The random political thoughts thread (Part Deux)

scaeagles · 09-08-2010, 09:47 AM

My apologies about the misnamed artist.

And I'll even agree that you are right in that I do not know that Serrano had a goal of being offensive. However, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that it would be taken that way by a lot of people, especially naming it as he did.

So that aside, my question still stands....if ashes of a burned Quran were displayed as "art", would that be acceptable? We could even name it something like "The Ashes of 9/11", signifying the damage that the Islamic radicals had brought to Islam. You might be sick of "what ifs", but I am wondering where the line is about what is right and wrong here.

Alex · 09-08-2010, 10:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scaeagles

You might be sick of "what ifs", but I am wondering where the line is about what is right and wrong here.

Again, we all need to agree on what we mean by "right" and "wrong" here. Is Piss Christ rude? Yes, to a degree it is. Is it "wrong" to be rude? Yes, in a way it is. Is it morally wrong to be rude? Not really. Is rudeness always wrong? Probably not.

No, I don't consider Piss Christ to be a signicant wrong (especially not morally). No, I wouldn't consider displaying the ashes of burnt Qurans as wrong (especially not morally). No, I don't consider the burning of Qurans as a concept to be wrong (especially not morally).

I do consider irrationally hating a group of people and specifically seeking out a action calculated to most offend those people as wrong (not morally but wrong as in awfully damn rude). Even more wrong is to view (though this is just supposition on my part) it as acceptable to religiously offend other people why expecting your own religious beliefs to be respected.

That said, to the degree anybody in the offended population says "it is so wrong for you to offend me that I will be justified in my violent response" then I feel compelled just on principal to engage in the offense, as I did when I posted all of the offending Mohammed cartoons on my LJ. Sadly, nobody noticed. Similarly, some violently pro-life people make me want to attend medical school so I could perform sidewalk abortions in front of them.

09-08-2010, 09:47 AM	#1
scaeagles I LIKE! Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 7,819	My apologies about the misnamed artist. And I'll even agree that you are right in that I do not know that Serrano had a goal of being offensive. However, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that it would be taken that way by a lot of people, especially naming it as he did. So that aside, my question still stands....if ashes of a burned Quran were displayed as "art", would that be acceptable? We could even name it something like "The Ashes of 9/11", signifying the damage that the Islamic radicals had brought to Islam. You might be sick of "what ifs", but I am wondering where the line is about what is right and wrong here.
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