sometimes a door is just a door\". \nI feel sometimes some decisions made for this monument design are unnecessarily trying to be special or unique for no good reason, when they could have followed the straight forward approach.", ">\n\nI keep waiting for a terrorist organization to call and take credit for wrecking the original sculpture", ">\n\nWell do you know who loves the new MLK statue?\nAssy McGee", ">\n\nI feel like it has failed completely. People immediately forget about any message as soon as they see it. And it looks objectively awful. From some angles, it looks like someone is eating butt. Not a great tribute.", ">\n\nWild that somebody got paid to make this. Where can I sign up?", ">\n\nI’m an MA resident (and a RISD student for what it’s worth) and this is the first time i’m hearing about voting for this monstrosity so i’d love to know who all voted for this. \nAfter reading the thoughts behind each piece, it seems like the planners went with an organic sense of interacting with it (apparently you can go inside though why you’d want to Ill never understand). the mock up pictures were from the air or one particular angle and appear much more bronze in color than the dark brown of reality. \nThe other contenders were more modern and relied on both tech and the written word to celebrate MLK, so perhaps that’s why? \nIt’s definitely garnering worldwide attention though for none of the reasons one would hope.\nFor anyone interested in viewing the other contenders here’s the link.\nWhat a phenomenal waste of money…", ">\n\nI'm also thinking of the mis-monument to him in Washington D.C..\nWhy can't people who want to commemorate him find an artist who will leave things at making a simple likeness of him?", ">\n\nI thought his statue in buffalo ny was bad, and boy is it bad. This one took the cake.", ">\n\nIt really is terrible for 10.5M", ">\n\nI went to the one in DC right after it was built 10 years ago and it wasn't the best in my opinion either. Almost like they begrudgingly did it.", ">\n\nI’ll say this. If every time it’s shown to some one. It needs to be shown with context to make it not look like a turd. \nProbably bad design", ">\n\nOf course and many wont publically comment", ">\n\nMost iconic art and architecture is panned at first. Time will tell.", ">\n\nBoston, as we know, is a beacon of racial diversity", ">\n\nPretty sure Dr. King preached humility.. He didn't place himself and his ideals as an elevation beyond common understanding, but rather tried to speak to everyone as a preacher and a servant. Why is the statue something so abstract, almost self indulgently so? Why is it so lofty and dominating?\nAnd the rationale is supposed to be about peace and love, a moment of reflection in a quiet part of the city. Celebrating an ideal rather then a man, and his wife who is often overlooked. But yet its so large, dominating all the space, and confusing. Its not familiar, as love should be, but strange. It doesn't feel warm, it feels artificial and cold.\nI like the intent behind it and the idea, but seriously. I thought the whole point was to celebrate something common to most people? I'm pretty sure for most people this is just going to be confusing.", ">\n\nIt actually originally had heads, but Bart Simpson wanted to impress the bullies", ">\n\n10 million dollars for a statue of an aloft turd. That's a 10/10 grift if I've ever seen one, well done", ">\n\nIt's not a MLK jr statue..... It's a sculpture of arms. It is inspired by a photograph... of MLK jr's arms around his wife. But no one would know that if they never saw the photo (which I have not...).\nFuture generations will look at this sculpture and wonder \"WTF is this?\" because it conveys zero MLK jr vibes.\nI mean... anyone can make a sculpture based on a photo. How about a famous photo with a face in it... (Is the artist not good with faces?)\nThe public is correct in its mockery of such a dumb object (and the price paid for it).", ">\n\nWho was crazy enough to trust Boston of all cities to construct a monument for black people?", ">\n\n\nThe art piece, designed by Brooklyn-based conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas\n\nIn case you're wondering, that's Brooklyn, New York.", ">\n\nMaybe MLK was hung?\nWe don't know.", ">\n\nNo, he was shot.", ">\n\nOh, I'm going to hell...", ">\n\nThere are no accidents", ">\n\nA monumental monument to self-parody and group think that pervades our society", ">\n\nThis shit sucks. What a disgrace to the man.", ">\n\nIt’s a statement about love… you can love the dick or you can love the pussy.", ">\n\nWell it's Boston, home of mockery.", ">\n\nIronically, I think some people need to exercise a little tolerance towards the art piece.", ">\n\nYou do the math. You have 10 million\nWhat do you choose?\nThis statute\nOr\nA small squadron of F-104 Starfighters \n...........\nThe choice is clear, only corruption would sway away from the enlightened path", ">\n\nfrom this angle it looks like im about to get goatse’d", ">\n\nMaybe an AI made that sculpture", ">\n\nIt's just a sculpture of arms. What's the big deal.", ">\n\nHis dad was a known cheater. Love story? 