I am surprised/not surprised to see the uncomplicated promotion in The Washington Post of positioning a photograph of the top of the head of Sean Spicer to make it appear that he is hiding in shrubbery.

This meme — a sort of comic protest art — developed after Spicer was seen standing between 2 tall hedges and talking to reporters, giving so...

This meme — a sort of comic protest art — developed after Spicer was seen standing between 2 tall hedges and talking to reporters, giving something of an impression that he was hiding in the bushes. Now, there's a website — linked in WaPo — where you can download the photograph...

“Presenting the ‘Garden Spicer,'” Kadonaga said in her Facebook post Thursday. “Now you too can have the White House press secretary in — or rather, “among”* — the bushes in your yard. And hey, if you’re concerned that when exposed to the outdoors, the image will run … no worries, that’s exactly what Sean Spicer does, so it’s totally authentic!”...

Since then, Spicer’s face has been popping up in gardens around the world — in the District of Columbia, California, even New Zealand. Spicer has been spotted hiding in household planters, in shrubs outside the Watergate Hotel, and even in Mother’s Day bouquets of flowers....

This seems to be one of those times when people think that because their heart is in the right place — here, hating Trump — that whatever they do will work as they intended — such as, here, giving the good people who hate Trump an outlet to express and experience their contempt for Trump. But they don't think it through. They don't think of the other values — values they as good people also treasure — that come into play. Specifically, in this case, environmentalism and feminism.

1. Environmentalism. If you leave these paper-on-cardboard things in bushes, you are littering. But perhaps you only put the head there long enough to take a photo to upload to social media. There is still the more spiritual level of environmentalism, the appropriation of plant life for human purposes that have nothing to do with the plant's meaning unto itself. It's one thing to locate a shrub so that its natural beauty is close to you where you can see and admire it, quite another to impose on the plant's inherent dignity, to use it as a symbol of human surreptitiousness and guilt.

2. Feminism. You have forgotten the fear of violence that limits the freedom of women to move freely in this world! Creating the impression of a man hiding in the bushes is akin to chalking swastikas on the sidewalk or hanging nooses on trees. Worse, really, because passersby might from a distance think an attacker really is right there, ready to strike. Let's remember the "Sleepwalker" statue that caused such a disturbance at Wellesley college in 2014:

The sculpture is out in the open where it can be seen from a distance and it really does look like a strange man stumbling about in his underwear.



Whether you're afraid of "him" or simply think he has a problem... you're drawn into a real emotional response before you realize it is art.... But — ha ha — it's only a statue. You're silly. You were afraid of a statue. So it's an unsettling prank. Why? Is that good art? It has appropriated your peace of mind, your comfort in a public space, for what?

Safety in public spaces is a feminist issue. And forgetting that whenever you have some other purpose in mind is a feminist problem.