Clickbait Story Attempts To Invent Controversy Over G. Washington Masonic Statue

A few months ago, a local memorial to Confederate Civil War dead at a Union POW camp here in Indianapolis was hacked away at by some criminal vandal who had gotten himself all triggered by the national news mania for statue removal. After that, I was hoping this complete non-issue had otherwise passed normally sane Indiana by. But I popped onto the Indianapolis Star website this morning to be greeted by the most appalling, deliberately incendiary headline I’ve encountered there in a long time: “6 Indiana Statues That You Might Find Offensive.” It was just a triptych that highlighted six area statues for future vandalism, destruction, or removal, and some nonsensical, stirred-up “controversy” where none actually exists. In other words, irresponsible clickbait. Hey, what the hell - everybody's doing it these days.

So, sure enough, the statue of "George Washngton As a Master Mason" on the south lawn of the Indiana Statehouse was number two on the list. Reporter Dwight Adams wrote, "it shows him in breeches with an apron and medallion adorned with Masonic symbols. Washington was a slaveholder in Virginia and a member of the secretive Masonic organization."

This statue does indeed depict Washington in full Masonic regalia as Master of Alexandria Lodge, and it was placed there by the Grand Lodge of Indiana in 1987 as a gift to the people of Indiana. Adams doesn't say it IS "offensive," but it MIGHT be to somebody, somewhere. This article very specifically infers 'Here's a public statue of a famous slaveholding Freemason you MIGHT (or should?) be offended by, just in case anybody wants to do something about it.'

Too bad it didn’t also feature locations where spray paint and sledge hammers were on sale with holiday prices, so the "reporter" could actually have influenced some bored teenager to take action and scared up a real story to cover. 

This pure agitprop is more suited to The Daily Worker than a supposed mainstream newspaper. But that's where we are these days.

So, I can’t wait for Mr. Adams' next hard-hitting investigative series, “6 Oil Refineries You Might Want To Blow Up,” or perhaps “6 Hated Political Figures You Might Like To Assassinate,” or perhaps more the artistically themed “6 Ugly Indiana Buildings You Might Consider Fire Bombing.” I have a better list, and a shorter one: “One Indianapolis Star Reporter You Might Find Offensive.” 

With luck, this waste of pulp and electrons will pass as unnoticed as everything else in this Gannett-owned rag, and our statue of Brother George won't become our local version of the Albert Pike "controversy" to bear. But one never knows anymore. 

Meanwhile, at least the public servants responsible for the upkeep and protection of these statues all now know exactly to whom they should send the bill when they are damaged in future. That would be Mr. Dwight Adams at dwight.adams@indystar.com