The man should weld the gun back on! these people are severely retarded for having a problem with it. It's awesome, and brings more appeal from the children. We all play video games and what's more awesome than imagining your video game hero is protecting your playground!

The political correct retards that have problem with this should be removed and cast out of town if they have such issue. Hell all political correct morons should be cast out of the country.

What I want to know is......where is the gun now???

Maybe you should have been more concerned about fixing the broken statute in the first place. Or is it ok for the "children" to see a degrading park after you put so much effort into renovating. Maybe it would be best for you to use the park, & learn what's like to have fun again, instead of an being a person who Cant Understand Normal Thinking.

"...Cant Understand Normal Thinking"

Unnecessary, even if you disagree.

I admire guerilla artists… I don't like violence.  When I saw the headline I expected ad "real" machine gun to be welded to the sculpture. Then I opened this link and found this was just nuts and bolts welded in a machine-gun-like representation. It was silly and harmless junk added to someone else's sad and broken art piece.
Inappropriate? Maybe… but all you have to do is remove it.  Permanence is impossible.  Let go of the hate.  

While it does do damage to someone else work, its is an artistic protest to how our younger generation are being trained to perpetuate the ongoing wars.
With all art its perspective.

Jeanne seriously needs to get out more and I don't mean to Meridian Park. This "issue" is so ridiculous it makes me throw up a little in my mouth. The rogue artist (Marc) didn't remove, break or completely destroy the piece. He merely fixed or added an addition to a rather crude depiction of a one armed sailor or boy. That was once a long time ago wielding a sword in hand. Now it has or had an imaginary, bionic, machine gun arm for 2011. In my opinion (because that's all any of these comments are) artists including myself have done this in the past, do it presently and will do it in the future. Take the artist REVS from NY for instants... go ahead look him up! Also, is the original artist really that butt hurt about someone else fixing his decaying, old, over commissioned job for free? Enough is enough. So, again Jeanne (fourchickens) it is time to leave Seattle, open your mind and see what really goes on out there in the big round colorful thing we call earth!

"is the original artist really that butt hurt about someone else fixing his decaying, old, over commissioned job for free?"

Butt hurt? WTF does that mean?

So, according to you, and maybe Im misinterpreting, I can walk up to a public sculpture or painting and add to it? subtract from it? anywhere? wow, that would be great. I can fix any art I want... In all seriousness, dont be a douchebag that tells Jeanne how to feel about the art and about what her kids (or mine) think seeing this.  She helped commission this so artists such as yourself can fucking practice art. Its completely reasonable that she would like the art to remain as intended.

Oh c'mon give me a break!!-lighten up a little!!  The title of this article grabbed my attention and I was expecting to see either an actual de-milled weapon or at least something that had a resemblance to some iconic weapon like an M-16/M-4 US military rifle,signifying US Wars,or an AK-47,most often evoking former Soviet-era enemy soldiers & terrorists & criminals & has accounted for many people,both good & bad,and has been found in artwork & political satire. But no,the thing welded on that is causing so much ridiculous drama is so far removed from vaguely resembling the profile of an existing weapon,and in fact,I couldn't even be sure that the artist was even trying to convey the image as that of a machine gun. It was a parent's observation and then your suggestion and several more views of the pictures & visualizing the details before I came to another conclusion. My theory based on the "demoralizing" effect it had on me was that the statue after being vandalized portrayed a US Navy sailor in his Dixie Cup hat & utility dungarees with his arm blown off in a war and was left in that sorry state until a Good Samaritan artist came along and added an appendage that I thought was a jackhammer or industrial rivet gun-but some lady "asking" if that was a machine gun sent your power of suggestion into overdrive with a heaping helping of unnecessary drama & everybody lost something. The one-armed Navy man is back,instead of the worker with the power tool. The original artist is back to having his work depicting a political statement on war,while the creative follow-up artist had "his" artwork vandalized by you now.And you lost sleep over some lady who had "bullets on her brain" when she interpreted it as an automatic weapon.The Park Dist. probably lost money spent to return it to it's former sorry state.Even worse that I lost the time I wasted by responding to this non-issue when I could've done it in a shorter,less sarcastic manner. In closing-this incident shows how bad things must be getting since this attack on art reflects the mindset of those who push their own ideas ,views and interpretation of what they perceived the "tool" the repaired & "improved" (in my opinion,& the cops too!)- statue as a matter of fact!! lol!! The self-appointed art critique,the censorship, & veiled fascism displayed by the controlling,instigator of the drama is "demoralizing" & hopefully not a signal of what the future holds anyone creating art someone perceives as politically incorrect. Ok.take care~back to reality now...PEACE

