Charles Martin's Blog, page 29
October 16, 2014
How to Write Your Own Definitions, or Pot, Meet Kettle
If you need something that is demonstrably true not to be true, you are left with limited options. Among them is the hope that you will be speaking to a collection of ideologues who will believe you even if your words don’t cohere with reality because they want to believe you. This tactic seems to be the hope of conservatives who wish not to be seen as anti-First Amendment vis-a-vis religion and free speech where Islam is concerned.
What do you do if the second largest religion in the world creates massive problems for your PR campaign because nearly every single one of the more than one billion adherents insists on acting as agents of good conscience? How do you discredit a religion without seeming to be an opponent of the First Amendment? Conservatives are bizarrely committed to seeing Islam as a global threat, when it would be far simpler to see a few thousand criminals who falsely call themselves Muslims as a global threat. Since they are wed to this commitment, conservatives are left to explain how they can demonize an Abrahamic faith without being intolerant of religion.
One of our Oklahoma representatives made national news recently when he came up with the solution to conservatives’ PR needs, and now that solution is being widely distributed by Oklahoma’s largest conservative PAC. (I was almost certain that it wasn’t really his original idea, and it turns out that I’m correct.) John Bennett, an Oklahoma legislator, called Islam a “social, political system that uses a deity to advance its agenda of global conquest.”
Bennett somehow made the national news by advancing ideas that noted Islamophobe and former Florida legislator Allen West made popular in 2012 when he called Islam a “totalitarian theocratic political ideology.” In short, conservatives have decided that they get to define what is and is not a religion, and so conveniently, the conservative definition of religion excludes Islam.
The basis of the exclusion is that Islam is not a religion, but a political ideology, and in their minds, those are mutually exclusive categories. The Oklahoma Conservative Political Action Committee, referenced earlier, included Bennett’s comments in their most recent email newsletter to members, and in the same email was a link to Reclaiming America for Christ, yet another example of conservatives being tone deaf to irony.
OCPAC dismissed Islam as a political ideology, even as they registered their support for a form of Christianity that would “reclaim the culture” for “Christian values.” The idea is that America was founded on Christian principles and was therefore governmentally an expression of Biblical values, but conservatives fail to see that as an endorsement for a “theocratic political ideology.”
The blindness on their part is not due to explicit hypocrisy, and it pains me to say that. It really is based on a preferential epistemology which views their religion as true and all others as false. For my liberal friends, this really is not hypocrisy, no more than if you assumed someone was wrong for disagreeing with your liberal worldview. Reality is the water in which we swim growing up, and it’s not as if we are able to parse what we are taught; we simply accept it as reality. It is not until much later, perhaps on the verge of adulthood, that we parse the important stuff.
For most American political conservatives, Christianity is simply true, not a construct superimposed on reality to force life to cohere to a set of assumptions. That Muslims believe the exact same thing never occurs to the conservative religio-political tribe we refer to as the Christian Right. To engage in comparative religion would only weaken the force of the CR’s claims. They must be singularly true, otherwise they are simply competing metanarratives, so Christians believe the truth, and Muslims are deceived, even as their religions look much the same to outsiders.
As for the claims from conservatives, here is how Charlie Meadows, an OCPAC spokesperson, summed them up:
In my opinion, The Oklahoman and Tulsa World as well as some of the local broadcast media are far too politically correct and practice EXCESSIVE tolerance to ever know or tell the truth about the “religion” of Islam. What they have become is [sic] useful idiots for the agenda of the Religion [sic] of Islam which really isn’t a religion but more of a political and governmental system that uses a deity to advance their agenda.
This is the heart of the conservatives’ claim: Islam is not a religion. Rather, it simply uses a “deity to advance their agenda.” I’ll resist the urge to say, “pot, meet kettle,” but only barely. All theistic faiths use a deity to advance their agenda, but OCPAC and other faux religious conservatives assume that they are not using the deity; instead, they see themselves as advancing the agenda of the deity they serve, an agenda they happily ignore is not substantiated by an appearance of their deity to confirm any particular claims. All other faiths must provide evidence; theirs is simply true, and so political extrapolations become axioms.
