Beauty in the Philippines

Imelda Marcos, former first lady of the Philippines, is back in the headlines. Artist Mideo Cruz was included in a controversial show at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) that featured a sculpture of Jesus, complete with dildo (above). The outraged Marcos, who reportedly considers herself a patron of the arts, led the charge to shut the show down. How did she resolve the apparent contradiction between her sponsorship of the arts (including her support by the CCP's founding) and her call for censorship? Well, The Manila Bulletin quotes her as saying "you can express yourself but express yourself in a beautiful way."

Although volumes could probably written about that statement, I'll just limit myself to the observation that Marcos pays lip service to the worst kind of censorship, one that denies art the possibility to be anything more than a soothing, insipid purveyor of pleasure.