I Call "Bullshit"!

A group of designers, recent recipients of a National Design Award, have written an open letter describing why it is they can't bring themselves to meet with the First Lady:

"Dear Mrs. Bush:

As American designers, we strongly believe our government should support the design profession and applaud the White House sponsorship of the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum. And as finalists and recipients of the National Design Award in Communication Design we are deeply honored to be selected for this recognition. However, we find ourselves compelled to respectfully decline your invitation to visit the White House on July 10th.

Graphic designers are intimately engaged in the construction of language, both visual and verbal. And while our work often dissects, rearranges, rethinks, questions and plays with language, it is our fundamental belief, and a central tenet of "good" design, that words and images must be used responsibly, especially when the matters articulated are of vital importance to the life of our nation.

We understand that politics often involves high rhetoric and the shading of language for political ends. However it is our belief that the current administration of George W. Bush has used the mass communication of words and images in ways that have seriously harmed the political discourse in America. We therefore feel it would be inconsistent with those values previously stated to accept an award celebrating language and communication, from a representative of an administration that has engaged in a prolonged assault on meaning.

While we have diverse political beliefs, we are united in our rejection of these policies. Through the wide-scale distortion of words (from "Healthy Forests" to "Mission Accomplished") and both the manipulation of media (the photo op) and its suppression (the hidden war casualties), the Bush administration has demonstrated disdain for the responsible use of mass media, language and the intelligence of the American people. (Emphasis mine)

While it may be an insignificant gesture, we stand against these distortions and for the restoration of a civil political dialogue.

The letter was signed by Michael Rock, Susan Sellers, Georgie Stout, Paula Scher and Stefan Sagmeister. "

It's hard to get more disingenuous than this. Instead of just coming out and saying something to the effect of: "We're not coming because we don't like the way your husband is running the coountry", these people have to cloak their protest under the guise of the administration's "demonstrated disdain for the responsible use of mass media, language and the intelligence of the American people".

This is elitist thinking at its finest and when it comes to disdain for the intelligence of the American people, it's clear the President has nothing on the folks at 2X4. We are, of course, nothing but "sheeple", incapable of seeing through the wily disinformation scheme promulgated by the President and his handlers. Even the media is being "manipulated" (all but Fox News, naturally, which is in on the scheme), with information being "suppressed" in the Administration's "prolonged assault on meaning". And here I thought I knew the meaning of the words "sex" and "is".

Oops. Wrong administration, sorry.

My bet is the "diversity" of political belief at 2X4 runs the gamut of Left to Progressive, with a possible pitstop at Hard Left in between. Ironically, when it comes to showing disdain for the use of language, the postscript says it best:

"Another winner, Chip Kidd was also asked to sign the letter, but decided that the gesture may prove inappropriate."

While I applaud Mr. Kidd's decision not to sign the letter, I have to point out that the gesture itself may not prove to be inappropriate. It either is or it isn't. And when it comes to being honest and responsible in the use of language and in communicating exactly what you mean, it clearly isn't.