It would be comically bad philosophy were it not for the insistence that legislation be based on this deity’s desires, said deity still not available to substantiate those claims. Fret not, though; there is a book. Never mind that Muslims also have a book. Only the Christian Bible is correct, and the Jewish Tanakh can only be interpreted in reverse, by filtering it through the New Testament and myriad extra-Biblical assertions.
All this aside, the question remains. Is Islam a religion or a political ideology? I’ll allow that Christians can be tone deaf to the obvious false dichotomy here. Ninian Smart came up with a complex matrix of categories that helped define religion, since the word is required to do entirely too much in general usage. How can “religion” describe feeding the poor and killing infidels, caring for the sick and torturing heretics, blessing babies and burning witches while still maintaining any coherence? The term itself is already asked to do too much, and it’s clear that many things the conservatives object to are part of that impossible list.
Smart’s categories were ritual, mythical, experiential, social, ethical, doctrinal, and material. Critics of Islam would be hard-pressed to find one of those categories that was not represented by Islam. Here is a very brief breakdown of correspondence:
Ritual: Hajj (pilgrimage)
Mythical: Qur’an, obviously
Experiential: prayer, giving, fasting
Social: Jumah, Eid al Fitr, fastbreaking, etc.
Ethical: Shariah, obviously
Doctrinal: Hadith
Material: prayer rug, ka’aba, etc.
In other words, Islam is a religion. Of course it is. Conservatives want to deny it the status of religion to suit their own ends and to avoid being categorized as anti-religion or anti-First Amendment. It is an argument from preference, not principle.
October 14, 2014
My Phat Status – Identity Crisis
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October 13, 2014
October 9, 2014
Like Us On Facebook, Get Free Stuff
We are almost at 1,000 likes, so our handsome artist, Don Rosencrans, is offering two prizes:
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Holly Wilson: Your Next Art Hero
Can You Hear Me Now
Solo exhibition for Holly Wilson
Opening Reception
6 to 10 p.m. on Friday, October 10 and displaying through November 15
MAINSITE Contemporary Art
122 E. Main in Norman
Holly Wilson is doing this right. Her latest exhibit, Can You Hear Me Now, is opening during the 2nd Friday Art Walk this weekend in Norman amid a hectic year of solo and group shows in Chicago, Michigan, Arizona, and all across her home state of Oklahoma.
It is popular to claim the title of “artist”, but few actually live the life. Creativity is a brutal endeavor. Excluding those blessed with fame and/or fortune, the artist is a one-person corporation. Warehouse, production, promotion, publicity, branding, web development, telecommunications, CEO, food services, and janitor. And, after running a business in a hyper-competitive climate, an artist must still have enough energy in the tank to create.
Few can make it work for more than a few months, but Wilson has been battling since well before I first met her years ago in a cramped studio in the back of her house. Her workshop struck me as the opening scene of a dark, whimsical fairy tale where dozens of small sculptures animate every night and scurry out into the world in search of adventure. Her art is all about emotional projection and a brief glimpse into something grander, the kind of kinetic work that begs the mind to fill in the epic story implied by a single image.
But talent does not equal success, so Wilson has been sharpening her other tools by going to workshops and conventions, networking in outside markets, supporting other artists, and doing all the extra credit work which makes the difference between creating art as a hobby or as a livelihood.
Wilson is joined by a rising tide of established and emerging artists grinding out careers in Oklahoma. A significant and enduring drive is necessary to develop a brand so far from the traditional art hubs and young creatives would do well to look at Wilson as an example of how to do art the right way.
Can You Hear Me Now will be accompanied by a traveling show entitled Dialogos E Interpretaciones II: the Americas in which printmakers from North and South America working in traditional techniques submit to the collection. It is a project meant to promote cultural exchange and is in its second year with two portfolios from the collection traveling simultaneously throughout South America and the United States. In the Library Gallery, there will be geometric bison paintings by Nathan Lee, featuring woodcut bison figures placed upon paintings of Oklahoma landscapes.
October 3, 2014
Planet Dorshak Featuring Jerry Bennett!
Planet Dorshak featuring Jerry Bennett
Hanging through October
3003A Paseo in Oklahoma City
Pop Art is harder than you think. Taking existing icons of mainstream culture and re-imagining them in a clever way is a challenge. It takes a really unique artist who possesses both sharp technical skills but also the imagination to find new ways to perceive familiar characters.
