A few years ago, Robert Mapplethorpe created a piece of “art” that consisted of a photograph of a crucifix in urine. I think it would be fair to say that just reading those words causes a little shudder to run through most people who find the whole symbolism disgusting and sacrilegious.
For most of us, Mr. Mapplethorpe is probably never going to really be an artist whose work we might want in our homes. For most of us, he might not even rise to the level of artist. Having read all the reviews of his work and photography, and viewed many of them out of sheer curiosity, I would have to say that I don’t think he’ll likely be taking a place next to DaVinci or Ansel Adams in any pantheon of Western artists. I’d be surprised if he was even remembered twenty years from now.
Be that as it may, when the photograph first appeared as part of a museum exhibit, people across the country – and especially deeply rooted Christians – pitched a fit. They wanted it removed from the exhibit, which was in a public museum. And it was. Only then our laws kicked in, the word censorship was heard across the land and the photograph once again surfaced.
Why am I thinking of this story now? Well, I guess I’d like to mention it to the Muslim community that has turned once again to violence to prove what a loving god their Allah is. Because if every time someone insults you, you take up arms, burn, pillage and threaten death to the infidels, we’re going to have one heck of a time trying to live in this world as neighbors. I respect your right to your religious beliefs. In return, you must respect my right to disagree with them without fear of death.
One of the most commonly used arguments against the ACLU is that they represent some of the most reprehensible people in our society. People that, given a choice, we would just as soon didn’t have any rights. But that’s just the point. For this whole system of laws and freedoms to work, we have to extend the protection to everyone, not just the people we agree with.
People of faith had every right to be horrified by Mapplethorpe’s photo. Even if you weren’t a person of faith, you probably felt a certain visceral disgust. I’m guessing that was part of what he wanted, to provoke, to be controversial.
The simplest way to respond to something like that is twofold. One, don’t pitch a fit because that just gives him free publicity and, as we all know, it doesn’t matter what they say about you so long as your name is in the news. And two, use your feet and your pocketbook to make your point. Walk away from the exhibit; refuse to patronize any sponsor of a show you find offensive. That’s your right and your power.
It seems to me that Muslims around the world have got part of that message. The economic boycott of Danish goods is absolutely their right. But the death threats, the violence is not. A free society by definition does not tell its citizens what is or isn’t art, what can or can’t be printed in a free press.
I think what bothers me most is watching Western leaders try to placate Muslim feelings by apologizing for the cartoons. Those leaders have no control over what goes into a free press and shouldn’t. Their apologies should be to their democratic institutions for weakening them even slightly by those apologies. If we truly believe that the world must move towards democracy to be safe and prosperous, then we have to accept that these freedoms come with some dark corners, dark corners that need to exist for the whole structure to be sustained.
Do I think these cartoons had any purpose other than to provoke? Any purpose other than to see just how far you can go? No, I don’t. I don’t think they served any real purpose except to remind us how valuable our freedoms are, how critical a free press is and why we need to stand as one in voicing the sentiment that whether or not we agree with them, we will defend to the end their right to print them.
Do I wish we could have picked a better subject with which to defend these freedoms? Absolutely. But democracy is a messy business. Thank goodness. Because when it becomes cut and dry and absolute…well, then you have a despot’s government and I thought that was what we’ve been fighting against all this time.