It is not the least bit melodramatic, it is just the last straw. Clearly you have not tangled with the First World problems as a volunteer here, especially with corrupt agencies (Seattle School District for one) and autocratic welders and some really icky blogsters. Or have you?

Until this group of comments I always took (lifelong) volunteering (mine) to be a given. What President John F. Kennedy asked people to do in the 60s. What I didn't take time to imagine was the composition of Wallingford-at-large for whom it benefitted: all those hours and meetings and Parks Department rules and getting a fiscal agent and inviting everyone I know to participate at local parks and in the community at large. Now that I have a better sense of the nature of the Wallingford beast from reading this melee, I am folding my decades long volunteer tent and really cringing at the ageism, sexism, creepism, malice, and unmoderated "discussion" that goes on here. (Thank you to the informed, considered opinions.)

That was too melodramatic for a first world problem like this.

You are wrong about the quality of the repair - it further damaged the piece. The sailor boy is also one part of a larger installation, and the original artist did not care for the addition. As I said before, it was not ok for Marc to go messing with someone else's work without getting an ok first.

You never need permission to work with a neighborhood group - they are always looking for volunteers, and money. The usual thing to do in this case is to work with the original artist who was commissioned, but I am sure a qualified volunteer would do (though they'd be asked to consult with the original artist first).  It's really, truly not that hard.

If Marc wants to make a whimsical boy with a gun, there is no one stopping him from creating his own, original piece and getting it publicly installed. If Marc doesn't want to go through the paperwork, he can install it in his own yard. But no, it is not cool, and majorly disrespectful, to go messing with some other artist's work.

+1

This is such a great read!    Im sorry but the Rogue artist repaired a stature In a pretty inventive way and its done with pretty good quality.  He put some time and effort into it.  Its not something that he just threw on and walked off.   If you people were so hurt about your statue being broken then something should have been done to repair it.

In response to  contacting  the Wallingford Community Council for permission to raise money to make the repairs or build and new statue.    In these times there is far more pressing thing to spend money on especially money on a statue that is NOW all in one piece.    Give me $50 I will bring a grinder up remove the the cool gun so i can hang it on my wall and then i will take a a piece of 1 1/2 pipe for the slevee and 1/2 round rod for the arm heat it up hammer  it flat to make the hand and weld it all on  For less then 20 bucks in materials its repaird. 

This is something that if need could be up kept for less then $10 a year and that's just a coat of paint  all you rich seattle folks have no idea what thing are worth and what it cost to up keep them.   I am curious to know the cost of the statue originally,  I don't think it should have cost more then $200....  who wants to bet it cost more then that,  heck im pretty sure sure it cost much more then that

Stacy, no one is stopping you from creating an original piece of art and getting it publicly installed.  But screwing around with someone else's art piece is just fugly, and embodies the "all about me" crap that you yourself have been yapping about. 

 It wasn't Marc's piece to mess with in the first place, and he didn't even have the common courtesy to check in with the artist beforehand (which was someone he claims to know). 

Really?......... We can have a wall of death but we can't have a machine gun boy.... We can have a giant monster troll of crap . But not a semi fixed statue? We can have a gay pride festival and naked boner bike ride ... But God forbid we have some silly art added on to a giant chunk of rusty jagged garbage at a play ground. Uhhhhhh goooo seattlites .... Your bratty waste of breath, over bearing yap trap... rears it's fugly all about me myself and i's head again.

The city of Seattle vandalized the wall of death.  It has about 2 dozen concrete kit-kat bars bolted down and looks like crap.  

Definitely looks better with the gun. An obvious improvement in my opinion.

