८ जुलै, २०२०

Morning thoughts on the subject of graffiti...

I'm reading the Wikipedia article on the Alexamenos graffito — the "blasphemous graffito" — because we'd been talking about graffiti.
That's a rubbing of something that was scratched into a plaster wall in Rome, long enough ago to be possibly the earliest depiction of Jesus. The exact date is unknown, but it's circa 200.
The image seems to show a young man worshipping a crucified, donkey-headed figure. The Greek inscription approximately translates to "Alexamenos worships [his] god," indicating that the graffito was apparently meant to mock a Christian named Alexameno....
At the time, pagans derided Christians for worshipping a man who had been crucified. The donkey's head and crucifixion would both have been considered insulting depictions by contemporary Roman society. Crucifixion continued to be used as an execution method for the worst criminals until its abolition by the emperor Constantine in the 4th century, and the impact of seeing a figure on a cross is comparable to the impact today of portraying a man with a hangman's noose around his neck or seated in an electric chair. Already Paul the Apostle wrote that "Christ crucified [was] foolishness to Gentiles" (1 Corinthians 1:23).

It seems to have been commonly believed at the time that Christians practiced onolatry (donkey-worship). That was based on the misconception that Jews worshipped a god in the form of a donkey, a claim made by Apion (30-20 BC – c. AD 45-48)... Tertullian, writing in the late 2nd or early 3rd century, reports that Christians, along with Jews, were accused of worshipping such a deity. He also mentions an apostate Jew who carried around Carthage a caricature of a Christian with ass's ears and hooves, labeled Deus Christianorum ὀνοκοίτης ("The God of the Christians conceived of an ass.")....
Now, what was this discussion of graffiti? It arose from a headline in the NYT, "2 People Charged With Hate Crime After Black Lives Matter Mural Is Vandalized." The "mural" is painted block letters on the horizontal surface of the street. I think "mural" implies a wall. But, I quipped, these days up is down and horizontal is vertical.

The etymology of "mural" goes back to the classical Latin "mūrālis," which is a plant growing on walls, and the oldest meaning of the English word "mural" is a plant attached to a wall! That's news to me. The OED quotes "Now is the best time for pruning young Murals" — from 1699. Using "mural" for "A painting executed directly on to a wall or ceiling as part of a scheme of decoration" only goes back to 1908.

Is "graffiti" a better term for the painting on the street? The etymology of "graffiti" is the Italian word "graffito" (plural, "graffiti") and that means a scratching.

But the thing the NYT called a "mural" is big painted block letters. And isn't "graffiti" something illicit? I think the government officially or tacitly approved of the original "BLACK LIVES MATTER" writing. If one group paints a message and another group paints it out, isn't that just a back and forth conversation between private citizens, writing and rewriting on a public space, a speech forum?

For the government to leave the first message-conveyers alone and to charge the second message-conveyers with hate speech is definitely and strongly to take sides. That's viewpoint discrimination in the extreme — but if the first message was government speech, then government can choose its message, and viewpoint discrimination in the extreme is perfectly fine, and all we can do is talk about what we think of the government's saying that.

Here in Madison, we had some people stapling "We Support Our Madison Police" signs on top of the Black Lives Matter murals/graffiti on the plywood over the windows of the Wisconsin Veterans Museum. Could the sign-staplers be charged with a hate crime for appropriating the same physical space that the Black Lives Matter spray-painters had used?

३४ टिप्पण्या:

gilbar म्हणाले...

Could the sign-staplers be charges with a hate crime for appropriating the same physical space that the Black Live Matters spray-painters had used?

what Does it say about our society? That Now there are Authorized, Approved forms of Graffiti?
It is Now, a CRIME to deface Authorized, Approved Graffiti
It This, REALLY, the world we WANT to be living in?

Lucid-Ideas म्हणाले...

Obviously he's a candidate for slander. Who in their right mind would worship a dead donkey on a stick.

Kevin म्हणाले...

Could the sign-staplers be charges with a hate crime for appropriating the same physical space that the Black Live Matters spray-painters had used?

I think you mean charged.

And in Joe Biden’s transformed America the answer is “why not?”

Expat(ish) म्हणाले...

I took a grafatti tour of Pompeii. I exaggerate, but we spent a lot of time looking at dongs and noses.

People are people. We're just lucky that the Romans didn't have white hispanics destroying that stuff.

-XC

Churchy LaFemme: म्हणाले...

The guy on the left has a very Sam Hurt looking profile.

Tommy Duncan म्हणाले...

The rules are whatever is convenient at the moment. Once changed, the prior rules are deemed to never have existed. Only the truly woke know the operative rules at any given moment. Each rule stands alone and need not be consistent with other rules. The rules apply only to those who are deemed unworthy by the woke.

Bill, Republic of Texas म्हणाले...

To me Alexameno looks like Trump and Christ looks like Bojack Horseman.

Howard म्हणाले...

As per the golden rule, the history of this era will be written by the victors. That's tough shit for you people and your inbred white trash knuckle dragging belly fat worshiping wife beater cousins.

chickelit म्हणाले...

Had you not explained the millennials-old origin of the scratching, I'd have called it "Donald Trump berates and crucifies the Dem party mascot."

Kevin म्हणाले...

When Bojack met Todd.

Fernandinande म्हणाले...

If you like your ass you can keep your ass.

CJinPA म्हणाले...

