I’m not offended by Mike Beam’s juvenile attempt at artwork. It’s hard for me to say that I’m offended by anything today when I’m living in a culture as crass and profit-driven as ours is. This is a culture where a child is coaxed by his parents into picking his nose in front of a camera in order to get onto America’s Funniest Home Videos.

What bothers me is the use (or should I say defacement) of another man’s artwork in an attempt to offend and grab attention. Unless I am mistaken, the real art in this piece was done, not by Beam, but by Bill Mauldin, an illustrator in the 1940s. Mauldin was famous for his humorous, yet sensitive and realistic portrayal of the American infantryman of World War II.

I wonder what Mr. Mauldin would say about having his work subjected to Beam’s surface animation and juxtaposition of colors? He’d probably tell it like it is and say it was crap.

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Oh, I forgot, it’s art and removing it would be censorship. Gimme a break! When I hear those words thrown around as loosely as they are today it reminds me of a similar technique employed by people ike Rush Limbaugh and Cal Thomas. They’re always trying to cloak some hidden, selfish motive with similarly weighty words like freedom and property rights.

Could the reporter have been right when she quoted Beam as saying his defacement was anatomically correct?!What planet is this guy from anyway? I think you’ve been down on the farm too long, Beam. Anatomically correct for a horse maybe! And he must not think too much of the SIUC student body if this is the level he thinks he must sink to when dealing with (this) different crowd.

If my words sound unkind, don’t feel sorry for Mr. Beam. He no doubt loves the attention.

Yes, there are bigger problems that we face today. It’s just that opportunists like Beam make what can be a pretty ugly and disturbing world that much more so.