I just heard from the artist of the original piece, Patrick Maher.  He says, "I assure you I did not give anyone permission to alter my piece and am upset with what has been done to it. The person who did this is no friend of mine."  He goes on to offer to repair or replace the sculpture. 

I will contact the Wallingford Community Council for permission to raise money to do this.

Hahaha awesome. He's "offered" to fix or replace it- assuming you can raise the money. This seems like the equivalent of buying a car, years later after it's been worn out someone comes by and spray paints all over it, then the car salesman comes over and says,"This is outrageous! What have they done to my car?! I'm so sorry to see this. If you can afford it I will sell you a new car." And you're doing it.

PS. I hope you aren't going to "raise money" from the city or any other taxpayer sources. I liked the repaired art, and it was done for free. You decided to tear it apart, so why don't you pay for the repair?

blueben, the money raised for this sort of thing is usually either 100% private donations, or at best a small matching funds grant (not many of which are being granted these days). 

Maintaining and repairing local public art completely falls into this realm, and is one of the tasks that local Friends of.. groups do day in, day out, to make sure the local parks and playgrounds remain in good working order. You know, those people who do all that mundane, slogging, boring work to keep our public spaces looking good.

Funny how you care so much that you let the original statue fall apart, rust, and decompose, and either never noticed or never bothered to do anything about it. Where was your community pride then? But as soon as another artist comes along, does something about it, and you don't like it, you suddenly roar into action with the passion of a charging rhino. This is pathetically hypocritical.

But when another rogue artist comes along and undoes the work of the first rogue artist, that should be just as fine, using your rules.  And what if the original artist objects?  I mean, where does it all end?  

If only we had a neighborhood group willing to look out for the park, some friends,  perhaps, of Meridian playground. A group that any neighbor could join, and roll up their sleeves and work to fix this, so rogue artists would not be forced by such dire circumstances to go it alone with surreptitiousness in this cold, unfeeling cruel world, and correct the evils of  rust and neglect with unfettered abandon, without care for original intent or the creating artist's vision.

It looks much better with the gun.

If Jeanne doesn't approve of the art, it's "vandalism."  Busy body. Somebody weld a sense of humor to Jeanne. And they rewarded her naggy drama by taking it down. I would have told her it's staying because it's cool and funny.

Well, YOU don't approve of the second update to the art, either. Seems like there is a lot of clucking to go around.

hi fourchickens.  you tweet non-stop.  perhaps you might put your efforts toward feeding some of the homeless instead of worrying so much about a sculpture.

This is simply outstanding Performance Art.  Consider:

1. Progressives go to University, taking classes from tenured 60s radicals telling them great stories about how they mocked The Man, back in the day.  And how this reduced The Man to spittle-flecked rage and depression that his philosophy wasn't being respected.

2. SeattleMama posts, "I'm surprised and saddened that someone like fourchickens who has a
fricken PhD could not be moved to something more along the
lines thoughtful and less reactionary. Who is she to cackle the loudest
and impose her opinion on others. What does the REST of the community
think about it? What does the ARTIST think about it?"

3. "What does the ARTIST think"? Goto 1.

I think that SeattleMama must be a plant, acting as part of the Performance Art.  Otherwise, she doesn't realize that in Seattle, she's become The Man.  And mockery is today as potent as those soissante-huiards had found.

Personally, I think he should have weld on a giant vibrator as most of the mothers I meet in Wallingford are in dire need of one.

To think, it some hoods actual kids wield actual guns at each other. I'd rather live in a neighborhood where a statue waves a gun, not my neighbors 15 yr old.

Life in Seattle's Great White North: Mayberry on the Sound.

It looked good with the flower...  These types of "gorilla" art installations are what gives Seattle it's uniquely Northwest flavor.  This isn't spraying the troll, someone worked hard to make that statue say something, or, at least have all of us perceive it in a different light.

The vandalism was when The Parks took it down...leaving a stump...

I think you mean "guerilla". I saw no apes on that sculpture.

With all this fuss I thought that it was areal gun that frightened Tyrones

I don't see how it can NOT be vandalism, cool as it is. I like the addition, but the original was seriously damaged in the process, which is not ethical.