So, let me introduce the first featured artist for Planet Dorshak, Mr. Jerry Bennett. Here is the thing you need to understand: you love Jerry Bennett. You have to. It’s a fundamental aspect of human nature. We eat, we sleep, we love Jerry Bennett. It’s science.
Jerry is a modern pop artist of the finest order, but also a wonderful human being with a laugh so boisterous and ridiculous that you just want to hug him to death. You’ve seen his images on social media and on t-shirts across the state. Maybe it was Admiral Ackbar in a Ghostbusters’ outfit proclaiming “It’s a Trap!” or it could have been ET holding Baby Groot. Though he does his fair share of classic pin-ups, Bennett’s specialty is the mash-up, treating cultural touchstones like Lego pieces to be clicked together in ways that are surprising for how seamless they appear. This is part of why he is a favorite on the comic convention scene.
Clever can only get you so far, though. Bennett also possesses the talent to back up his humor, turning a funny idea into a well-executed image with the professional chops that has made him an emerging talent in the comic book industry. His first love as an artist was pointillism, which still shows in his fine detail work such as his Jennifer Connelly piece from Phenomena where he produces her face entirely from tiny bees. But what sells his work to me is the faces. Bennett’s ability to project emotion is what makes the jokes work. In the eyes and the smiles, you see Bennett’s deep affection for the rich characterization of illustrated books like The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein and the simple, but emotive personalities of Sesame Street monsters. He understands how to capture what the public loves about the stories we consume and the characters we identify with. He presents them in a way that isn’t simple fan art, but instead fresh, fun, and captivating pop art. And that is why I love Jerry Bennett and you will too.
Planet Dorshak is an American POP Culture Art Gallery print and poster shop featuring bombsawayart.com, literatipressok.com, and studio to the ever elusive Bombs Away Art Co.
October 2, 2014
Marilyn McBrier Artus: Burlesque Diva Dia Muertos
6-10 pm Friday, October 3
AKA Gallery
Paseo First Friday Art Walk
3001 Paseo in Oklahoma City
marilynartus.com
Sixteen skulls with beatific grins surrounded me in an artist’s basement studio. I couldn’t bear to look away from them for more than a few seconds at a time. Pink and red tones glinted out beneath antique sewing patterns, yellowing lace, food stamps, comic strips, and black and white photographs of costumed burlesque performers.
The studio belongs to Oklahoma artist Marilyn McBrier Artus, known for tackling women’s rights issues in her art. Her latest show was inspired by the two years she spent in San Antonio where she says she fell in love with Hispanic-influenced art and culture, including the celebration of Dia de los Muertos. Each of the skulls grinning deviously at me were mixed media sculptures crafted as a tribute to sixteen of the founding divas of burlesque.
In neat stacks around the artist’s studio were piles of research about the lives of each woman, lives that McBrier-Artus called “tragic and fabulous”. One by one, she picked the skulls up gently. She turned them in her hands, softly mentioning familiar names like Betty Page, Josephine Baker, Gypsy Rose Lee, and Lili St. Cyr. As she held a skull, McBrier explained that the materials she used for each woman was very specific and connected to her story.
“I often use sewing patterns in my work,” McBrier Artus said. “They are symbols for life and the patterns we choose when making decisions. The measuring tape is, of course, a symbol for the constant importance of female physical beauty that seems to be ever present and is so oppressive.”
She paused for a moment and looked at the photographs of the women she had been researching. “Some feminists decry neo-burlesque. I am not one of them. I was a burlesque promoter for three years and the performers I met were talented and expressed female sexuality in a joyful way. Their skills, costumes, props and artistry were inspiring. The neo-burlesque movement is, in my opinion, filled with talented performance artists.”
In the 1890s, when burlesque first appeared in America, it was controlled by men. Artus attributed the death of burlesque during the 1960s to the growing popularity of pornograpy. However, during the 1990s, women rediscovered burlesque, and it became an art-form driven by the female imagination. Unlike the traditional dancers or “strippers” one might see in night clubs, burlesque performers see themselves as performance artists. Using creativity, comedy, and costumes, they often take on traditionally taboo subjects. Burlesque, with performers of both a wide age-range and a celebrated array of body types, has become a fascinating microcosm of female sexuality. Now controlled by women, generally performed by women, and largely attended by women, McBrier Artus believes it ridiculous to call neo-burlesque exploitative.