😂", ">\n\nsocial media extra angry lately. I blame winter and lack of sun", ">\n\nIt’s a recreation of a picture. Problem is that picture is from one perspective and is 2 dimensional \nNow it’s 3 dimensional and can be seen from all perspectives and that doesn’t translate\nAlso it cost $10 million fucking dollars to make. That’s money very poorly spent. It looks like two hot dogs wrestling when not viewed from that one special perspective point", ">\n\nWhat happened to the days when we built statutes of famous people that actually looked like them? A realistic bronze statue of MLK on marble pillar would have looked so much better.", ">\n\nThis is terrible, almost as terrible as the US government still paying the King family allotments for the FBI killing him." ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times", ">\n\nThis just became the most famous piece of art in the country right now. \nControversy like this is exactly what they want art to do. Nobody would have cared about another mural to MLK. \nI bet the crowds around this are huge", ">\n\neasy art doesn't make you think", ">\n\nWhy are we always supposed to “think”? I prefer to just enjoy art and it not be work for me.", ">\n\nThen stick to MCU movies.", ">\n\nWhy? I don’t like those", ">\n\nThats what that thing is supposed to be?? Actually terrible design", ">\n\nI mean from angles it looks like a metamucil advertisement.\nOr something else is being held. \nI think that the monument needed to be viewed from all angles or be like identifiable and not viewed as potentially abstract.", ">\n\nThe piece is called \"Thanks PF Changs\" and it was sculpted by Singer/Songwriter Lorde.", ">\n\nYeah... They messed this one up. I want to think over time it'll be appreciated, but it is just poorly done. Heck, on another level I don't like it because it is a statue of MLK and his wife, and we know now how much he cheated on her. It just doesn't work on any level and at best its a MLK statue for the sake of MLK, at worse it undermines MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nYikes that’s true. It’s weird to have included her", ">\n\nIt's like the majority of so-called \"modern art\". It's deliberately pointless, so that people who like to imagine themselves deep thinkers can stand around it pretending they \"get it.\"", ">\n\nThe phrase 'modern art' is a misnomer.", ">\n\nIt really is. That entire scene is just a bunch of rich people flexing their wealth because they can. Art has nothing to do with it.", ">\n\nThis is so fucking stupid. As if this man was summed up by one single fucking moment in life with that picture. I don't get it. A statue based on a photograph of a portion? Can't come up with something creative? Maybe have a statue of him being publicly executed? For all we know the night of that picture could have been the worst of his and hers. I am not even familiar with the picture. As a kid I knew Dr. King as a man that literally changed my world. I saw how awful the world was and he gave me hope in a better place. We got there for a minute. Most people love their spouses. Most people don't love the world!", ">\n\nIt’s the moment when MLK found out he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Apparently you can walk in the middle of the arm vortex and “feel the embrace” of that moment, which is honestly a pretty cool concept….. The statue is still super meh.", ">\n\nLike is it poop? Or a penis? I dunno", ">\n\nFirst thought was it’s The Detachable kid from Suicide Squad", ">\n\nI was reading this book, it's like a part Indiana Jones, part spy thriller. \nSo the lady archeologist and her obvious love interest are discussing how to get through the second door in a tomb after they solved a puzzle for first one. \nAnd then they hear enemies coming in and they have to rush - they kept talking about what symbols mean on the door. \nThen their obvious comedy relief side kick just runs toward the door, pushes it like a normal door and tells them \n\"Guys, sometimes a door is just a door\". \nI feel sometimes some decisions made for this monument design are unnecessarily trying to be special or unique for no good reason, when they could have followed the straight forward approach.", ">\n\nI keep waiting for a terrorist organization to call and take credit for wrecking the original sculpture", ">\n\nWell do you know who loves the new MLK statue?\nAssy McGee", ">\n\nI feel like it has failed completely. People immediately forget about any message as soon as they see it. And it looks objectively awful. From some angles, it looks like someone is eating butt. Not a great tribute.", ">\n\nWild that somebody got paid to make this. Where can I sign up?", ">\n\nI’m an MA resident (and a RISD student for what it’s worth) and this is the first time i’m hearing about voting for this monstrosity so i’d love to know who all voted for this. \nAfter reading the thoughts behind each piece, it seems like the planners went with an organic sense of interacting with it (apparently you can go inside though why you’d want to Ill never understand). the mock up pictures were from the air or one particular angle and appear much more bronze in color than the dark brown of reality. \nThe other contenders were more modern and relied on both tech and the written word to celebrate MLK, so perhaps that’s why? \nIt’s definitely garnering worldwide attention though for none of the reasons one would hope.