The difference between this and the wonderful guerrilla peice of a ball and chain attached to hammering man for Labor Day, is that they in no way damaged Hammering Man. In fact, if the mayor at the time didn't have his so deeply up his behind, the best approach would have been to store the ball and chain and re-attach it every year around Labor Day.

I don't have a problem with imagery of the Terminator style Gattling gun, butr I do what a problem with the fact that the artist damaged the original work to add it to the sculpture.

As always there is more to the story. The arm has been missing for years without repair, the original artist apparently knows but hasn't fixed it. (And maybe there is no money to pay for upkeep - maybe since he sold it, he *can't* fix it. Maybe he doesn't care - we don't know.)

Still, *someone* likely the city, owns the work. If it's the city, then it "belongs" to all city residents, presumably with some process to decide how things like fixing a piece of broken sculpture get done.

While I think it still probably falls into the category of vandalism, I think it's a shame the city took it down so quickly.  It certainly has generated a lot of thoughtful debate.

Debate yes, thoughtful, not so much.

Yes, the city is responsible for maintenance, but private citizens can step up to fund a proper repair. The most common way to do this is through one of the Friends of.. groups that spring up around parks and playgrounds, and there is already one  for the playground. They raised the money and commissioned the set of original sculptures in the first place (the little sailor boy was just one part of  a larger installation).

There is no guarantee that this "guerrilla" update will last at all, and reports are that it caused further damage to the piece. So now we have someone randomly destroying another artist's work in the name of art. Great.

This has been interesting to observe. While I am not one for machine guns at least this rogue art has provoked some conversation. So much of public art is dull, ugly and safe. Even when it is given the description of whimical, one wants to yawn. It would be nice to see more art that inspires a stronger reaction than, "hrm... yep. There it is."
 
 
 
 

To the people complaining about this (especially you fourchickenlittle)... Get a grip people, its a STATUE. I see more toys in Wal-Mart with guns or weapons on them than you can shake a stick at. And don't we have three military bases right here in the region? You act like everything associated with guns is evil and immoral. Maybe in the little sheep bubbles you live in there are no bad people and no guns but in the Real World people like me protect sheep like you from Bad People because you refuse to live in a little place I like to call reality. That is what Sheepdogs do...

You know this was in a children's play area, right? 

All the more reason to be armed against the little buggers.

Okay, that was pretty funny Barfly! :)

I just wish this artist had spent his time restoring the statue instead.   His comments on the Wallyhood blog sound as if he recognized the flaw on the original design that caused the arm to fall off in the first place. 

Perhaps his next installation could be whatever"sheep bubble" is, complete with a machine gun, over at Bravura's place.

I'm surprised and saddened that someone like fourchickens who has a fricken PhD could not be moved to something more along the lines thoughtful and less reactionary. Who is she to cackle the loudest and impose her opinion on others. What does the REST of the community think about it? What does the ARTIST think about it? As an artist I'm not sure that I wouldn't be amused myself...
Take time to think and consult. Why act so quickly if there was no real danger? Maybe the community would take a position that you had not considered.

the cop is wrong, period. If this piece was commissioned than it belongs to those that commissioned the piece. To alter the piece, IN ANY WAY, is a crime. Just because the SPD is too busy shooting Native American woodcarvers to do their real jobs doesn't mean that its not their jobs. Pathetic!  

the police should track the e-mail ID of the person who took credit and then "visit him" at his home and take him for a little "visit" to the police station where he can be charged with vandalism. (maybe at the same time, the police can take a class in the legal definition of "vandalism". Pahetic and stupid!

sounds like you'll be there waiting in the interrogation room with you jackboots & gimp suit on slapping the lead-filled rubber hose when they bring him in!! This whole deal is so ridiculous that I gotta get away from this monitor before I read another single "Massengil Moment"& wake everyone up laughing so hard!! As a matter of fact I wonder if an industrial size tube of Preparation-H liberally dispensed simultaneously in the shoes  of all the "art-Nazi's" would result in their disappearance??!! Geez,LEMMEE OUTTA HERE!!!**LMAO***

The legal definition of vandalism requires malicious intent. Where is the malice in adding a replacement ARM to a broken statue that has been without repair or upkeep for years? I think this is a perfect metaphor for the destruction of boyhood not by the toy gun but by the overreach of intrusive government that amputates our manhood.

hee-haw hee-haw  hee-haw

Except under the SMC, this isn't vandalism. So the cop had the legal definition correct. But don't let the facts stop you from your anti-police parade.

