is it not the case that Jews and Christians are kinda sorta also not supposed to make images of their deity-in-chief?
Those Catholics will never learn.
Those Catholics will never learn.
I blame the loss of Joseph Ratzinger as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
You will recall that this was an issue with the Protestants.
I meant to mention in the post that I think the iconographic solution to the problem's quite elegant: you aren't depicting Jesus, or anything, it's a mask. You can depict masks! And you know what's behind the mask…
Though I understand there were some who found this line of thinking less than compelling.
3: Yeah, but Jesus was Jewish, so Christians never really trusted him.
Still, that's a fucked-up cartoon idea.
Still, that's a fucked-up cartoon idea.
No shit. No one in the lineup resembles anyone else at all.
6: Agreed, w-lfs-n is on fire tonight.
6-7: Please don't feed the trolls, people.
I wonder how many entrants used the word "cocksucker."
I did much better at the old Randy Cohen News Quiz than I ever do at the caption contest.
Christians are kinda sorta also not supposed to make images of their deity-in-chief
What are you, some kind of iconoclast?
You will recall that this was an issue with the Protestants.
Are you sure? They're big on not worshipping depictions of the deity, or anything else, so they tend not to decorate churches with images, but I don't remember any Protestant prohibitions on artistic depictions.
I guess it goes without saying that Ben is right about the funniness of the various available captions (the leukemia one at the Radosh site, if written better, could be a contender as well).
Of the three 'authentic' ones, the one in question is the only recognizably clever one, but of course it's just meta. On the theological point, given the last 2000 years of artistic history, I'm not sure Ben can win the argument. Jews certainly aren't supposed to effect images of YHWH, but the facts on the ground overwhelm any claims about what Xians should do in this regard.
11: I think he's referring to early Protestants, like Puritans, for example, who left England because Shakespeare was too unholy for them. (Sort of.) Not these Johnny-come-latelies we have now.
Even for early Protestants, the offense of images was, I'm pretty sure, 'worshipping' them rather than wrongfully depicting the deity.
Crosses but no crucifixes. Serious Protestants like JWs don't allow crosses either.
Ben is right about the Protestants; this was a major issue in the early Reformation, which largely consisted of gangs of inspired evangelicals smashing art in churches all over Germany. It was also a major dividing line between Luther, who liked images, and the more austere Swiss reformers such as Zwingli, who recounted the Ten Commandments to make the prohibition on images a separate commandment (as Jews had always done), thus heightening its importance. This ended up being a major difference between Lutheranism and Reformed Protestantism in the long run.
(This is all from MacCulloch's book, which I would quote from if I didn't need to run to studio just now.)
why is the Japanese term for enlightenment used?
That's actually a good point. Anyone who's studied Asian art can see in a second that that's a Chinese Buddha.
And why is the Japanese term for enlightenment used?
Because most American Buddhism is still filtered through Japan. Blame D.T. Suzuki.
And why is the Japanese term for enlightenment used?
Do you not mean to ask "Why was the caption with the Japanese term for enlightenment selected?"?
Surely, the reasons for word choices on submitted captions are legion, and the reasons behind any particular one not worth pursuing.
That given, "Satori" seems to be relatively widely used in the US for Buddhist "enlightenment", most likely owing to the fact that Zen figured so prominently in popularizations of Eastern religions in the 50s, 60s and 70s (spearheaded by the writings of D. T. Suzuki and Alan Watts). "Nirvana" seems to be less specifically associated with Buddha and Buddhism in the vernacular.
Fuck you and the succinctness you rode in on Rob.
"Nirvana" seems to be less specifically associated with Buddha and Buddhism in the vernacular.
...But "sartori" is less associated with flannel and doc martens and gothic cheerleaders.
The difference between nirvana and satori is not purely about language and national origin. Nirvana retains a lot of its original Hindu connotations of release from this world & the cycle of reincarnation. It is still a very transcendent term. Satori is more purely a state of mind and is more firmly associated with imminence and awareness of the passage of time.
