the missing words…

i’ve had fun wandering around the virtual holland and amsterdam sims lately.  some very talented friends of ours (arahan claveau, nebulosus severine and ichibot nishi) are doing virtual art exhibits for the Kunstvlaai “ArtPie” Festival, going on now and through the 18th of may.  if you have not gone, go now.

i’ve been thinking alot today about a work that arahan has on display in amsterdam entitled “the love that dare not speak its name”.  while it is still on display, i was fortunate enough to be there for one of the two performances which made the piece all that more stunning and beautiful in my opinion.  you can watch a short clip of it for yourself.

the love that dare not speak its name + alternate link

the symbolic meaning was something that i discussed with ara and some friends later.  in particular, the treatment of gay and lesbians in different societies.  we spoke of iran having hung teenagers for being homosexual and how the president of that country had stood in front of the u.n. and proclaimed that “there were no homosexuals in iran”.

indeed.

today in america, there was a bit of fervor over a speech president bush gave to the israeli knesset in which he mentioned the fact that some people believe you can speak reasonably with unreasonable people…

“Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along.”

“We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: “Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this might have been avoided.”

“We have an obligation to call this what it is – the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history.”

while on the surface that might sound rather ironic comming from george bush, it’s very hard to argue, especially when you consider the focus of his speech was iran, and iranian president mahmoud ahmadinejad. a man who has been on record as saying he wants israel wiped off the map, and that the holocaust is a myth, or that there are no homosexuals in iran.

in america, the fury over bush’s remarks stemmed from the fact that presidental candidate sen. barack obama has suggested he would meet and talk with anyone, anywhere, anytime… but that’s not important.

i chose to focus on the question “how do you speak reasonably with unreasonable people” and i thought about the love that dare not speak its name.

related links:

http://www.planetart.nl
http://www.kunstvlaai.nl/2008
http://www.planetart.nl/kunstvlaai.htm