Hateful Sculpture in Milwaukee (Shorewood) Wisconsin Needs to be Scrapped
Published on The Good Men Project 11/8/15
Read My Follow-Up Article: Anti-Semitic Jaume Plensa Spillover II Sculpture in Milwaukee Has Been Removed
I flew to Milwaukee last week to surprise my oldest daughter on her birthday. Since she was unprepared for my visit, and hadn’t requested time off from work, my son-in-law took me on a tour of the area. The very first place he brought me to was the Village of Shorewood, which is just north of Milwaukee. He wanted me to see the picturesque view of Lake Michigan and a famous sculpture there. I am a photographer and he knew I would enjoy that location.
Instagram @MSweetwood • Shorewood, WI
Jaume Plensa’s Spillover II • Shorewood, WI
After taking a few shots of the lake and surrounding area, we walked up to the sculpture. It is an interesting piece of artwork depicting a crouching man, facing Lake Michigan, made of random steel letters. The artist is Jaume Plensa and he entitled the piece, Spillover II. Within 30 seconds of looking at the sculpture, I noticed the letters on the northern side were not random at all. In fact they clearly spell out the following hateful phrases:
“Cheap Jew”
“Fry Bad Jew”
“Dead Jew”
Anti-Semitic Phrases in Spillover II
Highlighted for Clarity (credit Ed Dvir)
I snapped a few photos and walked away disgusted. My son-in-law was visibly upset as he had shown this sculpture proudly to visitors in the past. As a Jew from New Jersey, I prefer this kind of hate said directly to me. But this artist is a coward, so he sculpts his hate and runs away. I also found it ironic that such anti-Semitic remarks would exist on a sculpture a few miles from the childhood home of Golda Meir. She was the Prime Minister of Israel from 1969 to 1974 and was the world’s 4th woman to ever hold such a position.
The artist, Jaume Plensa, is a world-renowned, multiple-award winning sculptor from Barcelona, Spain. His works are displayed in locations throughout the world such as Chicago, Manhattan, England, Spain and Singapore. He has been featured in the NY Times and the Wall Street Journal. In June of 2008, Jaume’s sculpture entitled Breathing, was dedicated by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, as a memorial to journalists killed in the line of duty.
Jaume Plensa is an experienced artist and therefore it is no accident or coincidence that those hateful phrases are worked into the Shorewood sculpture. I call on the Village of Shorewood, Wisconsin to immediately remove this sculpture, along with it’s offensive and hateful phrases.
Jaume Plensa’s Spillover II is not art. It’s a piece of scrap.
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Categories: News, Ethics & Culture
This was nicely done
It’s going to run on The Good Men Project. That’s just the start.
I support your efforts.
Maybe something good will come from this, if only by rolling it down the hill into the lake – it might make a good fish crib !
And effective
That is so freaking funny.
And so accurate.
oh, may- despicable! and— so many didn’t see it? you are incredibly brilliant to see it in there. this is deplorable, and I hope you succeed in getting action on it!
your research was of course stellar, and very interesting.
I’m just so angry he got away with that.
(…just had a fleeting thought…you don’t suppose he meant it as a reference to phrases ” heard”, do you? am NOT diminishing at all your discovery, by any means! it was just a fleeting ” artistic interpretation” thought. but STILL- totally offensive! again, I’m NOT questioning at ALL your article!)
kudos to you for the discovery and the action! I support you! 💜
oh, matt- despicable! and— so many didn’t see it? you are incredibly brilliant to see it in there. this is deplorable, and I hope you succeed in getting action on it!
your research was of course stellar, and very interesting.
I’m just so angry he got away with that.
(…just had a fleeting thought…you don’t suppose he meant it as a reference to phrases ” heard”, do you? am NOT diminishing at all your discovery, by any means! it was just a fleeting ” artistic interpretation” thought. but STILL- totally offensive! again, I’m NOT questioning at ALL your article!)
kudos to you for the discovery and the action! I support you! 💜
It’s one of my favorite sculptures but not any more!
Did anything come out of the meeting on the 11th?
The sculpture is being removed!
The B in Bad is turned at a 45 degree angle (which is hard to tel in a 3D rendering) so when you look at it as you walk up to it, it reads BAD. And you have made my point. How many 5 letter words did you find? And it happens to spell out the phrase “Cheap Jew” The odds would be in the billions to one it is random. Several other people have now visited the sculpture and all now see it. It is very obvious. Sorry, but your excuse making doesn’t hold water.
” The odds would be in the billions to one it is random.”
