If you accomplish reading this, you got some balls.
SO. I’m annoyed at the general population of young people in the world. Today. Why? BECAUSE WE DO NOT THINK! Actually, it’s not just young people, it’s everyone. The older folk can cover it up better. SERIOUSLY, what are you doing? WHY DID YOU JUST SAY THAT? What is your aim? Are you aware of your surroundings, the people to whom you are addressing?
“I don’t care! I don’t care what people think of me!”
Okay, 13 year old! You should care what people think of you. No one can succeed in this world if you cannot form your thoughts and communicate them with comprehensible ENGLISH, or French, or Spanish, if you will. When making a statement, are you precisely aware of what you are saying and all the things which that particular statement entails?
There is a girl in my Lithography class. Let’s call her Sara. I believe she’s in her senior year.
Sara makes a hand-drawn print of the typical “Jesus fish”, turns it vertical, replaces “Jesus” with “Hypocrisy”, submerges it in what appears to be crudely drawn water. You know, like this:
“~~~( )~~~” Do you kind of have a visual? Hope so. Moving on.
^
Before I comment on the message portrayed in this piece of ‘art’ (which in fact it is. Who am I to say it’s not? I’m just being sarcastic), I would very much like to comment on the initial appearance and craft of Sara’s work:
BAD CRAFT. The composition looked as if she were an 8 year old who, while making her print, was like: “hmm! How about a flower here, some sparkles there, ribbon, confetti!” All plastered right smack-dab in the middle of the page, with a glue stick. Smudges. Poorly negotiated brushwork. Nothing interesting, except the shock of seeing a really poorly written, scrunched-up “HYPOCRICY” right in the middle, along with everything else. I mean, come on! Use a ruler! A french curve! Stencils! ANYTHING to make the typography look interesting. but no. 8 year old quality. –I mean, don’t get me wrong, there very well could be a genius master of art who is 8 years old, but I think you know what I’m trying to say here–
Looking at the image alone, the craft, the composition, the thought put into the lines and the marks made, my first question shot into mind: “How in the WORLD did she make it to her senior year?” And then another question, “Are you in DAAP!?” And then a frightening thought, “So, THIS is a representative of our lovely Art program here at UC, art of an eight-year-old. She’s going to show this to people.”
Now all of that is really harsh on my part. I mean, who am I? Am I a great master? No indeed. BUT, I do believe I have enough intelligence to recognize laziness when I see it.
THEREFORE: Sara’s craft was lazy and out-right horrible.
MOVING ON.
THE WONDERFUL ATTENTION-GETTING SHOCK VALUE.
Take note: Before you make ANY sort of radical statement that may (even in the slightest) arouse upset reactions…. KNOW AS MUCH AS YOU CAN ABOUT IT. The history, the full concept. Both sides of the argument. NOT JUST YOUR OPINION. NOT JUST YOUR PERSONAL EXPERIENCE.
Though these things (personal exp. and opinion) can help enhance your piece of work, they hold no ground to support a fact; a fact that you say to be true. WHY? Why is it true? Why is it wrong? Why is it bad? Why is it good? How did you come to that conclusion?
Making a statement in art is just like making a statement by any other means. If you write a paper arguing against something, you have to be able to back up what you say. You have to cite other people’s research. Watch documentations, research research research!!! You have to know the topic like the back of your hand!!!
If I told you, “Beethoven SUCKS.” And then just left it at that. You wouldn’t listen to me, or take me seriously. BUT, if I had valid reasons, research, and information about my subject that I could defend, and spoke in clear concise English, you may be willing to hear me out.
BUT most of the time –from young adults in particular- I hear this:
“Beethoven sucks.”
“Why?”
“Because, man, he just does. His music’s all classical and sh*t. I hate that crap.”
“But don’t you at least appreciate the work he’s done? The fact that he was deaf and still created masterpieces?”
“Naw man, I don’t care about that.”
End.
Do you see where I’m going??? This person cannot or will not stretch his/her mind to asking him/herself WHY he/she does not like Beethoven. He/she cannot competently defend his/her statement. He/she looks like an idiot.
AND, in the same sense, poor Sara did basically the same thing.
When asked to describe her piece of work, why she wrote “Hypocrisy” in place of “Jesus”, she answered with a tiny bit more merit than our buddy above.
“I wrote hypocrisy because that’s what I see in Christians, and mostly Catholics. I mean, I come from a Catholic family and education. And my parent’s friends were all suspicious and had to be very organized and they had to have a certain place for everything. Like the pillows on their couch. If they weren’t perfectly aligned, they’d like, freak out!
“I see these people who say they’re Christian, and they go out and sin and do other than what they claim to believe.”
