I think you’ve completely mislabeled the student and the judges.

More appropriate would be “Junior Idiot Gets ‘A’ from Senior Idiots.”

Hit submit too soon…

And that’s the opinion of a “Liberal.”

That’s a good call Tony.

I actually have many good friends, to include you and Kat, who are Liberals.

And I probably should not cast such a wide net of disparaging remarks. It’s not Liberals that I have a problem with…it’s the far-fringe groups—whether they be right (Pat Buchanan) or Left (Ward Churchill).

Anyhow, I think you’re right. This particular story has less to do with Liberalism than it has to do with out-and-out idiocy.

UPATED: The more I think about it, and the more I watch and read…this story has as much to do with Liberalism and idiocy in equal dose. It’s getting harder and harder to separate the two.

Look, I go to this guy’s school and I’m really good friends with him (I’m also a proud Republican), and all I can say is that he really is a good guy despite his flaming liberal views. He also is a talented artist, this isn’t the first time he’s been recognized for his skill. My point is that he really doesn’t deserve this. How many of you have any knowledge of art? I admittedly have none whatsoever, so it might well be a freakin’ awesome piece.
That said, I just want to point out that I am so staunchly against censorship or any infringement of first amendment rights, that I don’t think his piece should have been taken down at all and I’m glad it wasn’t, whether or not I agree with it. I’m even proud of him for winning second place. That’s just my opinion.

P.S. Seeing as I’m all for free speech, I don’t have any problem with sites like this that are just people stating their opinions, otherwise I would be slightly hypocritical. My problem is when people call up his house, send him letters, etc. with profanity and death threats. That’s crossing a line.

Mike…thanks for the comment. It’s a rarity to hear from a young man with such a well-grounded perspective.

I couldn’t agree more with you that Jeff has every right to display this piece of ‘art’. And I would have been extrememly vocal had the school not allowed it to be displayed.

Additionally, I think any one who would go so far as to threaten this kid should seek some serious counseling.

But, I think young Jeff is learning a valuable lesson about free speech: it’s a two way street. He has the right to say what he wants. Others have the right to react to his speech. He doesn’t have the right to have people agree with, like, or even respect his words and thoughts.

Nor do I have any qualms with people sending him emails and letters. As long as they are not threatening. That’s just a bunch of people letting young Jeff know that what he’s expressing is commonly referred to as ‘hate speech’.

Something else young Jeff might find out the hard way is that the Internet is a permanent record. I know whenever we interview someone at my company for a job, we ‘Google’ them. How do you think most perspective employers are going to react to his ideas? I know I wouldn’t hire him.

Any way, my main contention, is that his piece of art just wasn’t worthy of any type of award. It sucked. Badly. It wasn’t original; most of it was actually just ripped off from DemocraticUnderground.com.

It’s a sadder commentary on his teachers and judges, and the over-zealous atmosphere of political correctness.

I didn’t want you to change the title, just wanted to point out that all Democrats (21st century term = Liberal) aren’t as “enlightened” as these folks.

If I want a Liberal viewpoint, I’ll find another blog. You’ve been hard on the left, but it is easy to see that your targets have made their own beds to lie in. The biggest difference I’ve seen between the two sides is the far left likes to use larger words.

To Robbie…thank you for giving me enough respect to offer a lucid and well-conceived response. Many people your age probably wouldn’t do that for a high school student.

Moving on to the main topic of this post…what’s rather interesting is what caused the great media sensation surrounding this whole affair in the first place. The man who first saw it and decided that it offended him enough to cause this controversy, Paul Lewis. For one thing, I automatically lose a lot of respect for any 34 year-old man who gets this offended by an art project designed to reflect the opinion of one individual who is half his age. In fact, the major buzz around the school (because Jeff has 100% support of the student body) is mostly “Isn’t it kind of pathetic that the first thing this guy did was to call all of the media?”. True, he did talk to the store owner, prompting Mr. Alpert to put up a disclaimer, but that wasn’t enough, and he proceeded to call every media station he could think of because “it’s offensive to me.”

I just don’t see the logic here. Any insight would be appreciated.

Robbie, I think that you hit the nail right on the head when you say that he has the right of freedom of speech and also the right for people’s reaction to his speech. The only problem is that people have taken this too far.