ANY combination would be improbable, wouldn’t it?
The odds are 1 in 26 that a single letter chosen at random would be a particular expected letter, then the likelihood of 8 consecutive letters spelling out a particular ethnic slur phrase would be at minimum 1/26^8 which is more than 208 billion to one.
…The odds are 1 in 26 that a single letter chosen at random would be a particular expected letter, then the likelihood of 8 consecutive letters spelling out a particular ethnic slur phrase would be at minimum 1/26^8 which is more than 208 billion to one.
The artist is a wordsmith. You are right, he forms a P with an N and a D You made my point. How many 5 letter words did you find and then are adjacent to a 3 letter word for a group of people (JEW) that form a common ethnic slur? Stop making excuses for him.He looked over every aspect of this sculpture as he placed each letter.
I highlighted it because it’s hard to see in a picture. The sculpture is #D and is clear to everyone who has gone to visit the sculpture since my article. And just because you are Jewish doesn’t mean you don’t engage in excuse making or make incorrect observations.
In your last sentence, you answered your problem.
The artist is a world renown artist and should know what he is doing. The probability of the term Cheap Jew appearing randomly is astronomically low. My response is a call to action.
If you do the math, the odds favor this happening. If you make a reasonable estimate that there are 25 occurrences of the letter “J” in the statue, the odd of the word “Jew” appearing once are 110%. If you want it to read from left to right, it’s about 34%. Also, it doesn’t say “cheap”. It says “cheand” or “cheajd”.
The purpose of this artists work is to interact with its audience. Clearly, it worked here, as you allowed the artwork to highlight your own cultural sensitivities through what is essentially a giant boggle.
The odds are 1 in 26 that a single letter chosen at random would be a particular expected letter, then the likelihood of 8 consecutive letters spelling out a particular ethnic slur phrase would be at minimum 1/26^8 which is more than 208 billion to one.
Here is the correct math – The odds are 1 in 26 that a single letter chosen at random would be a particular expected letter, then the likelihood of 8 consecutive letters spelling out a particular ethnic slur phrase would be at minimum 1/26^8 which is more than 208 billion to one.
How many 5 letter words did you find and then are adjacent to a 3 letter word for a group of people (JEW) that form a common ethnic slur? Stop making excuses for him.He looked over every aspect of this sculpture as he placed each letter. Since you are near the sculpture, I am waiting for your picture with other 5 letter words.
How do you know he looked over every aspect of the sculpture as he placed each letter, isn’t possible he was high I mean it’s not like he’s an artist or anything.
Here’s my take on it, and a bunch of other stuff in the sculpture: STEAM, SLED, CHOPS, and Milwaukee-based avant-garde jazz label UTECH Records. http://milwaukeerecord.com/arts/lets-see-if-there-are-really-anti-semitic-messages-hidden-in-a-shorewood-sculpture/
Sir, I would do more research. It does seem shocking. However, the greater Milwaukee area has a significant Jewish population. This may be a sculpture promoting tolerance, and there may be some metaphor or representation involved in a person formed out of hate speech. Maybe that’s not the case, but public art can be layered and provocative just like other forms of art. I’d want to make sure all information is gathered before moving into conclusory outrage. Might be warranted in the end, but there may be more here.
Worth mentioning…..here’s a link to an image for Jaume Plensa’s piece for the Ohio Statehouse Holocaust Memorial…..http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2013/07/18/if-a-states-holocaust-memorial-includes-a-jewish-star-does-it-violate-churchstate-separation/
Wonder if there’s any hidden messages in there……
“Indeed, the two runners-up, Jaume Plensa and Ann Hamilton, created memorials that didn’t include a Jewish symbol”
The fact that it didn’t include a Jewish symbol wasn’t the point- the point of that article was the connection between church and state. The purpose to the link I specifically posted was because it was the only image I could find with the piece. My point being is I don’t see an Anti Semite taking the time to create a piece for a JEWISH Holocaust memorial if they were indeed an anti-semite.
Reblogged this on Blissfully Single and commented:
Wow, how disgusting.
In my optimism I hope it was an accident. I wouldn’t lynch the guy on a whim. I would want to ask him. If I was the artist, I would probably be abhored that it was in my piece and I would apologize and remove a few letters and replace them. I reserve judgement, because I just do not know if it was on purpose or by accident.
