Unlike most of the art community, I find great virtues in ridding society of unnecessary obscene materials and policies funded by the taxpayers.

The question of obscenity in the NEA is in essence a question of policy involving standards of “good” moral judgment and “quality” control.

It is fitting that this battle begins with the arts considering her long history of provoking change in the society. But why stop with the arts?

We the taxpayers subsidize the tobacco industry to the tune of millions of dollars each year. Isn’t that absurd? We subsidize the killing of millions of Americans each year.

A cut in the capital gains tax? Is Congress kidding? The richest people in America are going to continue to pay less taxes percentage-wise than you or I.

The trickle-down theory has not worked and most probably will not. So the rich get richer. That’s obscene.

We kill people legally in this country, you know. What could be more obscene or barbaric than the death penalty in a “civilized” nation?

Here’s a good one for all you folks who love to quote the Bible: “Thou shall not kill.”

God has a way of making his point clear doesn’t he/she? Our military wastes billions of dollars each year on its idyllic fantasy of a cosmic condom appropriately nicknamed “Star Wars.”

Billions of dollars each year which could feed the hungry, energize our educational system, help dwindle our nation deficit; (this is where excess spending should be cut first), etc…this waste is obscene.

Here is my short list of obscene programs funded by “We the People”:

One million dollars a day to support war in El Salvador. The leasing of national forests to lumber companies, selling weapons to Iran and Iraq, 260 billion! For defense…I’ll save the rest for a book.

Who cares if Robert Mapplethorpe took pictures of himself clad in leather with a whip up his butt. Has society been profoundly hurt because Antonio Serano submerged a crucifix in a jar of urine and took a picture of it?

How many of you who criticize their work have actually seen it? These are trivial matters. The real subversive, dangerous forces in our society are much more subtle and ingrained. That is where the real battle lies.

Robert Ferrara

Ceramic Arts

Senior