Timing is Everything

Have you noticed how this has turned into a political blog? That'll change.

Eventually.

Until then, let's talk about Yazmany Arboleda. Mr. Arboleda is an artist who planned on showing two exhibitions on Thursday. I say planned because he was - let's charitably call it detained - detained by the Secret Service and NYPD over the name and subject matter of his exhibitions.

The first exhibition is called The Assassination of Barack Obama, the second The Assassination of Hillary Clinton. Obama's site has one NSFW image that's hard (pun intended) to miss.

Yazmany explained to the Times, “'It’s art. It’s not supposed to be harmful. It’s about character assassination — about how Obama and Hillary have been portrayed by the media... It’s about the media.'”

While I admit I was at first appalled by the name of the exhibitions, I was also quickly dissuaded by the artist's explanation of his work. I have to wonder if it was necessary to cover the name the exhibitions and take Yazmany into custody for two hours to complete a Secret Service questionnaire. On the one hand, Obama's safety is a concern among many (including me) and the use of the word assassination in connection with him is a sensitive subject. On the other, even the quickest glance of the exhibitions showed that assassination of either candidate wasn't meant literally.

Did the authorities overreact? I... don't know. But the real test will come tomorrow, when the exhibitions are supposed to open. Much as I understand the reaction, free speech should win even when, as here, the speech is specifically intended to be provocative.