Just in time to piggyback some PR on the notoriety of the anti-Islam film Innocence of Muslims, the Edward Tyler Nahem Gallery in New York is featuring a retrospective of artist Andres Serrano’s work, including the controversial photograph dubbed “Piss Christ.”
On Palm Sunday last year, 1,000 protesters marched outside a French gallery showing “Piss Christ,” and the piece was attacked by hammer-toting vandals while gallery workers received death threats. The piece — there are 10 prints — has also been vandalized at the National Gallery of Victoria in Australia and in Sweden.
But Serrano told us he’s not expecting trouble in his hometown of New York. “It’s not going to receive the same attention,” he said, adding that the French attack “destroyed” the piece, but, “It transformed ‘Piss Christ’ into something else. It’s mounted on plexiglass, and it looked like they’d attacked Christ. The marks were all around the face.”
A rep for the Midtown gallery confirmed it was beefing up security in anticipation of protests, but wouldn’t elaborate further.
Serrano is working on a book of 400 photographs recently shot in Cuba. His mother, who was born in Florida, is of Cuban heritage. “It’s about time we talked about Cuba,” he said, calling the US embargo “horrendous.”
He adds, the situation around NEA funding that “Piss Christ” ignited “never got better . . . the budget of the NEA was slashed in half. There seems to be a sort of dislike for the arts, and for the government supporting the arts. It’s not right.”
Will President Obama speak out against this outrageous depiction of the Christian savior, the son of God? I hope not. The pressure is already intense for him to do so. And Barack Obama did not made it any easier on himself when he publicly condemned the film Innocence of Muslims. Legitimate questions will be raised by Christians who are mightily offended by Serrano’s hateful depiction of Jesus: If you can condemn a blasphemous film depicting Mohammed, why not a blasphemous photo depicting Christ?
He should neither condemn nor support either. His job is to protect free speech, no matter how offensive it might be to Americans or foreigners. If the best way to defend that right is to keep his mouth shut, he should do so.
But President Obama has already failed the free speech test by agreeing with the perpetually outraged Islamists that they had cause to riot. Just yesterday, he reaffirmed that Muslim outrage at the film was justified.
President Barack Obama said he thinks Muslim protests against Western criticism of Islam are “natural.”
“The natural protests that arose because of the outrage over the video were used as an excuse by extremists to see if they can also directly harm U.S. interests,” Obama said during an hour-long town-hall interview on the Spanish-language Univision channel.
Obama did not use the interview to champion the right of Americans to speak freely amid criticism and threats from Islamic advocates.
He did briefly mention free-speech, saying that democracy also includes “looking out for minority rights… respecting freedom of speech… [and] treating women fairly.”
But he can’t get it right without admitting he got it wrong. It’s a chess match, and the Democrats (or supporters) don’t get to set up all the combinations. Queen to King’s level one.
And it goes without saying that any protests against this United States government-supported art will be “natural” and completely understandable, n’est-ce pas?
Free speech has never been without its detractors. When Americans are polled, they often resist the complete application of the First Amendment. I wrote about that here: http://clarespark.com/2012/09/21/milton-mason-melville-on-free-speech/. As for offensive government-supported art, welcomd to the culture wars.
I’m offended by government supported are, regardless of the content.
When it’s done for no other reason than to offend, I’m angry.
Precisely. He can’t admit he was wrong. He is politically and personally incapable of doing so. He is also incorrigible and ineducable, rendered so by his ideology and his innate stubbornness. Therefore, he will certainly say nothing and wait for the whole thing to blow over.
Please quit making excuses for this monster. “Inate stubborness,” indeed. This creature is a stone psychopath.
Bingo.
The tricky part is that if you fail once, you set a precedent.
President Barack Obama said he thinks Muslim protests against Western criticism of Islam are “natural”.
Wow! It takes a community organizer to say something like that! What do community organizers do? They raise hell by leveraging the otherwise diffuse and unfocused anger of some poor souls they pretend to stand for. The Islamists do the same, with violence added, using scriptures they did not even need to invent ad hoc to provoke anger among the children of hate.
The Islamists are community organizers too, raising hell to a higher plane, with bloody consequences, which in no way helps the enraged. All the Arab countries, systematically and chronically agitating the Palestinians with manufactured grievances, while never lifting a finger to help them, offer a typical example!
Watch for community organizers. They are well trained in the art of making things worse, and they don’t even notice when they brag about it!
Things get even more complicated, and dangerous too, when the morphing of the red/green alliance takes root.
Westerners tend to see the mayhem, spreading across the globe, as merely a manifestation of Islamic barbarism. This is only half of the equation. Without the assistance – overtly and covertly – of the reds, they would have less ‘freedom’ to operate.
Hence, http://adinakutnicki.com/2012/08/25/barack-hussein-obamas-toxic-brew-of-radical-leftism-third-world-fixation-and-devotion-to-islam-addendum-to/
Forewarned is forearmed.
