LOONY LEFT FRINGE

A  WIDE CANVAS

LOONY LEFT FRINGE

A leading feature of modern journalism all over the world is the assault on the main or established religion of the land in the name of press freedom or free speech, and patronage and protection to their detractors or bitter opponents in the name of minority freedom. Even leading newspapers are following this trend. We can see this with reference to USA and India.

Hindus are used to mindless criticism of their religion from many quarters for many years now. Leftists have done it, secularists have done it, rationalists have done it, Christians have done it, Muslims have done it, politicians have done it, academics have done it, journalists have done it- all invoking the name of religious freedom, freedom of speech, minority right, secularism, etc. Yet none of the self-styled secular or liberal elements has dared to criticise Christianity or Islam. Hindus generally regard such critics as so many dogs barking at the moon, and ignore them. But these elements know what will happen to them if they utter anything against Islam. They are brave enough to anticipate the consequences and practical enough to avoid it. All their valour is reserved for the mild Hindu.

But even Hindus lose patience at times. A renegade academic from the States wrote a book styled Hinduism: An Alternative History, writing rubbish about Hinduism. It was published by Penguins. Some over-sensitive people initiated legal proceedings, pointing out the factual inaccuracies and other mischief of the author. Unable to defend itself, the publisher decideed to withdraw the book from the shelves in India,(there was no court order) but made an atrocious statement about free speech, casting doubts about Indian judiciary. The press and academic fringe in the US immediately joined the cacophony. Some of our own left lights, without a following, raised a loud cry. None of them objected to the publisher casting aspersions on the Indian judiciary.Yet, within a few months the Oxford University Press, an avowedly pro-Christian body, quietly advised its writers not to use the words pig, pork, sausage etc involving the pig in the books written by them (obviously not to offend the Muslims and Jews)! Not one of these leftist dogs barked then! Such is their love of freedom! And secularism!

Whatever it may be, the move of our people to object to the publication of the book denigrating Hinduism was ill-advised. For one thing, our own judiciary is not dependable in the matter of protecting Hindu rights. For another, international publishers are a powerful group, with their own support structure among the academics, politicians, churchmen, press etc. They have men, money and muscles and a global reach which our poor people cannot match. And the academics themselves are like a mafia- closely knit group, serving each other. And in this case, this blasted author did not say anything new! Though she called it 'alternative history', it is in fact the history as it is now taught through the left-dominated mainstream academic circuit.The title was a publicity gimmick! So, it was best to ignore it. If our people had known anything about the author, they would have avoided her, as one would avoid a rabid dog!

But that is not my main point now. The position is far worse in respect of Christianity in the US and Europe. The people who control and run the press, the art galleries etc are past masters in the game of denigrating the main religion, its values and ideas and generally the culture based on it. They have done it in the case of Christianity in the US. And though the majority people there generally call themselves religious, they have not made much of such incidents. I will relate two instances, both taken from the book: "THE DEATH  OF RIGHT AND WRONG" by Tammy Bruce (Three Rivers Publishers, New York,2003).

Tammy  Bruce: American political pundit and commentator.
By Copyright owned by subject as a result of work-for-hire arrangement.Wikipedia: Contact us/Photo submission. CC BY-SA 3.0 creative commons via Wikiedia commons.

1.One Chris Olifi, an "artist" presented a collage at the Brooklyn Museum of Art in 1999. It was named The Holy Virgin Mary. But what was depicted was anything but holy: Elephant dung was stuck all over the image, and the image of Virgin Mary was surrounded by photos of vagina taken from pornography  magazines. Those who criticised it were dubbed "religious conservatives". The Mayor of New York, Rudolph Guiliani, felt outraged by this exhibition and threatened to cut the funding to the museum if the work was not removed.He was immediately attacked by the left brigade in choice words- we should read it, so that we may enrich our vocabulary. One columnist Cintra Wilson called the mayor "delusional", having a "hubris-rotted cop brain" and wrote :

[T]his .....waste covered icon is perhaps so moving and terrifyingly effective in its desecration of Roman Catholicism that the shrieking, bat shit-encrusted aboriginal tribe-elder Giuliani feels it is reason enough to fuck up an entire museum.

The work has continued to attract adverse reaction from the religious minded. But as late as September, 2012, the White House did not support the critics, though it promptly condemned an anti-Islamic movie! Such is the fear of Islam even in the White House! Dark minds occupying white houses! This is a real pity- the US constitution clearly separates Church and State: if anti-Islam is bad and condemned, every anti-religious stance should be condemned. Otherwise, the White House should keep away from expressing its opinion. It seems an Islamic agent is now guarding the White House! See how Obama has encouraged Iran to make the bomb!