You see, Jeff’s in my AP US History and Chemistry classes, in fact, I’ve been friends with him for over three years, and he’s not this flaming radical extremist that many are proclaiming him. He’s an artist, regardless of anyone else’s ‘opinion’ on art. The fact is, whether or not the piece was controversial or not (and it was) its the fact that people are jumping on a 17 year-old .

I’m sure that any 17-year-old has done something they thought was right, but ended up causing trouble. When he first showed me his art project (a good month before this story hit the presses) I was a little taken aback, I do admit, but when I realized that it was the artistic value of the piece that is to be appreciated, I realized that it really wasnt’ all that bad. It’s not a piece meant to change opinions as well. Jeff simply was required to make a project that evicted a strong emotion. And for this, you must say that he did a damn fine job.

Also, in respects to your backing of the hate-mail and death threats that he’s been recieving, I don’t see how you can support these people. I understand the people that offer their opinion in a non-threating nengative manner, but is it really right that he gets death threats daily, at all hours of the day. Freedom of speech is not a crime, however I’m quite sure that despite any circumstances, a threat against one’s life is a criminal offense.

Anyways, as with Mike, any insight would be thouroughly appreciated.

To Mike: you’re Otav right?

Mat…thanks for the comment.

First of all, and nothing to do with Jeff Eden, either your school or the parents of your community are doing something right up there…both of the comments I’ve received from students at your school are commendable, both in their reason and in their perspectives.

Let me first respond to this statement in your comment, though:

Also, in respects to your backing of the hate-mail and death threats that he’s been recieving…

If you’ll read up in my response to Mike, I do not condone any threats of violence towards Jeff. In fact, I would be the first person to stand up in front of him and ward off any body who wanted to do this kid any actual harm.

What I did say, was that I have no problem with people sending Jeff emails or letters letting him know that his ideas are unpopular and not supported nor shared by the majority of Americans. That’s us using our first amendment rights. I reiterate though…these correspondences with Jeff should not have any threatening language. And anybody who in anyway were to act on any threats towards Jeff should be arrested and prosecuted.

I’ll add some more thoughts in another front-page post later today. Both you and Mike have added some food for thought that deserve a thoughtful response.

To Mat…this is definitely Ottav

well reading to what you have said about my fellow class mate and the fealing i get from this is Hate! some of you call him a sort of a monster and think their is somthing wrong with him and the school that he attends well i have some bad news for you guys are school is almost 60 percent right wing or at least that is what the mock election told us but you know what no one at my school has given him a hard time and he has gotten nothing but respect from his fellow class mates now why? because they are afraid to say what they feel no becaus they respect a little thing called art and self-expershion i my self liked it because it took balls i do not feel that i could do something like that and for this I raise my glass to him.

Sigh.

I was impressed with the thoughtful, logical, and articulate (and grammatically correct) postings from Lance’s fellow students, Mike and Mat.

Somehow, Lance, I get the feeling you don’t take the same classes as those two guys, do you?

Do I hate how liberalism is poisoning the minds of young students? You bet I do. Do I hate that some kid was given an ‘A’ for an unoriginal, uncreative piece of racism-posing-as-art? Yes, I do.

But do I hate little Jeffrey Eden? No, I don’t. But I do feel sorry for him. Sorry that he has no historical perspective, and can’t differentiate between a President who has led the fight for freedom and democracy and a man who murdered and tortured millions of Jews. Sorry for him that he has allowed his young mind to be filled with such hateful rhetoric (most likely by his parents and teachers) at such a young age.

There’s a very short list of people in history to whom you can equate to Hitler: Marx, Lenin, and Mao are amongst them (and possibly Saadam Hussein, had we not finally put an end to his reign of terror); President Bush is not amongst them. If you don’t get that, you have been deprived of an honest education.

I also find it sad that young Jeffrey has received “nothing but respect” from his classmates. That does not speak very well of the intelligence or intestinal fortitude of your student body.

If you merely think that you are standing up for Jeffrey’s ‘right’ to create and display his art…nobody is arguing that he shouldn’t be allowed to. But what the rational and sane world is saying is that his art sucks, and was highly praised because of political correctness and the Bush-hating, liberal bias inherent in today’s academia. It didn’t take balls to create what he did—it took a culture of hate and lunacy to foster this type of thought.