Adina, Thanks for the article. It’s all about a convergence of evil forces! We need a US President who defends America and its fundamental principles, not one who promotes an anti-American and anti-Freedom global syndicate of community organizers of all stripes, all the way to the most ruthless, red and green.
Here is a great short read of a real patriot’s frustration with this one! http://fundamentalrefounding.ning.com/profiles/blogs/here-is-my-litmus-test It is a very poignant yet very succinct commentary! Take a look!
I don’t care if the divider in chief was born “an American”, he most certainly doesn’t sound or behave like one. He needs to find some other job more suited to his abilities…… like maybe a carnival barker.
Obama has already taken many Free Speech tests and it’s abundantly clear by now that he’s strongly against it.
Free Speech is against “social justice,” you know.
He did briefly mention free-speech, saying that democracy also includes “looking out for minority rights… respecting freedom of speech… [and] treating women fairly.”
This would be consistent with the Holder DOJ’s position.
“Minority and women’s rights” are to be protected.
Since Obama and his battalion commanders have little interest in protecting the rights of Catholics, Christians, Jews or any other adherents to Judeo-Christian heritage because they are not “oppressed victims” in their world. In fact, they are the historic “oppressors”.
The “gutter religion” followers and “garlic noses” whose chickens came home to roost on 9/11.
So, this isn’t about “free speech” at all. It’s about victims who lash out at their oppressors…and Obama is on their side.
While he doesn’t condone violence as a methodology, his lukewarm and always late condemnations of it…ALWAYS come with a hedge bet. It’s ALWAYS somebody or something that prompted that violent, ugly, vile reaction. It’s either “men of that age”, or an unseen film trailer, or George Bush, or Sasquatch, El Nino, the tooth fairy.
Obama has no interest in making the argument that Bill Maher’s vile assault on Judeo-Christian beliefs is the same or greater intentional insult than a vastly less observed “Innocence of Muslims”. He has zero interest in protecting religions that he himself is assaulting.
He parses his words so as to not directly expose his biases. He is a Fabian, if nothing else.
But sometimes, off teleprompter…they seep out.
It is not a natural right. It is a right guaranteed to Americans by our constitution. The bill of right is a beacon of light but one that must continually be defended.
Can PJM and media friends change Muslim sensitivities or at least the violent reaction to free speech which would then have repercussions domestically and internationally?
Daniel Pipes wonders…..
What would happen if publishers and managers of major media reached a consensus, “Enough of this intimidation, we will publish the most famous Danish Muhammad cartoon every day until the Islamists tire out and no longer riot”? What would happen if instances of Koran burning happened recurrently?
Would repetition inspire institutionalization, generate ever-more outraged responses, and offer a vehicle for Islamists to ride to greater power? Or would it lead to routinization, to a wearing out of Islamists, and a realization that violence is counter-productive to their cause?
I predict the latter, that a Muhammad cartoon published each day, or Koranic desecrations on a quasi-regular basis, will make it harder for Islamists to mobilize Muslim mobs. Were that the case, Westerners could once again treat Islam as they do other religions – freely, to criticize without fear. That would demonstrate to Islamists that Westerners will not capitulate, that they reject Islamic law, that they are ready to stand up for their values.
So, this is my plea to all Western editors and producers: display the Muhammad cartoon daily until the Islamists get used to the fact that we turn sacred cows into hamburger.
In my 28 years as a pastor serving 5 congregations in various regions of this great nation, I always encouraged members to make their voices heard in the public square. Organize letter-writing, e-mail, and phone call campaigns to make your voices heard about the importance of having good and true moral and ethical standards in society. Get involved in the political process.
Yet, do so peacefully. Recognize that, in the public square, there are those who will vehemently disagree with you–and they do so with the same constitutional rights that protect your free speech.
As reprehensible as I truly find the so-called art defaming my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in New York City and in other areas of the western world; I still cherish the freedoms that afford us all the ability to disagree with great passion. I cherish the freedom to engage in respectful and civil debate about issues, such as what constitutes art.
Once the President leads us along this detour from freedom of speech (which will only lead to a dead-end); I will find myself potentially being censored from the pulpit by the government. We already see the alarming government trampling of religious belief in the Obamacare mandates forcing religious institutions to fund treatments and procedures which violate the central tenets of their beliefs.
Whether you know it or not “they” are trying to criminalize Christianity. There have been preachers in Europe and Canada who have been arrested for reading the bible from the pulpit. “The consider the bible hatespeech.
President Obama showed his true colours when, at the beginning of his term, he returned the bust of Winston Churchill to the British and bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia. He gives not a fig for the American Constitution and American tradition, so he has no respect for freedom of speech. He should have said nothing whatever about the film “Innocence of Muslims.”:
– used piss when he’s so full of shit.
You shouldn’t give him ideas.