\nFor anyone interested in viewing the other contenders here’s the link.\nWhat a phenomenal waste of money…", ">\n\nI'm also thinking of the mis-monument to him in Washington D.C..\nWhy can't people who want to commemorate him find an artist who will leave things at making a simple likeness of him?", ">\n\nI thought his statue in buffalo ny was bad, and boy is it bad. This one took the cake.", ">\n\nIt really is terrible for 10.5M", ">\n\nI went to the one in DC right after it was built 10 years ago and it wasn't the best in my opinion either. Almost like they begrudgingly did it.", ">\n\nI’ll say this. If every time it’s shown to some one. It needs to be shown with context to make it not look like a turd. \nProbably bad design", ">\n\nOf course and many wont publically comment", ">\n\nMost iconic art and architecture is panned at first. Time will tell.", ">\n\nBoston, as we know, is a beacon of racial diversity", ">\n\nPretty sure Dr. King preached humility.. He didn't place himself and his ideals as an elevation beyond common understanding, but rather tried to speak to everyone as a preacher and a servant. Why is the statue something so abstract, almost self indulgently so? Why is it so lofty and dominating?\nAnd the rationale is supposed to be about peace and love, a moment of reflection in a quiet part of the city. Celebrating an ideal rather then a man, and his wife who is often overlooked. But yet its so large, dominating all the space, and confusing. Its not familiar, as love should be, but strange. It doesn't feel warm, it feels artificial and cold.\nI like the intent behind it and the idea, but seriously. I thought the whole point was to celebrate something common to most people? I'm pretty sure for most people this is just going to be confusing.", ">\n\nIt actually originally had heads, but Bart Simpson wanted to impress the bullies", ">\n\n10 million dollars for a statue of an aloft turd. That's a 10/10 grift if I've ever seen one, well done", ">\n\nIt's not a MLK jr statue..... It's a sculpture of arms. It is inspired by a photograph... of MLK jr's arms around his wife. But no one would know that if they never saw the photo (which I have not...).\nFuture generations will look at this sculpture and wonder \"WTF is this?\" because it conveys zero MLK jr vibes.\nI mean... anyone can make a sculpture based on a photo. How about a famous photo with a face in it... (Is the artist not good with faces?)\nThe public is correct in its mockery of such a dumb object (and the price paid for it).", ">\n\nWho was crazy enough to trust Boston of all cities to construct a monument for black people?", ">\n\n\nThe art piece, designed by Brooklyn-based conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas\n\nIn case you're wondering, that's Brooklyn, New York.", ">\n\nMaybe MLK was hung?\nWe don't know.", ">\n\nNo, he was shot.", ">\n\nOh, I'm going to hell...", ">\n\nThere are no accidents", ">\n\nA monumental monument to self-parody and group think that pervades our society", ">\n\nThis shit sucks. What a disgrace to the man.", ">\n\nIt’s a statement about love… you can love the dick or you can love the pussy.", ">\n\nWell it's Boston, home of mockery.", ">\n\nIronically, I think some people need to exercise a little tolerance towards the art piece.", ">\n\nYou do the math. You have 10 million\nWhat do you choose?\nThis statute\nOr\nA small squadron of F-104 Starfighters \n...........\nThe choice is clear, only corruption would sway away from the enlightened path", ">\n\nfrom this angle it looks like im about to get goatse’d", ">\n\nMaybe an AI made that sculpture", ">\n\nIt's just a sculpture of arms. What's the big deal.", ">\n\nHis dad was a known cheater. Love story? 😂", ">\n\nsocial media extra angry lately. I blame winter and lack of sun", ">\n\nIt’s a recreation of a picture. Problem is that picture is from one perspective and is 2 dimensional \nNow it’s 3 dimensional and can be seen from all perspectives and that doesn’t translate\nAlso it cost $10 million fucking dollars to make. That’s money very poorly spent. It looks like two hot dogs wrestling when not viewed from that one special perspective point", ">\n\nWhat happened to the days when we built statutes of famous people that actually looked like them? A realistic bronze statue of MLK on marble pillar would have looked so much better.", ">\n\nThis is terrible, almost as terrible as the US government still paying the King family allotments for the FBI killing him.", ">\n\nAbstract art being hated for being abstract." ]