And that, folks, is all that Sara had to offer. If you are on her side, you need to do some reading, and work on gaining a little more common sense.
HERE IS WHY I DISAGREE WITH THIS STATEMENT:
1. Define hypocrisy. Do a quick GOOGLE search:
Hypocrisy is the act of pretending to have beliefs, virtues and feelings that one does not truly possess. The word derives from the late Latin hypocrisis and Greek hupokrisis both meaning play-acting or pretence. The word is arguably derived from hypo- meaning small, + krinein meaning to decide/to dispute. A classic example of a hypocritical act is to denounce another for carrying out some action whilst carrying out the same action oneself.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypocrisy
2. Define a Christian. Define a Catholic. Define a protestant. Is there a difference? Name them.
NOW. Just taking these two things into consideration, there is a TON of information to get into. OBVIOUSLY, one can say that Sara has no idea of what is a Catholic, much less a Christian.
If you know anything about Christianity, you know that Christians believe in trying to perfect their souls and that God is an all-forgiving god. All one needs to do is ask. Right? Right. If you know anything about WHY one goes to church, you will know that one of the reasons is to ask and TO BE FORGIVEN. If you know anything about people, you will know that they are HUMAN.
THEREFORE. Why do Christians go to church? One of the big reasons is that they did wrong, they know they did wrong, going against what they believe. They admit they’ve done wrong and are truly sorry for their actions/thoughts and wish to be forgiven, given another chance.
TRUE Christians believe this and LIVE this.
THAT IS NOT HYPOCRISY.
Hypocrisy, as stated above, is when a person PRETENDS to have beliefs in that which they truly do not, takes actions against said beliefs, and criticizes others for taking the same action.
Hypocrisy is when a person wears the name of a belief like a cape. A nice image. Makes you look pretty.
moving on…
Catholicism. I AM NOT getting into this too deeply. Mostly because it’s a whole other can of worms, and honestly, I’m still learning about it.
HOWEVER. I can safely say that despite Sara’s background of having a Catholic family and going to a Catholic school, she’s got no idea about Catholicism. And THAT is really sad. SERIOUSLY, the fact that all Sara had to defend her loathing for the Catholic faith is that her parent’s friends are anal about the cleanliness and order of their home, or their suspiciousness, is REDICULOUS. It sounds to me like she had the unhappy circumstance of having acquaintance with some weirdoes. Or people who like to have a clean house.
I’m going to wager that Sara has had many run-ins with her parents about Christianity in general and her parents aren’t knowledgeable enough to properly describe to Sara the principles and reasons of being a Christian. SO, one cannot blame Sara’s ignorance entirely on her own fault.
All religion is a hard thing to learn about and understand. It seems to me, she gave up on Christianity too soon and based her opinions off of her own thoughts about it, without researching for herself WHY Christians do certain things. And if she did research, WHAT AND WHERE did she do the researching??? Is what she found, from something that was written solely AGAINST Christianity??? Did she read both sides? Or did she find something that satisfied her opinion and just stop at that?
You see, it takes a lot of work. And with most people, they get lazy, overwhelmed, tired. So, they put the work aside and make up things in their own heads or things they hear people say and take them out of context.
And therefore I say that when I saw Sara’s piece of art, I actually liked the general idea. I thought it comical almost. THERE ARE MANY MAAANY hypocrites in this world, don’t get me wrong. HOWEVER, It’s not EVER JUST Christianity. I have friends who are like, “Buddhism is so much better, there’s not hypocrisy and they don’t tell you how to live your life.”
Oh honey, yes they certainly do. Buddhism is generally speaking, just like Christianity. With the exception that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. There is a set of rules by which one should lead their life. Perfection of the soul, on and on and on. There is hypocrisy in every system of people involved. NOT JUST CHRISTIANITY. There are the people who wear beliefs as a cloak, a cape, a crown. And there are the people who LIVE their beliefs.
I think that people get tired and lazy and say, “hey, Buddhism (or something else) sounds/looks cool” But in fact they’re most likely subconsciously thinking, “it looks easier, and I can do what I want.”
AND I think that many people, myself included, get fired up about a topic and spout ideas before fully thinking through them.
And SO. Sara, needs to know what she’s talking about. And have better craft.
AND as always, my disclaimer: I am human. I am not God. I am wrong. But I sure do think I have some good things to say… or some things worth thinking about at least. I am just tired of seeing people speak words that just take up space, and hold no worth. Not that I do. But I think I’m pretty safe in saying, I THINK about what I say. …I think. I’m working on it. Okay. Goodnight.
P.S. If you got questions, hit me baby. One more time? Oh jeez. Ok, I’m done.