“It’s about victims who lash out at their oppressors” – cfbleachers
This is definitely a part of it from Obama’s perspective; however he’s just using Muslims to further his Neo Marxist agenda. In the same way, the Muslims are using the U.S.A.’s own PC rules against us, in trying to coerce us into accepting Sharia/dimmitude and thus a blow against our 1st Amendment at the same time … in other words they want us to conform to their blasphemy laws under the Sharia. Just ask the new MB pres of Egypt – Psycho Morsi, who is now pleading with the U.N. to take up the cause of Islam. What is the cause of Islam? To subjugate, to force, to terrorize people into submission to the Sharia. Obama has a choice; to be an American and defend the Constitution OR to be an enemy of these United States by supporting Morsi and Islam. Obama’s watershed moment is fast approaching; the haughty little mental midget from Iran just arrived on our shores knowing full well that he has already got the support from jihadists Stateside, the U.N. and our our weak and petrified POTUS. Yes Obama is afraid of what he’s “accomplished” now that reality is fast mugging his neo-Leftist totalitarian nonsense.
We have allowed the new “Hitler” to walk on our shores and very shortly he will be given a platform at the U.N. from which to pontificate – and we say NOTHING !!! THAT’s the kind of shape we’re in, it’s not just Obama.
I’m waiting for some politician…actually, any politician, to tell me when we get to tell these murderous fascist islamist apologists to kiss our tender tuschies?
The Islamic protesters have a valid point. Since the US Government provides financial support to the “Arts,” it has a responsibility for the “Art,” produced. Islamic Terrorists need no logic just an opportunity.
In a parallel note I see Christopher Stevens at CNN have done something extraordinary, they actually published something counter to the Obama narrative.
Again, the Dem Left demonstrates its bigotry. By pandering to groups and pitting one group against another, it has ultimately cornered itself.
Race Horse Haynes, a famous lawyer called this Cockroach Tactics. Remarkably, the progressives did it to themselves and find themselves trappped: what is good for one group is not allowed for another. What can be enforced by Holder against one group is not enforced against others.
Serrano, You are about to practice Cockroach Tactics on yourself. We demand our free speech. You can use it also. Now you are about to protest the Embargo on Cuba by using your free speech right.
Go to Cuba and practice your free speech there and then ask us why we have an embargo.
While you are there, visit a few of the Americans trapped in Cuban jails. Your liberal sycophantism and shock art is no longer amusing.
The 70′s are calling and your art is outdated.
One of many examples why Islam as a government model and Sharia law are NOT compatable with freedom and democracy.
THE VIOLENCE AGAINST US ABROAD CANNOT BE JUSTIFIED BY FALSE EXCUSES AND PHONY “PRETEXTS”. We will defend our wives, our children, and our freedoms–DEFENSIVELY.
“A WARNING TO LIBERTY’S ENEMIES”
The mask so carefully applied,
Has torn for all to see.
Your unjust rage against our faith,
Now threatens Liberty.
So once again, we Patriots pledge,
To keep our nation free.
God gave to us a Law of Defense,
Which applies to every man
who lives by the code of “self-control”
Who prays freedom for this land–
Who has pledged he’ll not seek conquest
But take a defender’s stand.
Hear us, ye craven foes of life,
We are not afraid of your screams.
For a “moment” you may spread your strife,
For a brief space of time you may dream,
Of defiling our women and enslaving our youth
With fanatical zealots’ schemes.
We have watched you burn our embassies,
We have seen you deface our flag.
Our soldiers and envoys have paid death’s price,
While you screamed, and raged and bragged.
You were found unworthy of pride or respect,
As their bodies through your sands were dragged.
Enough of the frauds, enough of the lies,
That your anarchy is “decent” or “just”.
Though you claim false pretext to cover your sins,
We renounce your excuses for lust,
Of our families and homes which we’ll defend,
With our very lives if we must!
We renounce your MEDIA WHORES as well–
You have bought and paid for their souls.
We deny their lies, we reject their claims,
We repudiate so-called “polls”—
Which you believe will cause us to quake
At the “right” you claim to control.
We have prayed, and fasted, and pleaded,
To the God of Our Fathers once more.
It was He who gave us Freedom’s gift;
And His might cannot be ignored.
His Law of Defense applies here,
And it will sanctify our shores!
Aroused, Columbia’s* God prepares,
To defeat every foe to this land.
It is He who orders Heaven and Earth,
And with Him we now take our stand.
Once more we Patriots rally and cry—
“We shall honor what Heaven commands!”
* Columbia = United States; new Latin from Christopher Columbus; first used 1775.
NO RIGHTS RESERVED. Public domain material.
Warrantless Spying Bill Passes House, Moves to the Senate
THURSDAY, 13 SEPTEMBER 2012
http://www.rightsidenews.com/2012091417023/us/homeland-security/warrantless-spying-bill-passes-house-moves-to-the-senate.html
Personally, I think we should stop trying to “test” Obama. He’s stressed out enough already, what with all the pressure he’s getting from all sides to “be presidential” or “lead” when he’s obviously not up to the job.
And, he already showed his ‘true colors’ at the very beginning of his presidency by going to the Middle East and telling the Muslim World that “America is not a Christian country.” Well, in a way, he was right; for no Christian country would elect such a man as their leader!