[ "Seneca Scott, cousin of Scott King, described it as a “masturbatory metal homage”\n“If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke,” Scott told CNN.\n\nThe first view I saw, it looked like a woman’s thighs and a man was… ahem. Then it looked like a penis from another angle. Just awful.", ">\n\nThe first view I saw of it looked like two arms holding up the biggest butt log in history.", ">\n\nRandy Marsh was here", ">\n\nI wonder how many Bonos that statue weighs 🤔", ">\n\nCourics! (I know what I'm talking about, im from zurich)", ">\n\nDoes Bono want the bitty?", ">\n\nEasy, Bono, that hurts the bitty!\nBono: BIT-TY!!", ">\n\nI’ll be honest it isn’t my taste, the MLK granite head in DC is much better.", ">\n\nThe head that is almost his whole body?", ">\n\n\"excuse me, sir. you're sitting on my body, which is also my face\"", ">\n\nIs butt legs?", ">\n\nButt is definitely legs.", ">\n\nIt's like a five-dimensional creature eating itself.\n\nEmbrace Boston, a nonprofit organization that works toward racial and economic justice and is a part of the Boston Foundation, helped provide resources and $10.5 million in funds, including a maintenance fund, for “The Embrace” and the Freedom Plaza.", ">\n\nDear god, think how far 10 mil could go toward education or helping homeless people or providing services to the addicted. This makes me pretty sick. It's both ugly and incomprehensible. Even a stick figure lets you know what it is.", ">\n\nThis. I understand the need to memorialize but it seems insensitive to sink millions into remembering the dead when that money could be used to help the living. If they are important then we should make sure to teach their history to younger generations, not build a statue many will never see. Malcolm Gadwell did a great episode these kind of situations and the dark reality of how those funds could be better implemented", ">\n\nI don’t necessarily disagree, but couldn’t we make this same argument for every dollar spent on arts or decoration or even personal luxuries?", ">\n\nIt's the classic slippery slope situation. Again, I do not do this argument as much justice as Malcolm Gladwell does in his podcast episode but it's less about expenses and more about extreme expenses like what this statue cost. His example is of the 9/11 memorial and the cost and extreme disruption it caused NYC and the hard question of its true worth; it's an extremely interesting conversation and I encourage people to give it a listen. \nArt will also always be tricky because of the influx of wealthy people who use it as a tool for tax write-offs and consolidating wealth. It's tricky, but I'm just curious to know more. Who donated the money for this statue, why did they donate, did they know this was were the money was going towards, and so on. I'd rather know how these decisions came about rather than just be mad at the consequences; without that insight the same mistakes will keep getting made.", ">\n\nI don't think it's necessarily a slippery slope, I'm just asking us to apply the principle consistently. Any dollar spent on luxury or decoration could instead be spent providing necessities to people who lack them, and if it's immoral to spend $10 million on some humungous arm statue, isn't it also immoral to spend $10,000 on a more modest piece of public art?\nThis is an old response to (or component of) utilitarianism: something like, can we really justify buying new clothes or going on vacations or even spending an extra few bucks on an expensive coffee drink when that money could be feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, providing life-saving medical care, etc.\nAnd I'm not totally sure how to square this. Intuitively, it seems kind of wrong to say we ought to eschew all luxury -- that just about anything we do beyond the satisfaction of our needs is wrong as long as there are people whose needs aren't met. A lot of the texture of life comes from little excesses here and there, and any normative ethical theory that demands us to give up all but the barest comforts just feels wrong (or at the very least, it seems too demanding to really be of much practical use). But at the same time, if we believe an act is good inasmuch as it maximizes happiness or reduces suffering, it does seem to follow that just about any leisure or luxury we engage in is immoral (unless you genuinely think there's more utility in, say, chugging a latte than in providing a malaria shot to some kid in rural Nigeria -- or more utility in sitting at home watching Netflix instead of, say, manning a soup kitchen). \nI guess, like you said, there's still the issue of scale. Spending $1.5 billion on the 9/11 memorial piece is more wrong than going out for a fancy dinner (or commissioning a less extravagant piece), in the same sense that stealing your friend's car is worse than stealing a french fry off his plate.", ">\n\nAt the same time, art is an easy distraction when it comes time to criticize wasteful spending. \nPlenty more is wasted on projects that achieve far less (which is saying something) due to corruption, inefficiency, lack of oversight, etc. \nHow much is lost as a result of a financial system fluctuating for seemingly no reason on any given day? How much has been spent to support these institutions? How much of the problems we're concerned with were created as a direct result of these institutions and the lack of adequate regulation?