Stop spewing your BS. What this artist did is plainly illegal.

The Seattle Parks Code, defined in SMC 18.12.070, states in Section B: "It is unlawful for any person except a duly authorized Department of Parks and Recreation or other City employee in the performance of his or her duties, or other person duly authorized pursuant to law, to remove, destroy, MUTILATE OR DEFACE any structure, lawn, monument, STATUE, vase, fountain, wall, fence, railing, vehicle, bench, shrub, tree, geological formation, plant, flower, lighting system, sprinkling system, gate, barricade or lock or other property lawfully in any park, or to remove sand, soil, or sod in any park." (Emphasis mine.)

Section D goes on to state that: "Every offense defined by this section or conduct made unlawful hereby shall constitute a crime subject to the provisions of Chapters 12A.02 and 12A.04 of this Code (Seattle Criminal Code) and any person convicted of such crime may be punished by a fine in any sum not to exceed Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000) or by imprisonment in the City Jail for a term not to exceed one (1) year, or by both such fine and imprisonment."

It wasn't mutilated or defaced.  The arm was aleady gone and the statue was added to not tagged.

A couple of things here in responce to both you and the OP...

A) We only know that the person up-in-arms about this change stated about their exchange with the officer. There could be things lost in translation here; for example, it could be that the officer could not acknowledge it was vandalism on her say-so, because she's not the person/group that has controlling interest over the sculpture - this would, I assume, be the Seattle Parks Department

B) I would assume that this falls under the definition of Property Destruction in the SMC - 12A.08.020.

Yes, please cite the code. If it is not vandalism, why not? If someone painted the sculpture's hat, would that be vandalism? What about intellectual property? Isn't the sculptor protected under those rights?

There's no such thing as intellectual property.

Unless you were the one making it, right Freetard?

Nope. The constitution establishes the right of congress to grant patents and copyrights, but only to advance the arts and sciences and for the benefit of the public. It was only put in after a great deal of intense debate by the original writers; Jefferson didn't want them in there at all, feeling that there were plenty of other avenues for inventors and writers to make money without monopolizing their creations. Ben Franklin never even filed patents on his inventions. (Oh no! Does this mean Jefferson and Franklin were freetards?) Neither a copyright or a patent is "property". It isn't real, it doesn't get taxed, and it disappears after a set period of time.
Are you really so shallow that you thought I was talking about everything being free? How infantile. Come back when you're ready to have a grown-up conversation instead of reducing the conversation to insults like "freetard".

Could you cite the actual code? They cut the arm off the statue. Can I cut the heads off "Waiting for the Interurban" and replace them with Snoopy heads?

I'm honestly curious, because that is a serious loophole in the law.

I'm not sure "Waiting for the interurban", aka. "The most artistically defaced art installation in the world" is the example you want to use here.

No, they did not cut the arm off the "statue" (ahem) it was already gone.  HTH.

Yeah, that changes things slightly for me, but I don't know about the law.

blueben -I think "Waiting for the Interurban" is a fine example. At least viewing its from a from a distance, people put all kinds of clothes on it, but they don't cut bits from it and add second heads. One respectfully adds a temporary statement, the other would permanently alter the original.

Given that the machine arm is now gone, plainly it was not a permanent installation.

Right or wrong, did it make anyone else think about the children lost to the LRA? I was surprised that no one mentioned this.

Seattle children are in the LRA? what, is it for summer camp?

was thinking more of the stark contrast of the safety of a playground in Wallingford against the silent image of a child with a gun and what that says about an area like Wallingford's isolationism... but I suppose that was a little deep.

Wait a second. Don't statues have second amendment rights?

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

I'm calling Sarah Palin.

