The controversial Christmas display shows Jesus pointing a double-barrel shotgun at Santa’s dead body as Rudolph lays sprawled across the hood of a pickup truck nearby, WNCT reported.
Neighbors in Nipomo, Calif., called for the display to be removed, but its maker Ron Lake called it a work of art — in which Santa represents the commercialization of Christmas, the station reported.
“It’s an expression of my repressed creativity,” Lake told WNCT.
Uh huh.
[Update a few minutes later]
Here it is. Pic is kind of small, though.
Someone needs to get Brian Boitano there to mediate.
Ask and ye shall receive
It seems the repression was not without cause. A pity the dam did not hold on this one. Creative? Hardly. One would be hard-pressed to find a cliche’ more well-worn this time of year than the commercialization of Christmas. Rather, this man was bombarded on all sides with a meme to the point where the meme had to use the man to express itself and burst open like a cell filled with viruses.
I almost hate to say this. While I agree with the statements that this man has no taste, no sense of art, and probably isn’t very bright, and while I most certainly support the neighbors in asking him to remove a very distasteful display, I would hope that someone doesn’t consider using the legal system to force him to comply. Assuming that this is private property and that neighborhood covenants or any other prohibitions don’t exist of course.
After all, a man has a right to make a complete ass of himself.
You underscore the important social function of shame. While a man certainly has the legal right to mock his own humanity, he should fear the scorn of his family and peers to help correct himself. Absent that, we face degradation of the legal system itself as sufficient people gather together under the premise that, “something must be done!”