\nI'm not saying your points aren't valid, nor that someone who's struggling in these communities shouldn't feel pissed off when they see this statue, but just that possibly as a result of art being what it is, it's easy to make it a symbol in a way that draws more attention than arguably far more relevant issues.", ">\n\nI want to be clear, I'm not coming out against public art (and frankly, I actually appreciate this humungous arm sculpture). I guess more than anything, I'm just playing devil's advocate or talking through some challenges I have with my own normative ethical framework. As much as I value beautiful things, it seems wrong to install a big, expensive, fuck-off statue when people might be living in tents on the same street. But at the same time, it feels wrong to say indulging in aesthetics is immoral as long as there's a single person who's not getting enough to eat. \nI agree though, I think there's a lot more waste in commerce than in art, and we don't really account for that waste because it's less visible and it's taking place in a sphere that's meant to be productive.", ">\n\nY’all really made a monument to MLK where his head is missing?", ">\n\nand based on a picture of him hugging his wife who he routinely cheated on. Everything this statue highlights and ignores is weird.", ">\n\nAnd, to add that last little bit of insult to injury, it doesn't even get the pose right from the picture.", ">\n\nIt makes more sense now that I see the photo that inspired it, but it's still odd looking and too large. It dominates the space.", ">\n\nYou really like those fighters, don't you?", ">\n\nI mean if you’re talking about dominating space you really can’t avoid discussing the tactical advantages that the F-104 Starfighter brings to the table", ">\n\nAt quick glance it looks like hands covering an asshole (excuse my language)", ">\n\nIt's Reddit, you're excused.", ">\n\n\"MLK monument has Boston up in arms\"\ni mean, c'mon - it was right there", ">\n\nDid they have like a mock prototype before building this thing? No one sat there and said, “maybe this doesn’t look all that great.”", ">\n\nMore than likely they did, and I guarantee all the mock-ups showed one specific angle where the art works. No one in charged thought to ask how it would look at different angles or just assumed it would make sense once you take in the whole thing. It’s also way easier to make a pitch and sway concerns to a small limited audience over the larger general public. \nAlso, I’d be money the mock-ups looked slightly different than the end result. Things change when reality strikes. Material cost change so things get scaled back, maybe there were other elements like lights or accent pieces to direct viewer’s eyes but got cut due to budget reasons. \nMore than likely though, the people in charge had no idea what “good” art is and just wanted something. There was no oversight, no real check ins, and anytime the artist said something it probably went in one ear and out the other. “Sounds good, just get it done”.", ">\n\nThe backstory to this and the artist, was on CBS Sunday Morning back in December. It should be on You Tube if anyone is interested. The aluminum cast that the assistants were polishing before it was dipped in bronze, looked a lot better; eventhough it reminded you of the \"Bean\" in Grant Park in Chicago. The final version doesn't even have the reflective finish the entry picture said it would.\nThe main problem for me, is that it's based off a picture of Dr. King that vast majority of people haven't seen, so wouldn't immediate associate with him. I think the artist was thinking more about his personal feelings, than how the general publoc could relate.\nThat being said, the last two finalists on that list were BEAUTIFUL and interactive. I just can't understand what the selection committee was thinking.", ">\n\nGive me $10mil and I’ll do better", ">\n\nI'll do the job for half that", ">\n\nI'll do it for a third of 10mil. But, I'll need half that up front for materials, other half on completion. I'll get started just as soon as that first check clears. Trust me!", ">\n\nJust buy 3 small squadron of F-104 Starfighters\nEveryone will be happier\nEasier to fight racism with a fighter jet", ">\n\nHuh... can't argue with that logic!", ">\n\nA complete miss in it’s conception, execution and intention.", ">\n\nbut a very successful reach-around, from certain angles.", ">\n\nOMG a reach-around is exactly what I thought the sculpture looked like, lol", ">\n\nWithout reading headlines, my first reaction to this monument was 'why did somebody make a sculpture of someone stuffing their head up their own ass'\nEdit: typo", ">\n\nOmg, I am crying-laughing right now!", ">\n\nMy throat's hurting from laughing so hard.", ">\n\nIt's honestly pretty bad. If nobody knows what they are looking at then the statue is a bust.", ">\n\nCan't be a bust, there's no head anywhere on it.", ">\n\nOh from some of the assessments of it I've seen on Twitter there's definitely head.", ">\n\nWe could do something like police reform or stop racist gerrymandering but we get this instead. I'm sure MLK's dream was a weird statue of his and his wife's arms.", ">\n\nBoston is one of the most redlined cities in America. Our black communities could REALLY use that $10m.", ">\n\nFuck, they could have built a better statue and still had $9mil left for good causes.", ">\n\nThe first photo of it I saw was from single angle, and good chunk of it was hidden by the fence, you could only see the top part of it. So, I was like, OK, somebody figured out particular angle to make it look bad in order to mock it.