Maybe the little metal boy is a felon. He was out playing with a rusty fence, as orphan boys are wont to do, and cut his arm. He asked for help from some people in Ballard, but because he's homeless they simply patted him on the head and sent him to Belltown where they assume all homeless people come from. Because we loath the idea that caring is sharing (sharing is so totally not capitalist, dude!), there was no socialized healthcare so his arm developed gangrene and had to be chopped off after he collapsed on an emergency clinic doorstep. The little metal boy's right arm was his cup-holding panhandling arm, and he couldn't support himself after it was removed and had to turn to a life of crime. He stole a Red Velvet from Cupcake Royale, was caught and tried as an adult, but then released 3 days later because the prison was overcrowded. Anyway, maybe the little metal boy is a felon.

Thanks Blueben. It's a sad tale, but I figure that's exactly what happened too. Someone should make a bronze plaque out of your story and place it underneath the little armless metal boy.

I grew up in Wallingford, which was once a vibrant and diverse community.  Now that the rich have driven anyone with character out of a former funky neighborhood, the nannys are offended by anything that might cause their masters' spawn to think.   Poor rich folks, so oppressed.

" a vibrant and diverse community."

Diverse? How many shades of white?

Truly spoken like someone who wasn't there.  I am not white, and neither were many of my friends.  Now, there may be a few more non-whites, but they are indeed all filthy rich.  Much less diverse today, friend.  HTH.

ps: think before your type next time.

It's a wonderful and creative addition.  If it was a "purdy flower" you all would be beaming about how wonderful it was, but because it's art you don't like you want it removed.  Unabashed hypocrisy.  Hope you're proud.

scipio1, you're wrong.  10 hours ago I posted that I would not have been happy had a butterfly net been welded to this sculpture.  It wasn't his call.

Yes, I am proud.

I'm sure the drones at the Ministry of Love were proud as well.

it's not the vandal's art, it is the artwork of Pat Maher. that is not a hard concept to appreciate. If it was your artwork and someone WELDED something onto it, I'm quite sure you would be enraged! 

I'm proud that this "addition" was taken off, whether it was a gun, a flower or another arm! It was the work of the commissioned artist, that's whose design won and who was paid for the work, NOT THE VANDAL! 

Got it?!

It was mounted in a public park. It's not Pat Maher's art anymore, it's our art.

Generic "art" by committee deserves no praise or protections.  Sorry.

I like it, looks like a video game charcter.

If it was vandalizing artwork I might worry about it. If it is making an addition to the little tin soldier that some hack put up in the park and left to rust then who cares? I can guarantee that none of the kids cared about a statue like that before. ("wow a paper hat!!!") Now at least a few of the kids will look up and say "cool".

By your reasoning we need to weld genatalia on all statues to make them noticed by children...

who have the same mental capacity as you

Actually, most little kids don't give a damn about genitalia. It's the adults with all their religiously and culturally indoctrinated views that results in all the silly sexual segregation in society. Little boys and girls playing naked in the kiddie pool on a hot day really don't care until they've been taught it's bad and taboo by the adults. The grownups are those who have all the stupid hangups. Personally, I think a nice spaceship sculpture would bee cool. But most kids know that any cool space ship has laser blasters on it. I'm sure a bunch of adults would find fault with that too.

The spelling is "genitalia", and yes, that would probably also be an improvement.  Art should be relevant to the current generation, and what kid has not seen "Terminator" or "Transformers"?

My 14 year old has not seen either of these movies, Kirk_augustin

Hi, you must be new at this parenting thing. That stuff you think your kids don't know about? They know about it. Those things you think your kids aren't doing? They're doing them.

Stand down, son.  I pointed out an erroneous assumption that all children have seen "Terminator" and "Transformers."   

And I pointed out the erroneous assumption that your child hasn't seen them just because you don't know about it. Isn't this fun?

It's vandalism

If would be vandalism if the artist had removed the arm, but it was already damaged, so he was only improving it.

This is your opinion, son.  Not everyone considers an assault weapon in a play area to be an improvement.

Are you as irrelevant as your rhetoric is?

No Mr. Benjamin Krueger, but when you start taking cheap shots at other posters you have clearly lost your argument and own relevance.  Good day sir.

