Ian Wolter's "Lest We Forget Those Who Denied"
Remember when UK student Ian Wolter created a masterpiece of denier commentary? The seven-foot, oil-covered plywood installation, titled, "Lest We Forget Those Who Denied," was a tribute to six of the UK's premier deniers and stood on display for two weeks before it's scheduled removal this month.
Doing his part to make it a story again, Monckton has a WUWT post that (unintentionally) incites the Streisand-effect, attracting even more positive attention to Wolter's wonderful work of art. In Monckton's view, the sculpture was actually an "unspeakable death threat," because it "put a victim's name on a tombstone." This is an interesting interpretation, considering that two of the other deniers Wolter listed certainly didn't see it as a threat or say the sculpture resembled a tombstone. In fact, they went so far as to say they felt "hugely proud" and "proud to be honoured," though Delingpole's now following Mockton's "death threat" lead with an overwrought Daily Mail piece.
Upon hearing of this artwork, Monckton sprung into action, having his lawyer send Anglia Ruskin University—where the statue was displayed—a demand that officials remove the work. Monckton is also preparing a police report on the incident. This legal blustering is a common tactic of Monckton's, which he uses in an attempt to silence his critics, as evidenced by Barry Bickmore's 16 point compilation of Monckton's misdeeds. (See the section titled, "Threatening Those Who Disagree With Him.")
Sou at HotWhopper has the kicker, though, in a post where she points out that Monckton's WUWT post, in which he criticizes the sculpture, came out the day after a WUWT post in which the guest author complains about censorship at the Daily Kos. In Monckton's post, he claims victory in his attempt to censor the sculpture, bragging that this particular piece of artistic free expression was taken off display in response to his efforts.
The artist provides a slightly more factual take where we learn the school didn't give into Monckton's demands at all. Rather, the University simply took down the sculpture at the end of the show.
So now the question is: did Monckton know the piece would only "be on display until the middle of May" and decide to fool his readers into thinking his threats were successful? Or did he just not bother to conduct any due diligence before embarking on one of his trademark quixotic legal expeditions?
We're not sure, but we'll give him the benefit of the doubt in light of Hanlon's razor: Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity. Or, apparently, scheduling.
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