Saturday, February 14, 2009

"Atheism Cures Terrorism" ??


I have seen many things that were visually offensive, but this specific poster shocked me the most. I tried to be open minded, and focused on the artistic technique, and showed respect to the artist. However, he chose to take the road that leads to nothing but a dead end; no one gained anything. In fact, he insulted many people's beliefs, including mine, by calling God "a genocidal maniac."  http://comments.deviantart.com/1/54881668/971750155"On what basis??" you might ask. Based on the Bible, which anyone with a truly enlightened education knows is edited, and SOME verses of the Koran; verses that had the word "infidels." 
Is that how we summarize books these days?? Only people with the right educational background can interpret the Koran. Now this person comes out of nowhere and accuses the religion of promoting violence? And based on what? Based on assumptions and ideas formulated due to the media. Jihad for instance is now a "badder" word than the F word! Who are you people to tell others what Jihad is?? Who are those terrorists to kill innocent people in the name of religion?? It is those people exactly- including the artist- that exhibit backward thinking. How is getting rid of religion going to cure this problem? What exactly are you leaving believers with but MORE AND MORE anger??
What are you causing except MORE AND MORE conflicts??
What are you teaching children except that VIOLENCE IS THE KEY??

WHAT HAVE WE BECOME??

Why is it more important nowadays to insult and hurt each other, rather than embracing each other's differences? Whatever happened to respecting each other just because others are our fellow HUMAN BEINGS??

I have no problem with atheists whatsoever as long as they DO NOT insult people's beliefs. This is not just about me- this is about every single good hearted believer out there who has fallen a victim of verbal and visual abuse, just because some atheists misinterpret things.
This artist has insulted our beliefs. And God knows what the next generation of artists inspired by him are going to do. THAT IS THE POINT. THIS IS THE BIGGER PICTURE that he REFUSES to see or DID NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT.

The content of our art is a moral obligation! Any human being with a bit of decency should know that and APPLY IT!

There are some thoughts that should NEVER leave our minds. We are too selfish to think about how it affects other people apparently. "I'll express myself, and screw those children that are seeing/going to see my work and get influenced by it, only to end up in jail or even executed one day for bombing a church, mosque, or temple." Yes, that is what's going on in their minds- "just" expressing themselves... Except that, they don't see the harm that it will be doing. Again, they are too selfish to do that. 

Who am I to call you selfish? Well, you should read about the "selfish gene." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Selfish_Gene

In conclusion, does atheism cure terrorism? Anyone with any common sense would say it does not. Why? Because, after "removing" religion from people, mankind will have bigger problems than just terrorism... 1)Terrorism is not only restricted to extremist Muslims killing non Muslims... 2) Imagine a world where everyone runs amok, doing whatever they want.
I have reported the artist and this specific work to the Deviant Art help desk. They saw that the artwork report was irrelevant, but they are yet to get back to me regarding the other complaint. Thankfully, I had the support of many other artists, who also reported him.
This is not because of the disrespect he showed, and CONTINUES to show to me on his journal. This is because this is the perfect example of mindsets that cause corruption in this world. Call him a modern day Hitler if you must- except that he wants to kill more than 50% of the Earth's population. At least my aggression is directed towards him, but his aggression is directed towards A LOT of people. That is why, if Deviant Art chooses to ignore my report, I will certainly not just sit there. I will make sure that the news spreads faster than bird flu.

6 comments:

  1. Why must I call him a modern day Hitler? You're projecting yourself quite a bit in this rant.

    I'm also concerned that you don't understand what free speech and art are all about. No one would ask you you take down a "Jesus saves" or "Allah is Great" picture. Just take a seat, take a deep breath you'll be better off for it. Maybe even use it to inspire something creative of your own instead of wasting your energy and your credibility policing community based websites with your personal rules.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dear "Anonymous",

    Thank you for your ... umm...concern, but I'm afraid you're missing the point here... I do appreciate it as an artwork, however, one needs to think beneath the surface. I did think about it. I thought about the consequences if teens and children came across this.We tend to underestimate the effect of visual communication on people. How do you think advertisement works? You have a strong ad that gets you to think- surely you'll remember it, and build more and more thoughts on that basis. Why do you think teen pregnancy is increasing? http://www.commonsensemedia.org/tv-and-teen-pregnancy-nov-2008-rand-study
    This is just to show that people do actually agree that visual communication does have an impact on people. Just so you won't get me wrong, I'm not saying the poster has mature content. I repeat, it is just an example.

    It is a very strong poster, and I give him credit for that. And because this is a very strong poster, it will be imprinted onto their subconscious.

    An "Allah is Great" poster would never offend anyone, not even non believers, therefore it is okay to create such work. I honestly don't know why you made that comparison; there's no relevance whatsoever.

    It is okay to express your opinion, but it's not okay to express that opinion if it creates any negative feelings. If it was just one person who was offended, then fine, they're taking it too personal. But, if it was a mass of people that were offended, then something's not right.

    Finally, I don't need any help getting inspiration. I am an artist myself and a productive one too (http://impurfect-purfection.deviantart.com/gallery) and an old account as well (http://teenagecupid.deviantart.com/gallery). Not to mention my active networking with artists on Facebook. I would suggest you do some research about the writer before saying things off the cuff. I am in fact "google-able". This is my blog, and it represents the opinion of a lot of people who are afraid of expressing themselves.

    Regards,
    Soraya

    ReplyDelete
  3. There was a comment by an anonymous that I had to reject because not only was it rude, but he/she said something as if it was a known fact, and they used no reference whatsoever in their statement.

    The statement was : Religion is the leading cause of death. Period.

    Is he/she right?

    According to WHO article, titled "Causes of Death", in 2000 and 2001, the global leading cause of death was Ischaemic heart disease (23.3% of total deaths in developed countries, 9.2% in developing countries). http://www.who.int/mip/2003/other_documents/en/causesofdeath.pdf

    And according to Science Daily article, titled "Cancer Projected To Become Leading Cause Of Death Worldwide In 2010": "[..] cancer is projected to become the leading cause of death worldwide in the year 2010, and low- and middle-income countries will feel the impact of higher cancer incidence and death rates more sharply than industrialized countries." (Paragraph 1, line 4)
    http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081209111516.htm

    So, is religion the leading cause of death?

    Gosh, I don't know.. you called me retarded... so tell me, who's the "intellectually challenged" one here?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Some people are so ignorantly inane. I agree with you, Soraya. Has dA taken it down yet?

    ReplyDelete
  5. You know what makes you right? CAPS LOCK!!! 8D

    ReplyDelete
  6. Whilst I can see why the poster might be offensive, and its statement could be moderated slightly (like 'atheisism reduces terrorism'?)
    I think religions are given too much respect. because my beliefs are not backed-up by ancient books and theology they are not important to most people. If however someone says that their actions (/dress/refusal do do something etc) is part of their religion then it is inshrined in law... and I spent time working out my morality for myself...

    Your comments on his dA page (or rather his replies) show-up the shallowness of his argument, and that should be enough...

    ReplyDelete