Speaking of losing arguments, Tyrone, the moment you resort to the veiled threat inherent in the old "I know who you are" bit, you pretty much kill your whole argument--regardless of its merit--and forfeit to the other guy.  What's more, you make the rest of the folks on your side look bad by dint of association with the Internet equivalent of a schoolyard bully.

As for the statue, yeah, I think its vandalism and that the artist was naive if he didn't expect it to be taken down.  But for a brief while, this statue made people think.  Depending on who saw it, it spoke to the differences between the lives of first and third world children, the often hidden nature of violence, parental overprotectiveness, the sad state of the Seattle Parks budget, the role of violence in our society, how awesome Terminator was when they saw it in the theater, that those darn kids should get off my lawn, or any of a hundred other things.

That ability to provoke thought beyond, "oh, that's pretty" is what separates art from mere decoration.  Decoration is safe and easy; it makes no one uncomfortable.  Art is hard and dangerous; it poses tough questions.  

Childhood is about finding answers.  Maybe it's not the art that parents fear, but rather that they might have to help their children find answers.

Lamont, there is no threat anywhere in my posts.  Mr. Kruger was posting in this blog using his Twitter account where he has made his name and likeness public. 

I don't think a sculpture of a machine gun belongs next to a playground.  You can prattle on about your theories of parental overprotectiveness, your theories about how "art needs to be hard and dangerous," and your armchair psychoanalysis of parents being fearful of helping their children find answers.

Maybe we just don't want a sculpture of a weapon next to a playground. 

Yup, that's me. Nice e-stalking skills! You know that I'm in my mom's basement *and* my name!

Yes, some of my responses are silly. But only one of us is taking them seriously. When you start sniveling about "assault weapons in the park", it's quite clear you've stepped off the deep end and have nothing relevant to say. Don't be a hater just because I'll call you out!

PS. Good day to you, sir! Pip Pip Cheerio!

I don't think a sculpture of an assault weapon is appropriate for a child's play area.  Accusing me of "sniveling" and having "stepped off the deep end" for expressing this opinion is more of "being a hater," son.  

Ah yes, because nothing says reasonable like bandying the politically charged phrase "assault weapon" in a conversation about art.

PS. I wasn't going to point this out, but if you're going to keep shrieking "assault weapon", I'm going to have to point out that the phrase has a very specific legal definition, and this gun doesn't meet it. Generally speaking, assault weapons are semi-automatic with detachable magazines and pistol grips. Machine guns in the style attached to the little metal boy aren't assault weapons. If you're going to use alarmist rhetoric in the conversation, please have the decency to use the *correct* alarmist rhetoric.

PPS. It isn't a machine gun either. It's a functionless hunk of metal attached to another functionless hunk of metal, if we're going to get all technical n' stuff.

Now you're claiming there are rules in conversations about art.  Wow, Mr. Krueger.  Could you cite the code for this?

You think it's reasonable for you to troll the blog of a neighborhood you don't live in, repeatedly dismiss opinions you disagree with as "rhetoric," and now use the word "shrieking" to describe my written words?   Gotcha.

I hope you heal soon, son.

There aren't any rules. Use all the rhetoric and absurdities you like. You'll continue to look like a fool, and the rest of us will continue to call you on your foolishness as long as it amuses us.

But a hipster who trolls blogs of neighborhoods where he doesn't live isn't foolish?  I do hope you get help soon, son.

And so it ends. You've admitted that you have nothing to say, so all you can do is sling tired insults like a 5 year old. Little metal boy feels pity for you.

This from a man who posted "To me, you're a random semi-anonymous jerk on the internet who feels
compelled to respond to everything people on a forum post, no matter how
clever or inane. That doesn't give you much license to hand out advice," while:

- Criticizing Jeanne for being "a white woman who didn't get her way," when she spoke up about something that she felt was wrong

-Demeaning someone who took the trouble to research and post the Seattle Parks Code

-Taking a shot at parents who take their children to the park by saying "Because everyone who takes their kid to the park automatically turns into a perfect parent"

What was that about slinging tired insults, Mr. Krueger?