21: ...But "sartori" is less associated with flannel and doc martens and gothic cheerleaders.
...But .... (ah, never mind)
21: chunck-chunck ch-ch-ch-ch-chunk-chunk ch-ch-chunk-chunk ch-ch-ch-ch-chunk-chunk.
12: The last 2000 years of artistic history also illustrate the Christians maybe shouldn't ever, ever pretend that controversy over such depictions is something Those Other People Do.
...But "sartori" is less associated with flannel and doc martens and gothic cheerleaders.
On the contrary, gothic cheerleaders and doc martens are the very image of "sartori." (Flannel maybe not so much.)
I've always thought that the Eucharist would go better with chocolate.
"The contrary" is associated with silver bells and cockle shells.
DS, there's a music video over on Standpipe's blog that you should watch.
I shall never again say a word against WikiPedia.
29: My banter must be off this morning. Oh well, whatever, never mind.
Related to the topic of the original post:
[The listener] was extremely offended. What she had just heard insulted her religion, heritage and sense of decency. A local radio station had conflated caricatures of Muslim and Hindu cultures, and had done so to a character they referred to as "Arab dude." Was this type of language really acceptable on the radio?
The answer, it seems, is yes. [...] Neither [radio performer] will be fired, fined or censured for the incident.
[...]"[P]eople have become desensitized to attacks on Arabs and Muslims." That desensitization may account for the disparity in outrage over slurs against different ethnic groups. It's probably impossible to make an apples-to-apples comparison of the offensiveness of various statements, but it is worth noting that within the last year or so, radio personalities Don Imus and Kidd Chris both lost their jobs for airing skits that seem at least comparatively distasteful. One difference may be the groups that were targeted.Article.
31: Nicely illustrated that Islamophobia is rarely really about Islam, since the people engaged in it often wouldn't know a Hindu from a Muslim from a Sikh from a Maronite Christian if one of each walked up and slapped them with a fish. It's about racial/ethnic prejudice against that vague smear of brown from North Africa to the subcontinent.
In particular, regarding the third, is it not the case that Jews and Christians are kinda sorta also not supposed to make images of their deity-in-chief?
The "we are not allowed to..." probably doesn't refer to a religious prohibition, b-wo.
"Ma'am, 'Jesus Fucking Christ, that's him!', isn't quite specific enough."
I like "Don't get too close. One of them is four-armed and dangerous."
The "rapist was of the same substance" caption really is brilliant.
The "rapist was of the same substance" caption really is brilliant.
Agreed. And yet it could never win, for the reasons outlined in that Slate article last week (i.e. too many readers wouldn't get the joke).
"No officer, I'm sorry, I'm positive it's not one of them. The assailant had gaping holes in the palms of his hands."
21 made me go watch the video. Ah, nostalgia....
From The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists in Ancient Palestine Judges 13:6,7 (birth of Samson)
13:6 The woman went and said to her husband, "A man sent from God came to me! He looked like God's angelic messenger - he was very awesome. I did not ask him where he came from, and he did not tell me his name. 13:7 He said to me, 'Look, you will conceive and have a son. So now, do not drink wine or beer and do not eat any food that will make you ritually unclean. For the child will be dedicated to God from birth till the day he dies.'
"As you are seeing, Moldovan National Art Museum is being for crap."
It's my love of justice that causes me to try to redress the balance by directing ethnic slurs against the Norse, Irish, Scots, Welsh, and above all Canadians.
24: Not to be confused with JUD JUD JAH, JUD JUD JUD, JUD JUD JAH, TSSS TSSS TSSSSS, JUD JUD.
32: Wait, we're required to not object to vague smears of brown? Because I call bullshit on that.
46: I think the point of 32 is that we shouldn't get sucked into religious discussion when the underlying issue is race.
DS doesn't even see religion.
Regardless, I approve of NYer cartoon contest blogging.
and above all Canadians.
Everyone has to take a shot at the top dog,