\nBut now that it is fully visible and I saw many more photos of it from different angles... Yeah, I don't think the concept really worked well in this particular case. This is where artist should have been like \"OK, this doesn't really work all that well, I should either put more work into it, or try some different idea.\"", ">\n\nIt works from specific angles, but if your statur is in an open space it should look great from most angles.", ">\n\nIt should have been a plaque with a graven image of Martin Luther King with the date every time foundations are able to donate the money that they instead would have spent on bad art. They could have spent that money with a bunch of different charitable foundations and had enough left over to employ somebody for the next 10 years to make sure that that donation money was spent correctly.", ">\n\nSo far, we're up to a giant penis, 69ing, and holding a giant clump of shit. What other interpretations of this...unique specimen are out there?", ">\n\nYou forgot cunnilingus.", ">\n\nMy very first thought when I saw it on twitter. It only looks good from one specific angle but its so huge that if your were to see it in person you're looking at the many more ugly angles. Everything about it is just awful if it weren't dedicated to MLK I would probably consider spray painting something on it to at least make it less ugly.", ">\n\nIdk why they didn't just make it their whole bodies. Like a normal statue of them hugging.", ">\n\nAbstractions can be beautiful. The human mind is great at connecting dots.\nBut here clearly there was no feedback process.", ">\n\nYeah this piece shows the problem with abstractions too. Sometimes you can remove so many details and leave too many dots unconnected that your audience ends up connecting two of them together in a way you never intended.\nAnd that's how you have penis/poop/cunnilingus statue instead of arms.", ">\n\nIn fairness, ambiguity and confusion are valid themes to explore as an artist. It's only a problem if you expect all art to be immediately legible. \nThat said, I doubt that was this artist's intention, which is too bad, because the more I read the criticism, the more valid it seems as a criticism of people's sense of ownership over MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nIt looks like a reminder to get a colonoscopy", ">\n\nSomebody got paid 10 million for this crap..", ">\n\nAnd this is also a good example that if you want to get rich all you have to do is figure out a way to fuck people over. Because this is straight up robbery without the gun.", ">\n\nWho's money was taken against their will? As far as I can tell, this is what they paid for.", ">\n\nWhatever happened to just making a really good statue likeness of the person you’re trying to honor?", ">\n\nThis has also been known to go poorly.", ">\n\nSend help! I can't stop laughing!", ">\n\nOr the 'Scary Lucy' statue...\nLucille Ball statue (since replaced)", ">\n\nIt is literally a hollow embrace, also known as a false display of compassion", ">\n\nI could see this being some random monument some guy made for free just to get his name out there. \nBut this cost $10 mil. How?", ">\n\nEven with a stupid design, it would still take a talented artist months or years to actually build. Plus there's the cost to transport and install it and a fund to pay for future cleaning and maintenance.", ">\n\nThis. In order to put a moment in that location you have to provide a maintenance fund for 25 years or some such.", ">\n\n10.5 millions dollars for a big bronze cock", ">\n\nFrom some angles it looks like an arm proudly displaying a turd", ">\n\nI thought it was because of racism but it's really because it looks like a penis.", ">\n\n\nlooks like a penis\n\nSee a penis doctor immediately", ">\n\nYour mom said she's all booked up this week", ">\n\nThat Ronaldo bust was better", ">\n\nOr how about the Lucille ball one? 🤦‍♀️", ">\n\nor that one melania trump one", ">\n\nCan history record that we melted that thing down and started over? It's... genuinely bad.", ">\n\n“Surely it can’t be that b…..nevermind”", ">\n\nAside from the fact that it looks like hands caressing a large turd, I don’t get how the average person is going to look at this and go, “oh, MLK”. I realize it’s based on a photo of him, but like… in the photo he had a head.", ">\n\nIs this modeled after a picture of Dr. King consoling Mrs. King after he cheated on her, yet again?", ">\n\nIt deserves mockery and possibly a corruption investigation", ">\n\nIt was privately funded.\nI'm a cynical Bostonian who hates it, but I'll concede that it wasn't my tax dollars that paid for it.", ">\n\nI guess it's an alright statue if you only look at it from the one angle. But then why put it in an area that is so wide open to different viewing perspectives?", ">\n\nIt simultaneously looks like a giant turd, a giant dong, and somebody chowing box.", ">\n\nEven if it worked, it honors a moment of congratulation over winning an award. Not really the way I think of Dr. King.", ">\n\nThat money could have helped actual people. But this is what we got. sad.", ">\n\nGiving me Lucille Ball statue vibes", ">\n\nI think MLK would like to have seen a 10 million inner city library.", ">\n\nWhen I look at a monument to triumph over racism, the last thing adjective I should be using to describe it is \"Lovecraftian\".", ">\n\nBecause it’s fuck ugly", ">\n\nI thought it was a clever idea, not sure as monument to MLK, but it would have gotten rave reviews if it was set up at Burning Man.", ">\n\nIt'd also be temporary.", ">\n\nHahahaha\nWhat in the fuck", ">\n\nI just saw a hilarious video of this guy saying from some angles it looks like a dude eating someone out 😂", ">\n\n10 million for a statue this better be good.