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Comment by encom | Hacker News Reader

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The 2nd level of Banksy’s pranks is how angry they make self-appointed arbiters of what is counter-culture or cringe.

Banksy is the Taylor Swift of art. Mainstream and banal, but with mass market appeal. Both have talent, obviously, but do not create anything profound or original. I'm aware of both through cultural osmosis, but mostly indifferent towards both - I'm not sure how you read anger from my post.

I buy the Taylor Swift comparison but both are quite original. Who did a guerilla blinded by the flag statue before? Who wrote "Got a long list of ex-lovers They'll tell you I'm insane" before?

>"Got a long list of ex-lovers They'll tell you I'm insane"

The ex-lover theme is pretty much the foundation of blues music. Maybe not in this precise way, but the idea isn't novel. It's not exactly Bohemian Rhapsody. And of course nobody made this exact statue before, but visual irony and public placement is old hat, and in my opinion executed with greater skill before. I mean, blinded man walks off cliff is about as obvious as a slap in the face. It's the fast food of art.

Banksy is over-rated is what I'm saying.

Perhaps, but he’s also a talented artist.

One of my favorite contemporary musicians is a Socialist Filipino rapper who lives in LA. I can enjoy the music while finding the ideology abhorrent because they are two separate things.

Reminds me of this great Steward Lee quote (paraphrasing from memory): "When I was young a lot of people accused me of being a champagne socialist. If they only knew how wrong they were. I was a cocaine communist!"

Criticizing someone of being popular is just a way to silence them. If they are popular then they are "cringe", and if they are unpopular, they can be safely ignored and that statue would have been removed by the police and forgotten without any news coverage.

Banksy may be popular, but he is not completely establishment, because well look at the statue. Its an obvious critique of the Iran war, and yet the Iran war still grinds on and UK bases continue to be used for Iran war operations. So apparently there is someone in the establishment that does not agree with Banksy. Someone boldly stepping into the void.

"The Underground is a Lie", successful version.

Somebody has to enlighten mimosa-party participants about socialism.

Not just him, but all the people in his cultural sphere. I've been to a Banksy exhibition, and it also had videos of "critics" commenting on his work. The overtone was how inspiring and brave it is to protest things like war and injustice nowadays in a western country. It's repulsive how ignorant these people are towards their own privilege, while taking the moral high ground and lecturing others.

And of course there was a fucking gift shop at the end.

There’s nothing repulsive about people being opposed to war.

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