You may be familiar with the flap, if not, here are the details: David Goldstein, local liberal blogger and founder of HorsesAss.org, posted an open comment with this video. The video is supposedly an ad for a band, "The Bastard Fairies." Goldstein calls the video art. If you watch the video, you'll see that it is a lot more of a political message, and a lot less of an ad for a band. Hat tip to commenter RagnarDanneskold here on the SP public blog, who brought this to light . Calling it art, is an artful dodge.

I'm not naive, and I've got no problem with Goldstein's right to express his political message of progressivism tinged with unhinged profanity on his blog. After all, this is a free country. But doing so through a child crosses the line. Does anyone think for a moment that the girl featured in this video really has the maturity to fully understand the views she expresses? And even if we grant that she does, what are the odds that she came upon these views entirely of her own accord? Apparently Goldstein and his fellow travelers at HA want us to believe that this little girl just picked up a copy of "The Stranger" and has been following along with all of the latest left leaning rants against Christians, Bush, etc.

Goldstein might question my sense of humor. I know humor when I see it, and I agree, those sepia pictures of kids dressed up as adults in western garb is a lot of good fun. Maybe Goldstein thinks this is funny because like the sepia pictures, it's an obvious parody and he knows that the little girl is just playing along with some adult's attempt at political art. But if so, then that begs the question of where use of a child stops being acceptable art and starts becoming exploitation, or at least casual use of children for political propaganda.

As in any ethical dilemma, maybe it will help to examine some other child based video propaganda as a means of comparison. I wonder what Goldstein thinks of this video of Lebanese children playing dress up?

It's telling that Goldstein finds it acceptable to use a child for political gain. But then again, how much can we expect from someone who also suggests that 2006 Ohio Gubernatorial race is fixed and that investors were tipped off to the September 11th attacks so they could short their American Airlines stock?