2 People Charged With Hate Crime After Black Lives Matter Mural Is Vandalized.

“We must address the root and byproduct of systemic racism in our country. The Black Lives Matter movement is an important civil rights cause that deserves all of our attention,” District Attorney Diana Becton said.

Clearly, the prosecutor is saying BLM requires everyone's support.

This can't stand, right? Tell me attorneys will be tripping over themselves to take this case pro bono. Certain citizens can destroy statues with no punishment, and others are sent to jail for defacing a painted message? This is not sustainable.

MerryD म्हणाले...

Authorized, approved graffiti can not be altered, but authorized, approved statuary can be torn down. Hard to keep up with the rules.

Lucid-Ideas म्हणाले...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahwism

If only Alexamenos realized that he was worshipping the son of a cattle-god, he wouldn't necessarily take offense at worshipping a crucified donkey. After all, he in his time was far far closer to the ancient Canaanites than we are today, and both practiced graffito...some on stone and some on clay pots.

jeremyabrams म्हणाले...

I was surprised no one figured out that Melania's Mt. Rushmore dress was her way of trolling the graffiti-prone rioters.

Eleanor म्हणाले...

In the town where I taught, the local furniture store backed onto a municipal parking lot. They had a lot of trouble with the local graffiti artists defacing the back of their building. They decided to try to make the best of it and had the back of the building painted white every month. An artist could lay claim to the space for 30 days. I honestly never saw anything there worth preserving longer than that. But then I'm not a fan of taking a beautiful building that's been around since before the Civil War and making it look like it's in a ghetto.

Mr. O. Possum म्हणाले...

There is a new US First Class commemorative stamp coming out this summer that celebrates Graffiti.

I'm sure metropolitan transit authorities around the country will love this celebration of graffiti.

We have Norman Mailer to thank for this...He wrote a book glorifying graffiti in the 1980s.

I'm Not Sure म्हणाले...

"Certain citizens can destroy statues with no punishment, and others are sent to jail for defacing a painted message?"

Defacing a painted message in support of the certain citizens whose previous destructive actions necessitated the repairs that provided the "canvas" for said message?

Yeah, that makes sense.

Michael K म्हणाले...

“We must address the root and byproduct of systemic racism in our country. The Black Lives Matter movement is an important civil rights cause that deserves all of our attention,” District Attorney Diana Becton said.

Soros getting his money's worth again.

Birches म्हणाले...

This post is why I read Althouse. Thank you.

bagoh20 म्हणाले...

Eventually washing your ass will be a hate crime, and cutting the grass will be prohibited by the EPA.

I really can't die quick enough. I told my partner last night to get on with it. She watches all the murder shows and I think she' well prepared. Git-R-Done!

William म्हणाले...

"The god of love has pitched his tent in a place of excrement". I don't think you can call it Providence or even fate, but it's kind of haunting that the earliest imagery of the Crucifixion is crude graffiti. Random selection. The vicissitudes of chance rule our universe.

rehajm म्हणाले...

That's a rubbing of something that was scratched into a plaster wall in Rome...

Romane Ite Domum!

20 posts in and nobody wrote it. You people are slipping...

Dude1394 म्हणाले...

A "hate" crime to clean up a defaced street, but virtuous wonderfulness to riot, loot, rob, murder, destroy businesses and tear down statues.

Yea, we are certainly on the right path. Anyone voting for these morons is legally insane.

TrespassersW म्हणाले...

Howard said...
As per the golden rule, the history of this era will be written by the victors. That's tough shit for you people and your inbred white trash knuckle dragging belly fat worshiping wife beater cousins.

"...you people..." That's racist. Even without the rest of the sentence.

Nichevo म्हणाले...

Looks to me like PDT is going to crucify the Democrats.

Michael K म्हणाले...

Howard is slowly edging toward the asylum.

Howard म्हणाले...

Never heard that one before, Roy. Very insightful. I'll have to take that under advisement after placing it in my hookah and bonging it.

Mark म्हणाले...

possibly the earliest depiction of Jesus

Sigh. What are they teaching in schools these day???

narciso म्हणाले...

well it wasn't, it was the statement of abuse victims, they smashed that line between clever and stupid,

RigelDog म्हणाले...

A group obtained a city permit to paint the large BLM letters on the street. The fact that the city is charging other citizens with a HATE crime for painting over those letters on a public street, along with the statement that all citizens must support the organization BLM, is pretty terrifying. At most, the over-painters have committed some form of low-level mischief crime similar to breaking an anti-graffiti law.

Char Char Binks, Esq. म्हणाले...

Blasphemy against The People Whose Lives Matter will not be tolerated.

rosebud म्हणाले...

So if someone spray paints BLM on my business, I cant repaint it?

gilbar म्हणाले...

Rigeldog shows that he is WAY Behind the Times, saying...
At most, the over-painters have committed some form of low-level mischief crime similar to breaking an anti-graffiti law.


In the Immortal Words, of SE Hinton: That Was THEN, This Is NOW

An Ames man was sentenced Wednesday to about 16 years in prison after he set fire to a church's LGBTQ flag in June.
He was arrested after stealing a pride banner hanging at Ames United Church of Christ, 217 6th St., and burning it early June 11 outside Dangerous Curves Gentleman’s Club, 111 5th St., police said.


the strip club is 6 blocks from my old house, The UCC 'church' is 5 blocks from my house