WORTH MENTIONING!!!! A link to Jaume Plensa’s piece for the Ohio Statehouse holocaust memorial. I’m offended with how easily you throw the word Anti-Semite around- do your research. I’m a Jew, my father escaped from Denmark in World War II, my uncle wrote a book about the escape of the Danish Jews and have lost family in World War II. I get it, if this was legit i’d be irate, but it’s your perspective, your opinion, you should get more facts before you start calling people anti-semites and accusing a village, MY village, actually because I live in Shorewood of just throwing up an Anti-Semitic landmark thoughtlessly and carelessly.
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2013/07/18/if-a-states-holocaust-memorial-includes-a-jewish-star-does-it-violate-churchstate-separation/
You can’t hide behind your religion and use it as an excuse to dilute the impact this might have on people. Just because something is insignificant and impersonal to you does not mean you speak for all who are Jewish, or anyone. For those with a background in design or art, we all know just how detailed the thought process and examination of your own work is. By the time you reach your end product, you see absolutely everything — every flaw, every detail — and there is no way an experienced sculpture would “conveniently” miss this… All art speaks to the artist, and this subtle, yet offensive depiction is disgusting and hateful.
Which is why he knew it was there.
I am a practicing Jew, born and raised in Shorewood, Wisconsin (though no longer there), and I edit books on art and civil rights. I do believe you saw what you saw, Matt, and that you are absolutely sincere in your efforts, but perhaps it would be good to step back and ask a few questions of the artist directly. Did he intend to spell out specific words in this work? Has he done this in any of his other sculptures? Does he think of his work as sending a political/social message, however subtle, or is his intent to invite viewers to derive their own meanings from the work?
Also, I think it would be valuable for everyone here to read the Wikipedia entry on “confirmation bias,” as Luke suggests in an earlier comment. There are millions people all over the world who have “seen” the Virgin Mary in tree trunks, rocks, clouds, and so on — all of which is great if it helps them. But, with apologies to true believers, it doesn’t mean the Virgin was actually “there.”
He is quickly removing and “repairing” the sculpture. What does that tell you?
not a whole lot. perhaps he maliciously planted that message there and is only now changing it that he’s been caught, or it could’ve been a complete accident that he’s extremely embarrased by. either way he’d swiftly change it once he found about it, so that really tells you nothing.
There’s a reason he has to quickly remove and repair the sculpture…
Furthermore, consider that every letter has 8 positions surrounding it (N,NE,E,SE,S,SW,W,NW). If you’re forming a word, the second letter can occur in either of four positions (NE,E,SE,S – if you’re reading left-right/up-down), and each subsequent letter would have to be in one of three positions. To form JEW the odds would first be 1:26 that the artist places a ‘J’ (since no letter is guaranteed), the odds of then having an ‘E’ and ‘W’ in a logical position would be 4:26, and the odds of the ‘W’ in a logical position would be 3:26. So about 1:1,465 for JEW, and 1:26 x 4:26 x 3:26 x 3:26 x 3:26 or about 1:110,000 for CHEAP.
However, in this case, the odds are much less since you’re including the possibility of non-adjacent letters (not to mention the possibility of combining letters – which I won’t evaluate here but would reduce the odds further). So instead of 4:26 and 3:26 odds for the second and subsequent letters, it’s now about 10:26 and 7:26. Now the odds of CHEAP in a non-adjacent pattern is 1:26 x 10:26 x 7:26 x 7:26 x 7:26, or about 1:3,465, and JEW is 1:26 x 10:26 x 7:26, or about 1:250.
So if you had both words appear, they would have proximate, i.e. the ‘J’ in JEW would have to appear in one of about 15 positions near the ‘P’ in CHEAP. Also, I will concede that most of the letters have to be adjacent (e.g. ‘JE’ in JEW and ‘CHE’ and ‘AP’ in CHEAP). So that would be 1:26 x 4:26 x 3:26 x 7:26 x 3:26 x 15:26 x 4:26 x 7:26 or nearly 1 in 2 million. Granted, those are very long odds, but when you consider the thousands of letters used in the sculpture, the odds are knocked down into an “unlikely, but not exactly astronomical” range.
And that’s just for one anti-Semitic slur. Unfortunately, there are many more. So while the odds of CHEAP JEW in the sculpture may be around 1:50,000 (for argument’s sake), the overall possibility of *any* anti-Semitic slur being pieced together somewhere in the sculpture is much less, and frankly, probably not unlikely at all when you have somebody stretching to put N’s and D’s together to form a ‘P.’
Your reasoning and math are off. The odds are 1 in 26 that a single letter chosen at random would be a particular expected letter, then the likelihood of 8 consecutive letters spelling out a particular ethnic slur phrase would be at minimum 1/26^8 which is more than 208 billion to one.
