{Editor's Note: I had to make corrections to this. The building was not the memorial but the Illinois capitol building. Also I failed to look it up before but apparently this is a part of a series of pennies about Lincoln's life, it's his bicentennial or something. Still sucks though.}
We've all seen pennies, some of us may or may not have even shoved them up our ass at one time or another in order to get a one up on someone (anyone?...please?). Growing up in this country, there are certain things we as citizens just kind of get used to. In the past 10 years the US Mint has been trying to reinvent itself to some degree of success. The state quarters were a pretty neat idea when they started coming out and the presidential dollars now allow me to carry James K. Polk, and eventually Taft, with me wherever I go. The warm and more likely just innocuous reception of these is because it's something just new enough that people will say "neat" for a second then carry on. Another very important difference is those other coins were just well done. The US Mint just released a penny though that, while it's not offensive by any means, just makes me replace that "neat" with "the fuck?".
My god...GIANT ZOMBIE LINCOLN HAS COME TO ENSLAVE US ALL!!!!!
This is just another one of those things that a lot of designers just call "overkill." How many times can we put something related to Lincoln on a small metal disc and just release it to the public as (be it useless) currency? I see what they were trying to do, and I know Lincoln is supposed to be in the foreground but it would've been must better if they just completely kept the second Lincoln out of the picture and just had the Illinois Capitol Building. Hell, Lincoln even looks like an after thought. This is very possibly the worst juxtaposition of any presidential figure to anything. Woodrow Wilson at a Klan rally would not only probably look better but make more sense (little known fact: Wilson actually was a very outspoken white supremacist.) It looks like the client saw the beautiful building etching, said "that's nice, but people are dumb GIVE ME MORE LINCOLN! and the designer, fed up with client, just put him in there as a very last ditch thought and the client said "fantastic, right in the viewers face THE VERY EMBODIMENT OF THE AMERICAN WAY!!! Hell, half the time people don't even look at these things anyway." You know what US Mint? I do, and that is why you should fire your designer.
Seriously, doubly now because this is the second screw up this year. Stick to what you folks know, please, this country is enough of a mockery as it is.
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