So, stand up for young Jeffrey’s right to create his art. But if you and your fellow classmates are also giving Jeffrey “nothing but respect” for the content and message of his little plagiarized art piece, then I have a great deal of sadness for all of you. If he were my classmate, I would call him out on his ideas…I would debate him on the merits of his content, and then ridicule him when he was stumbled on his inaccuracies. You and your fellow classmates should have the courage to do the same. You do have that same freedom of speech, you know?

Stupidity: Main story
How much effort did it take young Jeffrey Eden to find all the materials he used for his ‘art’ project?
Reply:
How much effort does it take to buy paint? Hardly any. But how many of you could paint the Mona Lisa? Hardly any.
Clarification for people who otherwise would’ve said something stupid in response:
I’m not saying that this piece is a ‘Mona Lisa’. I’m saying material is not what makes art good or bad. I’ve seen a painting that the most conservative (I’m from North Dakota I know conservative) people in the gallery ‘loved’. It was painted with shit. None of the patrons knew. I knew because I knew the artist. He proved this point to me about material.

Stupidity: Robbie
“It’s getting harder and harder to separate the two.”
From your perspective. Which is only slightly hypocritical after giving Tony (a liberal) props for his objectivity.

“That’s just a bunch of people letting young Jeff know that what he’s expressing is commonly referred to as ‘hate speech’.
Reply:
If you want to be viewed as a logical being; leave your slant out of the validation of your argument. Using Jeffie-boy’s own analogy here. What if someone made a similarly pointed piece about Hitler? Would you call Hitler bashing ‘hate speech’? Your reply works under the presumption that Jeffie hates Bush without logic or reason. Assumption makes an ass…

Something else young Jeff might find out the hard way is that the Internet is a permanent record.”
Reply: Now that’s just ridiculous. Anyone still play Oregon Trail on their apple IIe? How many people still think 56k is high speed Internet?

“What I did say, was that I have no problem with people sending Jeff emails or letters letting him know that his ideas are unpopular and not supported nor shared by the majority of Americans.”
Reply: Yes and as Mat stated… weak… and lame… and stupid… The kid’s 17. He wasn’t looking for press. He wasn’t getting paid. He isn’t a professional artist who is prepared for the reaction. He was just trying to finish an assignment. Pause and reflect at what you did at 17 and what would happen if it got this kind of attention. Lame and Weak.

“Do I hate how liberalism is poisoning the minds of young students? You bet I do. Do I hate that some kid was given an ‘A’ for an unoriginal, uncreative piece of racism-posing-as-art? Yes, I do.”
Reply: Racism? How? How could you even? That’s just ridiculous. Do your readers a favor. Read what you’ve written. Racism against Jews? That’s as close as I can get, but that’s a hell of a stretch man. You believe Jeff was slighting the Jews? Intentionally? Wow…

“Sorry that he has no historical perspective, and can’t differentiate between a President who has led the fight for freedom and democracy and a man who murdered and tortured millions of Jews.”
Reply:
Sorry that he has no historical perspective, and can’t differentiate between a popularly elected government leader who has led the fight for freedom of the Deutschland and a man who tortured and murdered millions of Arabs.

See how your own rhetoric can make you a hypocrite? You cannot claim historical perspective. Cannot. Did you see the period? Good. Why? We are still in the period to which you refer. You are not all-knowing. Again with the period that I’m going assume you see. Making an ass out of myself.

To further prove you have no perspective. Marx. He wrote a book. He killed? No one. Yet he is next to Hitler on a list? He had an idea? Not even a bad one, merely one that doesn’t work. Then you should put DaVinci on the list for his helicopter design. Or Bush for not finding WMDs. You are the only hate monger here. Your ‘perspective’ has blinded you to truth. Or at least consistency.

“But what the rational and sane world is saying is that his art sucks, and was highly praised because of political correctness and the Bush-hating, liberal bias inherent in today’s academia.”

Reply: You have a bias. I have a bias. Individuals may have a bias. Organizations of more than a few people cannot, by their inclusive nature, have a bias. You are a hypocrite, and a lair. That is not a bias. That is a fact.

My own stupidity: Organizations can have a bias.

The republican party. for example.

I guess I meant to say they cannot have unity of purpose, and Robbie can’t claim that this specific organization (the public school Jeff attends) is actively turning the minds of its student body to a predetermined political bent. The PTA emembers, School Board members, administation and faculty would have to all be driven not only in the same direction, but driven for the same reasons.

[...] little Jeffrey Eden — you remember Jeffery don’t you? He’s the kid who got a special award and an A [...]