There are times when you read an article or news report and just for a moment, you think it must be a joke. The link below will take you to one of those moments; an action taken in the name of political correctness that is not only short sighted, but also clearly stupid. Ms. Stein, who joined the museum earlier this year, fired all the docents (who are all volunteers) because they were all white women. Apparently, because they are all white, visitors of “color” are offended or cannot comprehend what the docents are saying. Or the docents cannot explain how the Impressionistic painting at the museum relate to the experiences of a person of “color.” Instead, those visitors will be free to wander the halls and view many of the 300,000 works of art on their own, creating their own “truth”. When criticized by the Chicago Tribune for the action, the Chairman of the Art Institute defended the action with the following words: ““Critical self-reflection and participatory, recuperative action is required if we are to remain relevant to the changing audiences seeking connection to art.” What? Would you buy a car from a salesman who speaks like that?
To become a docent, the volunteer is “engaged in eighteen months of twice-a-week training to qualify as a docent, five years of continual research and writing to meet the criteria of 13 museum content areas, and monthly and bi-weekly trainings to further educate ourselves with the materials, processes and cultural context” of the Art Institute’s collection. Clearly this type of knowledge and dedication must be stopped. And what will Ms. Stein do to replace these women with all their expertise? Well, nothing at the current time, but I am sure with her obviously brilliant management expertise, she shall be able to produce a solution in no time.
Once again, political correctness leads to a lowering of standards and to ignorance.