\n!0 minutes later\n.........Um wow .......that is money not well spent.", ">\n\nMBTA could have used that money!", ">\n\nSo how did something like this even get made without someone noticing that it was garbage? Isn't there a design review, and miniatures, and simulations of what it would look like on site? Tons of opportunity for someone to point out that it looks like 3 hands holding up a giant turd?", ">\n\nFrom Dr Kings I had a nightmare speech.", ">\n\nShould have been a Challenge: \" Can you design a statue commemorating MLK, and get paid a bundle, and STILL not have anything on the statue recognizable relating to MLK \"\n​\nI would have thought that was impossible...turns out I was wrong.", ">\n\nThe artist did not understand the assignment. Its absolutely horrendous", ">\n\nSomeone got paid for that monstrosity?\nThey must've laughed all the way to the bank.", ">\n\nArt is like that at times", ">\n\nThis just became the most famous piece of art in the country right now. \nControversy like this is exactly what they want art to do. Nobody would have cared about another mural to MLK. \nI bet the crowds around this are huge", ">\n\neasy art doesn't make you think", ">\n\nWhy are we always supposed to “think”? I prefer to just enjoy art and it not be work for me.", ">\n\nThen stick to MCU movies.", ">\n\nWhy? I don’t like those", ">\n\nThats what that thing is supposed to be?? Actually terrible design", ">\n\nI mean from angles it looks like a metamucil advertisement.\nOr something else is being held. \nI think that the monument needed to be viewed from all angles or be like identifiable and not viewed as potentially abstract.", ">\n\nThe piece is called \"Thanks PF Changs\" and it was sculpted by Singer/Songwriter Lorde.", ">\n\nYeah... They messed this one up. I want to think over time it'll be appreciated, but it is just poorly done. Heck, on another level I don't like it because it is a statue of MLK and his wife, and we know now how much he cheated on her. It just doesn't work on any level and at best its a MLK statue for the sake of MLK, at worse it undermines MLK's legacy.", ">\n\nYikes that’s true. It’s weird to have included her", ">\n\nIt's like the majority of so-called \"modern art\". It's deliberately pointless, so that people who like to imagine themselves deep thinkers can stand around it pretending they \"get it.\"", ">\n\nThe phrase 'modern art' is a misnomer.", ">\n\nIt really is. That entire scene is just a bunch of rich people flexing their wealth because they can. Art has nothing to do with it.", ">\n\nThis is so fucking stupid. As if this man was summed up by one single fucking moment in life with that picture. I don't get it. A statue based on a photograph of a portion? Can't come up with something creative? Maybe have a statue of him being publicly executed? For all we know the night of that picture could have been the worst of his and hers. I am not even familiar with the picture. As a kid I knew Dr. King as a man that literally changed my world. I saw how awful the world was and he gave me hope in a better place. We got there for a minute. Most people love their spouses. Most people don't love the world!", ">\n\nIt’s the moment when MLK found out he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Apparently you can walk in the middle of the arm vortex and “feel the embrace” of that moment, which is honestly a pretty cool concept….. The statue is still super meh.", ">\n\nLike is it poop? Or a penis? I dunno", ">\n\nFirst thought was it’s The Detachable kid from Suicide Squad", ">\n\nI was reading this book, it's like a part Indiana Jones, part spy thriller. \nSo the lady archeologist and her obvious love interest are discussing how to get through the second door in a tomb after they solved a puzzle for first one. \nAnd then they hear enemies coming in and they have to rush - they kept talking about what symbols mean on the door. \nThen their obvious comedy relief side kick just runs toward the door, pushes it like a normal door and tells them \n\"Guys, sometimes a door is just a door\". \nI feel sometimes some decisions made for this monument design are unnecessarily trying to be special or unique for no good reason, when they could have followed the straight forward approach.", ">\n\nI keep waiting for a terrorist organization to call and take credit for wrecking the original sculpture", ">\n\nWell do you know who loves the new MLK statue?