Let’s keep it simple.. The odds are 1 in 26 that a single letter chosen at random would be a particular expected letter, then the likelihood of 8 consecutive letters spelling out a particular ethnic slur phrase would be at minimum 1/26^8 which is more than 208 billion to one.
I think Benjamin’s got your number (so to speak), even if he overestimates the number of possible links.
Look, even in your photo, you don’t “read” the words by only including adjacent or “consecutive” letters. You jump and skip as convenient.
The R and the Y in FRY are not contiguous; the B and the A in BAD are not contiguous; the A and the P in CHEAP are not contiguous. Therefore, as Benjamin points out, you allow multiple positions relative to any letter to count as “consecutive.” Sometimes you skip a letter, sometimes you move up and the to the left, sometimes down. (The A in CHEAP could lead you to the J, the P, or the N. The E in JEW could lead to the C or the W — or even more letters depending on how flexible you allow yourself to be.) The more you allow yourself to jump and skip and move up or down, the more likely you can fine “words” and “messages.”
Finally, the P in CHEAP isn’t even a P. It’s a D atop an N. (Of course, now I suspect you will argue about the odds that two capital letters will join up just right to create a another letter!)
By the way, where is DEAD?
Your coming up with your own slanted math, based on your own rules for what counts as consecutive or even what counts as a letter. One reader above suggested you read up on confirmation bias. While you’re there, look up “pareidolia.”
Trying to insult me is useless. Direct your upset at the sculptor. Do you think the sculpture would put in a message like that in a way that it was immediately obvious? It would have been noticed right away. He knows every inch of that sculpture and every letter/word is done in a “artistic” way. You don’t think he saw the word “Jew”? And Dead is formed by using the “D” in “DEA” twice. It’s an artistic way of writing “Dead Jew” – that’s great art. And the sculptor new exactly what he was doing every letter of the way.
What a bunch of statistical asshattery.
Why not just ask the artist to explain/correct the problems.
You simply failed to rebut the fact that the method and standards you utilized for creating these “words” within the sculpture are completely goofy, not to mention that the letter “P” in “cheap” is not even present. Your argument for how the word “Dead” is created is absolutely ridiculous. You can’t even recognize the fact that he created a holocaust memorial piece as well, which completely tosses out your idea that he is an anti semite. Also, yes, there is a reason that he’s editing the sculpture – because now you have people down his throat ruining his name and credibility as an artist by coming up with some whackadoo story based on how YOU interpreted the art as an individual. By the way, I have lived extremely close to this statue for the majority of my life and think it is a good piece of art that I will miss if it is actually completely removed and not just edited. The guy apologized and said it was unintentional. what more do you want! You already did the damage!
If he wanted to get away with this, he would use a little bit of disguise. It wouldn’t be in plain sight or it would have be discovered day one.
“The guy apologized and said it was unintentional”
ReallY? Can you show me his quote?
The letter placement can be perceived in many ways. It’s unfortunate that you didn’t reach out to the artist in order to learn about how the sculpture was created (letters placed randomly) and what his intentions were. Here is a follow up recently posted in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
“Plensa uses alphabets as conceptual metaphors for cultures; the letters from each alphabet are utilized to create a skin of an anonymous figure with each letter’s placement entirely at random. Plensa is deeply saddened that his sculpture has been so egregiously misinterpreted. Plensa’s works and beliefs are the antithesis of anti-Semitism.”
http://www.jsonline.com/entertainment/arts/blogger-sees-hate-message-in-shorewood-sculpture-but-artist-disagrees-b99615622z1-347592511.html
This sounds a little ridiculous…
The “cliff” there is a pretty gradual slope, with a walking path going all the way down… and that would have been pretty big news for Shorewood.
There’s no way this was a frequent thing.
Tell me this… if there was even a remote chance one thing was accidently anti-muslim, would it still be sitting there a day later?
Give the city a call and complain….
Chris Swartz
cswartz@villageofshorewood.org
Village Manager (equivalent of a Mayor)
414-847-2700
I think the village should contact the artist or his representative and ask for a statement about the piece. If he feels the complaints are legitimate, if logistically possible, perhaps he would be willing to swap in different letters. I know I wouldn’t want this type of controversy or publicity revolving around one of my works, maybe he will fee the same.
I am disgusted with the fact that you decided to see what you wanted and make a big deal out of it and now we all have to deal with the fact that the statue will be removed. You, sir, might think you have won, but to what end? Why don’t you complain about the tree you pictured so they can chop that down too. That statue has been there for years and is beautiful and interesting, and just cause you saw something you wanted and have a soap box doesn’t mean that you should call for it’s removal. I think the problem lies with you sir.
