Orwellian and Kafkaesque?

If you haven't been keeping score, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has a comprehensive article regarding the FBI investigation into Steve Kurtz, a Buffalo artist who called 9-1-1 after he discovered that his wife had died. Kurtz uses bacteria in his art, so he's being investigated now for, well, something:

Regardless of what was found at Kurtz's house, the government's investigation is not about terrorism, said Paul Moskal, a spokesman for the Buffalo FBI office.

It's not about fears that items in the laboratory caused Hope Kurtz's death, he said, and it's not about artistic endeavor or the First Amendment.

Instead, Moskal said, it has everything to do with concern about public health and safety. After Sept. 11, 2001, Moskal said, first responders became more sensitive to anything out of the ordinary. A home laboratory with bacteria samples qualified.

[. . .]

The FBI won't discuss what potential criminal charges it is exploring. But according to [attorney Paul] Cambria and [colleague Claire] Pentecost, who was called to testify before the grand jury, the subpoenas reveal the government is investigating possible violations of the U.S. Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act, which makes it illegal to make, buy, sell, or possess biological agents for use as a weapon.

An expansion of the law under the Patriot Act lists certain people who are restricted from dealing in biological agents because of such things as mental illness, imprisonment, drug use and dishonorable discharge from the military.

If Kurtz is being investigated for potential bioterrorism charges, why play patty-cake? It's as if the FBI doesn't have their heart in this.

The Post-Gazette makes the next logical leap:

The nation's artistic and scientific communities both are monitoring the case to gauge how the government's policies in the aftermath of 9/11 will affect their fields.

[. . .]

"This is not an insignificant case for scientists," said Mark Frankel, director of the Scientific Freedom, Responsibility and Law Program for the American Association for the Advancement of Science. "It could have implications for how scientists might be treated or how the law might be interpreted or implemented."

Clearly the scientific community ought to take notice, because Kurtz's case has fewer implications for, say, painters than it does for a small lab using identical equipment. And special kudos to the paper for mentioning Eduardo Kac, who any good reader of Leonardo will recognize as the founder of transgenic art.

Still, I must make one objection to the report:

Some use adjectives like "Orwellian" and "Kafkaesque" to describe the situation.

Dude. Orwellian and Kubrickian, fine. Kafkaesque and Heinleinian, okay. But I'm pretty sure the only apt combination of Orwellian plus Kafkaesque refers to Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, in which you not only get your post-apocalypse but also Tina Turner wrecking havoc.

UPDATE: To clarify I think the connection to the scientific community is perceptive but not because the FBI is actively cracking down on science. This whole investigation is about context: Had the FBI walked in to Kurtz's home and seen a bunch of easels and paintbrushes, there wouldn't be cause for investigation. And were Kurtz a chemist or scientist or what have you working in a lab, the equipment would also seem to be in place. If there's reason to believe that Steve Kurtz is a bioterrorist, I think they should have arrested him from day one, because I don't like the idea of bioterrorists running around bioterrorizing. But if it's just about this equipment and the FBI not liking the looks (or politics) of Kurtz and his organization, that's a precedent that tenders to effect small labs and private scientific organizations. I think here the FBI just have a list of criteria and Steve's place, which fell into their lap, fit the bill. That's disappointingly distinct from the perception of the FBI as having files, tracking cases, solving problems, etc.

Posted by Kriston at June 21, 2004 9:45 AM