Evil on campus

I have been avoiding the campus art gallery as if it was the plague. It has recently opened an exhibit called “Axis of Evil: The Secret History of Sin”. I had seen flyers hung around campus featuring examples of the pieces. A priest with horns was prominently displayed among other horrible events. I decided I didn’t want to see this exhibit.
Not that it mattered. My professor announced that we would take the last fifteen minuets of class to view the gallery. At first I was amused by a set of “stamps” that morphed Bill Clinton, Al Gore and others into monsters from old horror films. This was the only light graphic. After that the pieces got worse; children with terrible wounds, terrorist acts and abused women all graphically portrayed.
I saw Raphael’s Transfiguration of Christ out of the corner of my eye; a second look proved that religious blasphemy is still tolerated. Certainly the sex abuse in the Catholic Church is an atrocious thing, but that does not mean our Pope is responsible for it. In fact, John Paul II fought against it. It is terrible to hear Pius XII and John Paul II maligned, but even more horrible to see it graphically. A piece called “White Power” showed Hitler, Pius XII and John Paul II as if they followed the same ideals. Anyone with sense would do a little research before they made such an outrageous claim. I began to move very fast, I had to get out of there.
Graphics are powerful. Written and spoken words can be forgotten, but pictures are something solid to hold on to. Graphics appeal directly to the senses. They are not easily forgotten. It makes me sick to see some of the terrible actions portrayed in this exhibit, mad at being forced to call blasphemy “art” and disappointed that my money has been used to host such an exhibit.
I think I might be able to use this post as a draft for a letter to the editor of the school paper. Right now I am too mad to think clearly. I need to build a strong arguement.......any suggestions let me know.