Hope you see the good in life more than the bad and making words you WANT to see and not what is really there.
Have a good night
If you read the news reports from Milwaukee, the final decision to remove it had little to do with me. You think Shorewood did this blindly? There was a several day discussion between the Jewish community there. Shorewood, and Plensa and after visiting and documenting the sculpture, they decided it had to come down – because the slurs were actually there.
That’s hardly the point Mr. Sweetwood. There is no way this happens without the fuss you made, and now we’re once again sliding backwards into a society that is afraid to have its feelings hurt.
The fuss was warranted. This is not a trivial matter or about “feelings”. A hateful, anti-Semitic slur can not be allowed to remain in public sight. It’s a slippery slope. “Never Again” sometimes requires action.
I always thought it looked like a big blob driving by… It was not graceful to my eye to begin with…..Maybe I was just feeling the vibes….hmmmm
Oh, but that would be offensive to blobs. Also, if you look at it from the West and adjust the angle of two letters that are turned 33 degrees and squint your eyes hard (like, really hard), you’ll see that the sculpture spells out “BLOBS NOT WELCOME” and “FAT BLOB” and “OBZEAJ”. Very distasteful.
The only 5 letter word on the sculpture is “Cheap and it precedes the word “Jew”
Apparently I was right enough since the artist, the town and community leaders agreed and removed the sculpture immediately.
That must have been shocking to see. I am thinking of the man (figure?) crouching down, the image – perhaps weighed down by the words thrown at him/her? If that is the kind of context viewing the image needs, it clearly needs a clarifying statement at the site.
I find it interesting that you continue to be defensive about this when you’ve already gotten exactly what you wanted. The Village of Shorewood took swift action without questioning your opinion and the artist will be modifying the sculpture at his own expense. Perhaps your time would be better spent writing more generic clickbait articles that no one comments on? Enjoy your 15 minutes.
I am not defensive at all. In fact If you read the news reports from Milwaukee, the final decision to remove it had little to do with me. You are foolish enough to think Shorewood did this blindly? There was a several day discussion between the Jewish community there. Shorewood, and Plensa and after visiting and documenting the sculpture, they decided it had to come down. Because the slurs were actually there.
I know that it was not just you that decided the sculpture was to be, and I feel that you really believe what you saw was intentional. However, Matt, as I was reading through these comments, I do have to say many of your posts and responses do come off as very defensive and, perhaps, just as angry and arrogant as the words you detest. I believe that you feel you are just being passionate and want your voice to be heard, but it’s not what you say, just how you say it that may be turning off people to your fight and cause them to move further away from supporting you. Perhaps I just feel that everyone needs to work on attracting more flies with honey than trying with vinegar. Just something to mull over.
Also, I am sure as an artist you are aware that many sculptor work with welders and other tradespeople. Seeing he is Spanish, I wonder where any of the people he worked with were from, and if they knew English at all. I have heard countless stories about someone from other languages unintentionally writing or saying something highly inappropriate in another through a simple mistake, but you would imagine he would have checked for this before it was sent off.
See how you try to blame me or my tone? What does this story have to do with me? It’s about whether the sculpture has hate speech in it or not – which it does.
I am not angry at all. I have over 200 responses that attack me personally. I responded factually to the ones that made sense to do so. I didn’t attack back. I am not the story though folks are trying to make me the story. If what I saw was not true, I would have been called out or ignored. The decision to remove teh sculpture was made by the people of Shorewood.
I know that this will not make it through moderation. It states clear as day that, your actions were the reason it is being altered. It will go back up though 🙂
http://www.jsonline.com/entertainment/arts/blogger-sees-hate-message-in-shorewood-sculpture-but-artist-disagrees-b99615622z1-347592511.html?ipad=y
The article doesn’t state that at all. Do you think no one went out to check the statue? Dozens of reporters, town officials, and others visited it, discussed and in the end decided I was right. They made a decision in the best interests of Shorewood – not me. If you want someone to blame, you should be blaming the artist for placing that slur in the sculpture.
Or even better, we shouldn’t be blaming anyone. 🙂
I’m in SHOCK at how many people are trying to do everything possible to NOT admit this piece is CLEARLY putting out there anti-Semitic language! And Carolyn Rutherford, you are 1000% spot on- can you imagine the Muslim outrage if this piece mentioned their prophet AT ALL? Matt, you are AWESOME for not only finding this, but making it public. THIS IS NOT ART. This is a popular artists getting his hatred for Jews out in a sneaky way; the least he can do is grow a pair and say it out loud.
