It can be funny in a rather dark way to mock the historically ignorant types who parrot Bush/Hitler/Chimp comparisons.

But it isn’t so funny to see this kind of sideways Holocaust denial infecting 17-year old high school art students like Jeffrey Eden: Youth defends prize-winning Bush/Hitler art. (Hat tip: Antiprotester Journal.)

Nobody is surprised that a 17-year old has a stupid opinion, of course. But it is disturbing that young Jeffrey was highly rewarded for this work of dumb hatred, receiving an A from his teacher and a “silver key” from the Rhode Island Scholastic Art Awards.

Jeffrey Eden devised his award-winning project less than 30 minutes after his high school art teacher asked him to express a thought or two in a three-dimensional way.

The award-winning artwork by high school student Jeffrey Eden compares President Bush’s war policies with Adolf Hitler’s pillage of Europe.

So, in the wake of last year’s polarizing election and the war in Iraq, the 17-year-old built an abstract scene comparing President Bush’s war policies with Adolf Hitler’s pillage of Europe.

The student’s diorama-like assemblage juxtaposes Hitler quotes with statements by Mr. Bush, Nazi swastikas with American flags, desert-colored toy soldiers with olive plastic figures. And so on.

Eden said he’s trying to point out certain similarities between the U.S.-led war in Iraq and the German blitzkrieg — without actually equating Hitler to President Bush. In this, the success of his project is debatable.

Nonetheless, it has earned the Charlestown student a silver key at the Rhode Island Scholastic Art Awards. …

Figures of President Bush and Hitler, drawn on Popsicle sticks, are at the focal point of Eden’s work. Each is addressing his own army of plastic soldiers.

On a backdrop, Eden has pasted statements of Hitler. He has penned a few of his own sentiments, too. He hopes people will read them.

“Hitler’s own justification was his own hatred,” said one slogan. “Treatment of the prisoners was unspeakable [concentration camps],” said another.

To the right of President Bush, Eden’s handwriting said “No justification” and “Saddam had no affiliation with the Taliban and there are no weapons of mass destruction.”

Eden said the written messages are as important as the visual ones. He thinks they show that the work is comparing Hitler and President Bush — not equating them.

“I felt I was clear about what I was trying to get across,” he said. “I believe those who misconstrued the artwork didn’t take the time to really read into it.”

His teacher, Lynn Norton, believed he got his point across. She gave him an A.