Removal of photographs of works by Duchamp, Michelangelo and Caravaggio from an exhibition – from Newcastle Herald (1984)
What spirit is so empty and blind, that it cannot recognise the fact that the foot is more noble than the shoe, and skin more beautiful than the garment with which it is clothed?
— Michelangelo
In recent years, Pigtails in Paint suffered repeated attempts at censorship, and Poets and Lovers became a “collateral damage” of these attacks. Today I will discuss the first source of censorship, so-called “child protection” organisations. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
Doug Fitzgerald – Blue Moon I (1979) – from fitzgeraldspub.blogspot.com
This is a story of inverted logic and associative thinking, going backwards from conclusions to facts, giving meaning to coincidences, and filling holes with desire. But perhaps there is no logic at all here … CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
Lewis Hine – Little Lottie, a regular oyster shucker in Alabama Canning Co. She speaks no English. Note the condition of her shoes caused by standing on the rough shells so much. A common sight. Bayou La Batre, Ala. (22 February 1911) – from National Archives (Identifier 523398), via Wikimedia Commons
One seldom finds persons who really love all children. Most people show themselves selective in their affection, while some don’t like children at all. Usually it is a family affair, one loves one’s own children, but not those of other people, and this attitude gets a wide support in society, since children are implicitly considered as their parents’ property, and too much love for other people’s children is seen with suspicion. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
All too often, adults think that children by their nature should do childish things and be left in their childish world, rather than imitating adults and their activities; this is the motto “let kids be kids.” Thus they are left in ignorance of what one considers as “beyond their age,” and if they show too much interest in such “beyond” things and inquire too much about them, they will be answered “don’t touch,” “stay away,” “this is not of your age,” “you are too young for that” or “anyway you can’t understand.” This makes future adults who will be ignorant, backward, immature and dependent on authority. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
Couverture de Strasbourg Magazine, n° 226, Octobre 2011
Cette photo, extraite de la couverture d’un magazine distribué gratuitement par la municipalité de Strasbourg, montre des enfants âgés de 11 ou 12 ans s’avançant pour donner chacun une fleur à une vieille dame, la gratifiant de leur plus beau sourire. L’enthousiasme de ces personnes âgées saute aux yeux. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
William Sergeant Kendall – The Artist’s Wife and Daughters (1906) – from Springville Museum of Art
several years ago, a reader of Agapeta told me that some ideas expressed in my post Components of Love overlap those put forward by Erich Fromm in his 1956 book The Art of Loving. I have thus read it. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
Does our epoch love children? all children? Official opinion will answer “yes,” but we can look behind this façade. Rather than love for real children, it is rather a worship for an idealised image of childhood innocence. Behind it lurks a pornographic obsession with defilement and sadism. We can see this through the accusations raised by various authors against known men of the past who were known for loving children. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
John Tenniel – The White Knight, In Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1897)
Crowley’s The Sword of Song (1904) consists mainly of two long poems, ‘Ascension Day’ and ‘Pentecost,’ both critical of Christianity; they are preceded by an Introduction and followed by lengthy notes. The title, with its subtitle and long dedication, is itself rather ironic: CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
Edvard Munch – The Scream (1893) – from Wikimedia Commons
In a gruesome country called “the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland” reigns a horrible panic about children and sex. Anyone can come forward and accuse a dead person of the most bizarre form of sexual abuse, then he or she will automatically be believed and granted the “victim status,” an easy and quick way to gain public recognition. The discredited theories of “recovered memories,” which led to thousands of broken lives and shattered families in the USA, still enjoy public support in the “UK,” and are used to accuse ever more people of sexual abuse. Journals and the Internet have been filled with conspiracy theories about Lords, Members of Parliament, even ministers, involved in “paedophile conspiracies” to rape children in various ways, in particular by inserting tools into their anuses. This land has a distinctive institution, the gutter press, generally printed in “tabloid” format, whose so-called “journalists” can make a career by spreading the wildest nonsense. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
Odilon Redon – The birth of Venus (1912) – from WikiArt
In the post “Components of Love” I presented the three types of love and friendship according to the ancient Greeks:
Eros is sexual love, generally driven by beauty; it is discriminating and it can be versatile, blooming or withering fast.
Storge is natural love, as it exists between members of a family, or the love of parents for children; contrarily to Eros, it is unconditional and long-lasting, and it grows slowly.
Philia is friendship, generally within a group, mediated by activities shared in common; it includes also philanthropy and humanitarian work.
The ancient Greeks also used the word Agape for affection and tenderness, similar to Storge. Then in Christianity, this word evolved to mean a purely spiritual, selfless and undemanding love embracing all humanity; in fact, such an ideal love is extremely rare in real human beings. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…