I have a theory: the artist, who seems to genuinely be a humanist and all around good guy, probably, as busy artists do, handed off his rough design of the piece to people who fabricate the design for him. He didn’t specify anything in terms of letters- they were supposed to be entirely random. If they weren’t that speaks to the work of the underlings. Did he look it over when it was done. Assuredly. Did he notice what you saw? No he didn’t but that in and of itself doesn’t establish intent. The real good news here is that the everyone responded in a sensitive and appropriate way. The village of Shorewood, The Milwaukee Foundation, The Milwaukee Jewish Community Relations Council, and the artist himself, who had the piece taken down to be brought back to his studio to be revised. His comments were noteworthy. He said his work is all about bringing people together. He was saddened and dismayed that people saw hurtful messages in his work, which is why he is changing it. So, as far as I am concerned, case closed.
Rabbi David Cohen of Milwaukee, formerly of central New Jersey (1960-1978).
Rabbi, with respect, he does seem to be a humanist but one never knows what is in one’s heart. Claiming that a subordinate did this still makes him responsible. Your excusing him is not necessary. And whether he did it intentionally or not should not affect the desire to change what is there. The 100’s of emails of personal hate aimed at me tells me how alive hatred and anti-semitism are. I did not cause this problem, the artists did. and it was not me who chose to take down the sculpture. It was the town and teh artists together. I just write a blog about what I saw.
“He was saddened and dismayed that people saw hurtful messages in his work, which is why he is changing it.”
This statement I completely disagree with. He was indignant and played the victim card. I never saw an apology for even an unintentional offense. Wouldn’t you have apologized?
Respectfully, you did much more than just write a blog about what you saw. You attributed intent to the artist. You called his work anti-Semitic. You stated that the placement of letters was no accident. You said he was a coward that sculpts hate. You said he knew it was there and put it there on purpose. I read the artist’s statement. I don’t think he was indignant, nor do I think that he played the victim card. I agree with Rabbi Cohen that he was saddened and dismayed that you saw hurtful messages in his art, and he promptly set about fixing it. I am sorry that you have received emails of personal hate–that is wrong. Maybe it’s too soon and your emotions too raw for you to see that your blog went beyond just reporting what you saw to passing judgment, casually and without basis, on the character of another human being (respectfully, that is wrong, too).
If you unintentionally offended someone, what would be your response?
If I unintentionally offended someone who then defamed me, I hope that I would be gracious enough to correct the offense without tagging that person with the defamation (since it was the hurt of the unintentional offense that caused the defamation). I hope I would. That would require a lot of internal gumption, but I hope that by now I have the reserve to do it.
Why didn’t Plensa issue any kind of apology? Read his statement in my article. He claimed he was the victim. If I hurt someone I would apologize. That’s the best way to go. It shows really didn’t mean it. Still waiting for Plensa….
I don’t think his statement claims him as the victim. I think his statement confirms that there was no intent of offense or discrimination: “Plensa uses alphabets as conceptual metaphors for cultures; the letters from each alphabet are utilized to create a skin of an anonymous figure with each letter’s placement entirely at random. Plensa is deeply saddened that his sculpture has been so egregiously misinterpreted. Plensa’s works and beliefs are the antithesis of anti-Semitism.” Have you apologized to Plensa? Because I believe you have hurt him. And you say that if you your hurt someone, you would apologize….
I don’t have anything to apologize for. I believe he did it in purpose and until he shows me otherwise, I will not. He has provided no explanation. Once again this is not about ME! He needs to explain and apologize. Not issue platitudes about himself.
I think the problem is more the approach to which you requested it be taken down and modified rather than the request itself. I am all for the correction of the error, but I don’t think claiming Plensa is an anti-Semite is necessary or even appropriate…
This is a wonderful letter, a different perspective that should be shared……. Hi David,
I am a big fan of your writings and have almost always enjoyed your thoughtful comments, whether from the bema or in the Sinai newsletter. However I have serious issues with your column in onmilwaukee.com on the controversy surrounding the Plensa sculpture in Shorewood. You make a serious mathematical error which renders your conclusion completely wrong. Also, the mathematics unfortunately completely nullifies your suggested solution.
