Brazilian artist Gil Vicente has manufactured some controversy over charcoal drawings that show him assassinating such horrors of humanity as George W. Bush, Pope Benedict XVI, Israeli PM Ariel Sharon, Queen Elizabeth and...Here's Gil offing the Pope:
What a chicken. The guy picks a bunch of people he hasn't met - people whose daily lives are a total mystery to him. He doesn't really know whether he wants to shoot them or not because he doesn't know what it is they do all day. If he had any courage as an artist at all, he would have drawn himself shooting a handful of close acquaintances, neighbors or coworkers. At least then he could offer some concrete reasons why he wanted to kill them. Instead, he's suggesting the most juvenile of actions - if I kill the Pope, I can make the Catholic Church go away.
Grow a pair, Gilster. Draw yourself shooting the teenager who lives next door to you or maybe grumpy old Tia Consuela. Think globally, act locally, dude.
The funny thing about people who suggest killing their political or religious opponents, is that it almost always has exactly the opposite effect from what they want: it swings public sympathy *towards* their intended victims, instead of away from them. And if they actually *succeed* in assassinating their opponent, it's practically game over (as long as the opponent has some family, church, or political organization to keep trying to achieve his goals).
ReplyDeleteNo, you almost never want your opponent dead. You generally want him alive and disgraced. And drawings of someone shooting him are not going to do that.
That's a great point, Tim. My first thought was - "How safe it is to draw yourself shooting Queen Elizabeth. How much more dangerous it would be to show yourself shooting a neighbor."
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