Art historian takes fresh look at Occupy Wall Street

Nov. 22, 2011 - PRLog -- LINFIELD COLLEGE, Ore.

We have an oligarchy masquerading as a democracy, says Linfield College art historian Brian Winkenweder in an OREGONIAN opinion column.

Liberty Plaza is one block from Wall Street and the New York Stock Exchange, the metaphoric center of the U.S. financial system. I'm an art historian, so the symbolism of the art decorating the building resonates with me. The central figure on the pediment over the NYSE's main entrance is an allegorical personification of "Integrity." The meaning of this value, it seems to me, has become distorted during the past 30 years, for the only unassailable moral value in our hyper-materialist culture is greed. We prostrate ourselves at the altar of the almighty dollar, and turning a profit is an unquestionable virtue -- just ask the shareholders of BP, whose stock turned a profit while the company spewed untold gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

Read more in The Oregonian

http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2011/11/occupy_wall_street_redefines_i.html

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