First let me note that all of the offending words were made of no more than three consecutive letters. (Some of the offending words had more than three letters, but their spelling was achieved only by skipping around other letters, or by the creative combination of parts of two letters.) Next let’s estimate, conservatively, that the sculpture is composed of about 2000 letters, arranged on an irregular grid. Starting at a given letter, we can form a straight-line three-letter word by reading off in 8 different directions. So, roughly and conservatively speaking, there are 2000 x 8 = 16,000 three letter sequences that can be identified in the sculpture.
Next let me note that there are 26 letters in the English alphabet, and thus there are 26^3 = 17,576 unique three-letter sequences possible. If every one of the approximately 16,000 3-letter words in the sculpture were unique, the chance of the word ‘JEW’ appearing by chance would be 16,000/17,576 = 91%. Of course, we are not guaranteed that there are no repeated words, so the actual probability that ‘JEW’ appears by chance is somewhat lower, but not too much lower, at about 50%. So the first conclusion is that the probability of the word ‘JEW’ occurring in the sculpture, by random chance, is fairly high. Of course Jews are not the only persecuted minority having a three-letter descriptor. I can think of at least one other, and, in fact, Elana Khan in a private conversation with my wife Davida Amenta noted that she found at least one such other three-letter descriptor in the sculpture. So the second conclusion is that chance alone can account for the appearance of the three-letter name of at least one persecuted minority.
Of course the word ‘JEW’ alone is not offensive. This is what we call ourselves. There is offense, however, if it is combined with a number of adjectives or verbs, some of which have only three letters. I started to go through all 1015 three letter words in the Scrabble dictionary and stopped when I convinced myself that a substantial number of them would form an offensive phrase when combined with the word ‘JEW’.
The inescapable conclusion is that random chance alone can easily account for the occurrence of pairs of nearby or adjacent three-letter words forming offensive phrases. That these phrases are offensive is clear. However, it is equally clear that the offense is likely not a willful act, not by the artist and not by any of his staff. A reasonable person may take offense. After reflection, the same reasonable person must however conclude that there is likely no intentional insult.
The mathematics shows the complete folly of any attempt to ‘repair’ the sculpture. How can we be sure that the repaired work will not offend anyone? In fact, we can’t. In fact, we can be reasonably sure of the opposite, that it will be not too difficult for creative art beholders to find offense.
On occasion, when my children where younger, one of them would come home in tears because a friend or a teacher had insulted them gravely. Discussion sometimes revealed that the supposed insult was clearly unintentional, and in some cases, completely imagined – not passing the reasonable person test. Then, the solution was not to seek an apology or other redress from the offender, but rather to develop a thicker skin. I have tried to teach my children to ignore imagined and unintentional insults, to respond appropriately to real insults, and to be able to distinguish between them.
Your entire argument on statistics is completely wrong. The offensive phrase is Cheap Jew which is a 5 letter word followed by a 3 letter word. The probability of them appearing together is multiplied. Furthermore “Cheap Jew” is one of the most common slurs aimed at Jews decreasing the probability that it is random, dramatically.
And with respect to having a thick skin –
If you have ever heard a Holocaust victim speak, the thing that stands out is how they really were in denial anything bad would happen. Anti-Semitism started as gossip, then a little more overt, the graffiti, then official notices, and on and on. Each step of the way, it was mostly ignored. They didn’t believe anything really bad would become of it. Well, 6 million dead Jews later….As Jews we have a saying “Never Again”. When I saw those words on that sculpture, it was obligation to make “Never Again” more than just a slogan> I had an obligation to take action.
And finally, if you haven’t noticed, our society has become very sensitive to language. We have to be careful how we refer to people’s races, nationality, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, etc. Does that same level of sensitivity apply to Jews?
Let me take a totally random guess…. reform?
Aside from excusing antisemitic acts, assigning apologetic intent to a statement of self pity and finding fault with the individual who dare be offended by the words ‘CHEAP JEW FRY’ displayed in a public sculpture – – being a ‘humanist’ does not make one inherently good. Historically speaking, humanists are atheists and not known as a religiously tolerant bunch. Furthermore, it seems this ‘humanist’ had issues prior with the questionable nature of his work. Something about using shoes in his art and having it ‘unintentionally’ evoke memories of the the Holocaust. He was asked to refrain from using shoes, which he did. So, not only are his offensive words no coincidence, neither is the fact this isn’t the first time he’s been called out for issues CONCERNING THE BAD JOOS.