2. Nor has Christ escaped attention from the Left. Once  a play by Terrence McNally named Corpus Christi was staged. It presented  Christ as a homosexual, having sex with his apostles, who were also portrayed as gay, in a modern setting in Texas. When  some Christians protested, the New York Times wrote  an editorial (May 28,1998) defending the artist's "freedom" but  condemning the protesters for their "bigotry, violence and contempt for artistic expression"! Really, NYT? What about the anti-religious bigotry of this  gay author?

Another "artist" Andres Serrano exhibited a photograph titled "Piss Christ",in 1989. It showed a crucifix submerged in a Plexiglas container containing the artist's urine! It caused a scandal. The US Congress took note and enquired into the projects that the National Endowment for the Arts was funding (out of tax payers' money). The artist had received $15,000 in funding! He justified it saying he was merely showing how many religious icons have been vulgarised by the commercialisation! Some way indeed! But the matter did not end there. This work is now considered a standard in the art world and is exhibited in prestigious places such as New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art and London's Tate Gallery! But it has encountered violent reaction in some places, but the religious groups have failed to get legal ruling against it! And in 2001, this artist exhibited in the largest Gothic Cathedral in the World- in Manhattan a series of photos of corpses entitled The Morgue- it was placed in one of the chapels of the Cathedral!

This man had another series of photos of Pope John Paul II called  "Red Pope I-III".  It contained the images of the Pope immersed in a container of blood! And it sold for $70,700 in a Christie's auction! In 2001, its price was quoted around $87,000!

One wonders through all this if we have gone mad-  I simply do not know if we are mad, or the artists, or the exhibitors or the buyers! Of course, we are all free to be mad!

I am sorry to have to write all this. I apologise if some sentiments are hurt. But our people, over-sensitive Hindus do not know how the whole press industry and academia is treating organised religion if it is based merely on reason. Will these Olifis, Serranos, Cintra Wilsons, New York Times editors dare to do such things against Islam and its Prophet? Poor Christ! In the so called Christian land, he has no defenders but only millions of Judases! No wonder, the clergy is seeking converts in Asia, which still revers religion! What could our people have done against a renegade academic and her diabolic publisher through court proceedings? Or the press which support them? We must fight , if we can, like the Muslims do. Or, just ignore such nonsense like the Christians do in the States, though they flex their muscles here! The position is equally bad all over Christian Western Europe. Only Islam has been able to silence  criticism against their prophet and that through sheer force of violence. Probably this is the only language the Press will understand and honour.

What can you say about editors and writers who honour dictates of violence, but feel bold enough to attack milder religions? It only shows their own moral vacuity and double standards. That is why I place them in the loony left fringe.

Behind all this is the modernist mind-set which has discarded God, but is prepared to enthrone anything else instead. It has not only lost all notion of the holy, but also the  idea of any distinction between the holy and the not-holy. It rejected the religious compass as a guide to life, and has not found another in its place, but catching at any straw. It rejected the holy men of the past, but since nature will not tolerate a vacuum, these new crooks calling themselves artists  act as the new clergy! And sure, they command a price and a following! If one has no God, anything will do!

NOTE:

I am not able to provide any illustrations as I am not sure of the copyright status. The exhibits and their details can be seen on the Web.

At one level, I am not sorry and am  even pleased at the treatment organised Christianity (Churchianity, as it is called) is receiving in the US and elsewhere. They have vilified our religion long enough and as such fully deserve what they are getting. No tears for them. But as a matter of principle, it is not decent to resort to vulgarity in opposing anything. It is appalling that plain vulgarity is claimed to be art, and they expect governments to fund such ventures out of tax payers' money. It is strange that the press defends public show of vulgarity in the name of freedom of expression, and charges the defenders of the freedom of faith and public decency for violence! If one pisses in public view, it is vulgar and indecent; but if a loony crook pisses in a bottle and puts a crucifix in it and shows it up in a gallery, it is a work of Art! Practically anything, however indecent or vulgar, may be done to attack religion if it is called art, so long as the ethnic, religious or other groups favoured by these champions are not touched! At this rate, the modern West is indeed initiating a new Renaissance!

 We do resent the vile methods adopted by the Christian missionaries in India to indulge in conversion. The atrocities committed by them in North and South America and Africa in the name of God and Christ are devilish, and the violence they practised in Europe even amongst themselves is despicable.However, we cannot deny that Christianity is basically a grand religion,and  the broad sense of the basic morality and ethics of Western societies is derived from the true spirit of Christianity. Even the basic civic virtues can be traced to the religious impulse.[The same can be claimed in respect of Hinduism in India] In contrast, look at Islamic societies! What the loony leftist fringe is now doing through its influence and control over the press, media, arts, academia, political groups, etc is to destroy the very basis of the common culture of the West [and India]- what is still  left of it! It is a tiny group, but casts its shadow long and dark! How the majority of decent citizens tolerates it , and suffers silently, baffles me.