Van Gogh

[PDC]

Where's the outrage from the Hollywood elites over this?

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...maker_slain_25

[dog-ring]

Sooner or later you gotta be responcible for what you say, write or draw.................He has now been responcible for his art.........

[3-wide]

>>"Sooner or later you gotta be responcible for what you say, write or draw.............. He has now been responcible for his art........."<<

I always thought that responsibility meant to be called to account for one’s actions, to answer for one’s conduct. Isn’t it a bit extreme to say that the burden of responsibility entails being killed in cold blood?

[doitagain]

IMO, yes. There is nothing Salmon Rushdie could write in a work of fiction that could justify the death sentence handed down by the fanatic Islamic leaders.

[EDwardo]

Publicly expressing controversial opinions has always exposed the author to negative and even violent reactions. Messing with the Catholic church certainly messed up Galileo's life. No one deserves death for controversy but a case might be made for inept, stupid, and just bad expressions.

But realistically, everyone has a right to mediocre, cretinous, moronic expression as long as no laws are violated. There is a vast body of movies, books, works of art, public discourse, etc. that meet all of the above criteria that succeed in small and big ways despite any rational measure of quality or attain any tangible worth.
Ultimately death to purveyors of mediocrity could never be effectively executed.

Countless fortunes big and small have been made, thus proving that quality is not a requirement.

Just as an example, wouldn't our culture be poorer if deprived of all the bad movie festivals?

How else can you measure excellence if you have no inferiority to measure against?

Our society has repeatedly proven that no glass ceiling restricts the robust expression of mediocrity. It thrives in all facets of our culture.

Killing the messenger because the message has no worth is futile.

On the other hand, expression that incites must always consider the consequences. It isn't right or just but a reality just the same.

[PDC]

Compare the silence of this to another possiblity: what if a bunch of Christian thugs murdered the maker of The Last Temptation of Christ, a very inflammatory movie to many Christians? You think mainstream media would ignore that?

[Lucky161]

Originally posted by PDC
Compare the silence of this to another possiblity: what if a bunch of Christian thugs murdered the maker of The Last Temptation of Christ, a very inflammatory movie to many Christians? You think mainstream media would ignore that?

I didn't know much about Van Gogh until yesterday. NPR had a story about it. Turns out that while he may has been expressing his real views, he didn't take himself too seriously. He had been offered and turned down protection, saying he didn't think anyone was paying any attention to him.