\nAssy McGee", ">\n\nI feel like it has failed completely. People immediately forget about any message as soon as they see it. And it looks objectively awful. From some angles, it looks like someone is eating butt. Not a great tribute.", ">\n\nWild that somebody got paid to make this. Where can I sign up?", ">\n\nI’m an MA resident (and a RISD student for what it’s worth) and this is the first time i’m hearing about voting for this monstrosity so i’d love to know who all voted for this. \nAfter reading the thoughts behind each piece, it seems like the planners went with an organic sense of interacting with it (apparently you can go inside though why you’d want to Ill never understand). the mock up pictures were from the air or one particular angle and appear much more bronze in color than the dark brown of reality. \nThe other contenders were more modern and relied on both tech and the written word to celebrate MLK, so perhaps that’s why? \nIt’s definitely garnering worldwide attention though for none of the reasons one would hope.\nFor anyone interested in viewing the other contenders here’s the link.\nWhat a phenomenal waste of money…", ">\n\nI'm also thinking of the mis-monument to him in Washington D.C..\nWhy can't people who want to commemorate him find an artist who will leave things at making a simple likeness of him?", ">\n\nI thought his statue in buffalo ny was bad, and boy is it bad. This one took the cake.", ">\n\nIt really is terrible for 10.5M", ">\n\nI went to the one in DC right after it was built 10 years ago and it wasn't the best in my opinion either. Almost like they begrudgingly did it.", ">\n\nI’ll say this. If every time it’s shown to some one. It needs to be shown with context to make it not look like a turd. \nProbably bad design", ">\n\nOf course and many wont publically comment", ">\n\nMost iconic art and architecture is panned at first. Time will tell.", ">\n\nBoston, as we know, is a beacon of racial diversity", ">\n\nPretty sure Dr. King preached humility.. He didn't place himself and his ideals as an elevation beyond common understanding, but rather tried to speak to everyone as a preacher and a servant. Why is the statue something so abstract, almost self indulgently so? Why is it so lofty and dominating?\nAnd the rationale is supposed to be about peace and love, a moment of reflection in a quiet part of the city. Celebrating an ideal rather then a man, and his wife who is often overlooked. But yet its so large, dominating all the space, and confusing. Its not familiar, as love should be, but strange. It doesn't feel warm, it feels artificial and cold.\nI like the intent behind it and the idea, but seriously. I thought the whole point was to celebrate something common to most people? I'm pretty sure for most people this is just going to be confusing.", ">\n\nIt actually originally had heads, but Bart Simpson wanted to impress the bullies", ">\n\n10 million dollars for a statue of an aloft turd. That's a 10/10 grift if I've ever seen one, well done", ">\n\nIt's not a MLK jr statue..... It's a sculpture of arms. It is inspired by a photograph... of MLK jr's arms around his wife. But no one would know that if they never saw the photo (which I have not...).\nFuture generations will look at this sculpture and wonder \"WTF is this?\" because it conveys zero MLK jr vibes.\nI mean... anyone can make a sculpture based on a photo. How about a famous photo with a face in it... (Is the artist not good with faces?)\nThe public is correct in its mockery of such a dumb object (and the price paid for it).", ">\n\nWho was crazy enough to trust Boston of all cities to construct a monument for black people?", ">\n\n\nThe art piece, designed by Brooklyn-based conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas\n\nIn case you're wondering, that's Brooklyn, New York.", ">\n\nMaybe MLK was hung?\nWe don't know.", ">\n\nNo, he was shot.", ">\n\nOh, I'm going to hell...", ">\n\nThere are no accidents", ">\n\nA monumental monument to self-parody and group think that pervades our society", ">\n\nThis shit sucks. What a disgrace to the man.", ">\n\nIt’s a statement about love… you can love the dick or you can love the pussy.", ">\n\nWell it's Boston, home of mockery.", ">\n\nIronically, I think some people need to exercise a little tolerance towards the art piece.", ">\n\nYou do the math. You have 10 million\nWhat do you choose?\nThis statute\nOr\nA small squadron of F-104 Starfighters \n...........\nThe choice is clear, only corruption would sway away from the enlightened path", ">\n\nfrom this angle it looks like im about to get goatse’d", ">\n\nMaybe an AI made that sculpture", ">\n\nIt's just a sculpture of arms. What's the big deal.", ">\n\nHis dad was a known cheater. Love story? 😂", ">\n\nsocial media extra angry lately. I blame winter and lack of sun", ">\n\nIt’s a recreation of a picture. Problem is that picture is from one perspective and is 2 dimensional \nNow it’s 3 dimensional and can be seen from all perspectives and that doesn’t translate\nAlso it cost $10 million fucking dollars to make. That’s money very poorly spent. It looks like two hot dogs wrestling when not viewed from that one special perspective point", ">\n\nWhat happened to the days when we built statutes of famous people that actually looked like them? A realistic bronze statue of MLK on marble pillar would have looked so much better.", ">\n\nThis is terrible, almost as terrible as the US government still paying the King family allotments for the FBI killing him.", ">\n\nAbstract art being hated for being abstract.", ">\n\nI mean it looks like a pair of hands raising an inflated colon to the sky like it's baby Simba from The Lion King." ]