Of all the ‘groups’, Jews are the only ones constantly blamed for ALL the world’s suffering. We run Hollywood, we run Washington, we were responsible for 9-11, we stole our own land, we murder muslim babies for fun, the Holocaust was a hoax and on and on and on. I can promise you if the sculpture contained ‘DIE N*GGER’ or ‘F*CK ISLAM’ the media would be camped outside the artist’s house and the entire world would be demanding justice. ‘FRY CHEAP JEWS’, however, is perfectly fine, thanks in part to comments like yours which prefer to minimize and excuse antisemitism rather holding people accountable for it.
Never again means never again.
Thank you Matt for all of your efforts in raising awareness regarding the Plensa sculpture. You have truly effected positive change in the Milwaukee community and have brought to light the issue of antisemitism lurking in plain sight. Thank you for speaking out and I am very glad the village is taking action to remove the hateful words from the statue. The Milwaukee Jewish community and Jewish community at large is grateful to you for speaking up.
Even if random, I understand how some are offended and it’s a valid discussion about removal. With that said, Matt your understanding of statistics is poor and your use of them to infer intent is deplorable. Talk to any statistician and I believe you will be laughed out of the room. This reminds me of “the birthday problem”.
This has nothing to with statistics. It has to do with the slur in there. And that’s why the town removed the sculpture. Focus on the sculptor, not me.
Reblogged this on rivkabkatz.
Matt–your math is not evaluating the odds of the word JEW showing up by random chance. Try to take a deep breath and relax for a moment. I’m not trying to attack you–I’m trying to be helpful.
(1) Pick any J at random in the sculpture. There are probably between 5-7 letters adjacent to that J you chose. For the sake of easy math, we’ll split the difference and say there are 6 letters adjacent to the J. The odds of one of those adjacent letters being an E is approximately 21%:
For each of the 6 mystery letters, the odds that the letter is NOT an E is 25/26 (~96%). The odds that none of the 6 adjacent letters to that original J is E is then approximately 79%. (25/26)^6 = .79
(2) We already know the identity of one of the 6 letters adjacent to the E (the original J), so the odds that one of the other 5 mystery letters next to the E is a W (to complete the J-E-W sequence) is approximately 18%:
For each of the 5 mystery letters, the odds that the letter is NOT a W is 25/26 (~96%). The odds that none of the 5 adjacent letters to the E is then approximately 82% (25/26)^ = .82
(3) So if we start with a randomly selected J, the odds that it is adjacent to an E, which is adjacent to a W (thus spelling out JEW) is approximately 4%: .21*.18 = .0378
(4) If there are 20 J’s in the sculpture, with roughly random placement, the odds that NONE of the J’s kick off a sequence of adjacent letters that spells out “JEW” is approximately 44%:
96% chance that a given J doesn’t begin chain of J-E-W ^20
(5) In other words, there is a greater than 50% chance that JEW would appear at random given these parameters.
Let’s assume your mathematics is correct. Please apply that logic to the five letter word “Cheap” followed by the 3 letter word “Jew”
What are the odds on “Cheap Jew” appearing randomly? (noting that slur is a very common ethnic slur)
What are the odds, when Mr. Plensa had the actual letters in his hand, and arm’s length away from the construction, he didn’t see the phrase “Cheap Jew” ?
Doesn’t every skilled artist know every inch of his work in depth?
So much Stupid on this page.
If you are referring to many of the comments, then I say, concisely and well put.
When I first saw the photo and without knowing anything about it, the words stood out like a radical imam in church on Sunday. It’s obvious antisemitism ostensibly presented as *art*. Anagrams are a stress relieving hobby of mine, as are word searches, crosswords, etc., and the claim that this was anything other than poorly disguised jew hate marketed as exceptional art, is in many ways more offensive than the object itself. I haven’t seen anything quite so unintentionally deliberate since Starbucks promoted their new blend of beverages via ‘Collapse into Cool’ in the weeks following 9/11/01. The promo poster depicted two tall beverages towering far above a field of grass with blades varying in height & shape. The sky filled with billowing clouds of…clouds from which a dragonfly emerges. Equipped with an enormous wingspan, the dragonfly heads straight for one of the towering beverages. Of course, much like this case, Starbucks denied any intent and acted swiftly to abandon their marketing campaign, yadda yadda, so on and so forth.
The *art* sculpture is exactly what it appears to be – antisemitic. You can deny, justify, dismiss and theorize statistical probability far beyond the laws of reason, but you can’t change reality.
As a matter of pure speculation, I’m quite sure you won’t find anything in Plensa’s bio conflicting or opposing the long standing, pervasive pattern of antisemitism his country is known for.
“and the claim that this was anything other than poorly disguised jew hate marketed as exceptional art, is in many ways more offensive than the object itself.”
***Exactly Right