The founding divas of burlesque were not fortunate enough to experience the current female-centric atmosphere. According to articles such as “The History of Burlesque” by Leslie Zemeckis, the early performer’s lives were often darkened by tragedy, poverty and abuse. Many hoped that burlesque would be a way out, yet found heartache waiting for them there, as well. The sixteen skulls are a visual reminder of how these women might want to be remembered—not as victims, but as strong and glamorous performers. Like the skulls McBrier Artus created to honor them, each of these women should be celebrated for the vibrant life and persona she crafted with the raw materials she was born with—her intelligence, beauty, and strength.
September 30, 2014
Why domestic abuse should factor into Fantasy Football.
Adrian Peterson was my guy. I landed the number one pick in my work’s Fantasy Football league and, after agonizing over the choice of three amazing running backs, I finally settled on Peterson. It was a good, albeit risky, pick. The upside was huge, but I did need to factor in his age, injuries, and the surrounding Vikings offense.
What I didn’t think to factor in was child abuse.
When Peterson was indicted on charges of domestic abuse, I quickly benched him and picked up a running back on the waiver wire. I decided to sit on Peterson to see how the case played out. As shocking details of the beating emerged, I unloaded Peterson in a four-player trade with a league owner desperate for a tight end and willing to take on the former OU running back, perhaps in the hope that Peterson might play toward the end of the season.
The trade felt gross, but it rewarded me the next week when both of my acquired players put up huge numbers. That also felt gross.
For the uninitiated, Fantasy Football is one of the most clever marketing strategies in the history of professional sports. Fantasy Football uses stats from actual NFL games with each roster culled from the 1,696 active players on the 32 teams. There are usually around eight teams per league run on any number of websites devoted to Fantasy Football. My league is hosted by Yahoo and is free. Roughly 33 million Fantasy Football team owners pour over the projected stats from week to week, scour the Internet for injury updates, and obsessively tweak their rosters. It is an addictive past-time for even pedestrian football fans. Scoring, yards, interceptions, fumble recoveries, it all counts to the total score of a fantasy team.
So, why not include domestic abuse?
Seriously.
Every fantasy team owner will have to consider the moral fiber of the players they are drafting, trading for, or picking up on waivers. 80% of Fantasy Football participants are male, and a majority of those are between the ages of 25–34. This may be the best way to ensure this demographic gets the message of how crippling domestic abuse can be to a family.
Following are my suggestions to the NFL and Fantasy Football leagues worldwide.
Players that are:
1. Formally charged with domestic abuse—fantasy team automatically loses every week that the player remains on the roster, whether or not they start.
2. Formally charged with any other heinous abuse (such as a dog fighting ring or killing some random dude in the woods)—fantasy team automatically loses every week that the player remains on the roster, whether or not they start.
3. Receives NFL suspension for performance enhancing drugs—fantasy team loses seven points every week that the player is on the roster until suspension is lifted, whether or not they start.
4. Colossal Act of Stupidity, similar to Act of God in insurance parlance, which would be any unforeseeable event that was not a result of aggression, but rather poor decision-making (such as shooting oneself in the leg at a club or reckless driving)—fantasy team loses two points every week that the player is on the roster for the remainder of the season and an additional two points for every other player affected by Act of Stupidity, whether or not they start.
5. Player is suspended for marijuana use—fantasy team gains 10 points for every week that a team starts suspended player because why does the NFL care about marijuana?
Any infraction from a defensive player would extend to the entire defense, so the historically potent Baltimore Ravens would be out for the season thanks to Ray Rice.
With these rules in place, fantasy drafts would add the crucial dimension of integrity. Troubled players with histories of league infractions would become toxic pick-ups. Any league owner that had Peterson on their roster, as I did, wouldn’t be able to trade away, but would have to simply drop their prized possession and take the hit on their stats. A domestic abuse charge would be worse than a physical injury because the lapse of the player’s moral fiber would infect the rest of the team, rather than just being buried on the bench until their knee heels.
It’s about changing the culture, which needs to happen within. I doubt these rules would be adopted by the vast sea of fantasy leagues across the Internet, but these rules could be installed informally. It would heighten the challenge of fantasy stats prognostication and bring the important subject of domestic abuse further into the foreground of millions of football fans.
