Piltdown Man Shown at Architectural Confab

An exhibit dramatically all spray-painted bone white at a construction trade fair in Venice is being touted, at least among the faithful, as “proving” the Holocaust, the sacred term here to be interpreted as a massive genocide perpetrated by the German losers of World War II upon, among others, Jews. Accordingly, it has received a good deal of favorable reportage in outlets that don’t normally concern themselves with the annual event of which the exhibit is a part this year.

Much of the exhibit reminds me of the famous Piltdown Man hoax that was perpetrated by Charles Dawson and others in England in 1908 and that was positively proven an elaborate hoax in 1953. During the 45 years between the two dates, the matter was vigorously advocated, analyzed, debated and attacked, all without the intrusion of any law-enforcement agencies. The fact that this debate was at all times deemed entirely within the law is one of the central attributes distinguishing it from any debate that might be ventured concerning the snow-white Venice exhibition. There are other differences, of course, but the similarities not only command my attention, but just cataloging them is a criminal act in much of Europe, and might get me thrown out of the Green Party in Canada if I lived there and were a member of that (or, probably, any other) party.

So, parallels start with the fact that non-genuine replicas of the bone fragments that made up the famous skull were made, and they were scrupulously faithful to the bogus originals. These replicas were not only exhibited, as here in the case of Venice, but were even used as though pieces of a jigsaw puzzle so as to recreate the whole skull that, in fact, never existed in the first place. Analogously, allegations that inspired this exhibit were submitted in evidence in the 2001 London libel trial of Irving v. Lipstadt and Penguin Publishers. Unlike the Piltdown case, the testimony created the artifacts; not the other way around (no such chute, or metal column such as that in the center of the exhibit, has ever been found, nor have design drawings for one, either—the device is entirely a construction from testimony).

Van Pelt’s sanctimonious injunction, quoted in the article, to architects not to design killing factories makes me wonder if he has an opposite number in, say, whatever discipline designs and manufactures hydrogen bombs. I could picture this doppelgänger enjoining his students to make sure that no bomb they design is ever used for any cruel or unjust purpose, such as killing innocent people.

Or if it is, that it is used only by the side that wins.