A
Picture Can Say A Thousand Words
The
above picture you have been reflecting on for several days is a
satirical allegory.
'World
TV' referring to how we get, perceive and interpret information in
the here and now (instantly) – especially that relating to violent
acts.
Because
information is transmitted worldwide in the here and now, we are
asked to (indeed have to) respond likewise in the here and now.
Different
words have different meanings and it is how the media asks us to
interpret them which conditions our reactions.
For
example, the same words, in the context of torture in Iraq will have
a different interpretation than, say, in a consensual setting.
Likewise
the same words in a childrens 'game' (or tying someone to a tree
in such a game) is an entirely different context than where a crime
has been committed ('Cops and Robbers' 'Cowboys and Indians' –
themselves also, subject to controversy and different interpretations
in todays world.)
We are
constantly being asked to interpret information in the context in
which the media presents it to us – supposedly for our decision –
whereas in reality the media has already a position which it simply
wants us, as the mass populace, to blindly go along with and endorse
– without question.
One
function of satire – from Plato's 'Republic' to Sebastian Brant's
'Ship Of Fools' - is to hold up the fallacy of the accepted order of
things to ridicule. To give the masses an opportunity to reflect on
the absurdities and contradictions which are leading it into the
abyss. It also, sometimes, provides abstract constructs for
reflection and deeper thought.
It is
for individuals to appreciate in satire the more subtle aspects of
thought, imagination possibilities, the meanings, perceptions and
interpretation of words.
I drew
a mythical creature and subjected it to apparent torture by a person
unknown.
But if
someone was to set up, say a chicken farm and a slaughterhouse for
millions of chickens or cows or any other animal this would be
perfectly legal – throughout the world.
In
another context, if someone was to 'torture' a chicken or just chop
off it's head and pluck it's feathers out in public say on The Mall
(which leads to Buckingham Palace) or the Champs Elysees (which
leads to the Louvre) or indeed on Fifth Avenue before putting it in
the pot (see the film 2012) would
create an unholy furore bigger than if I were simply to go into a
Kroger Company or J Sainsburys or an Edeka Centrale and simply buy a
chicken – which someone else has already slaughtered, pulled apart
limb by limb then carefully and neatly packaged for hundreds of
millions of the populace to buy and cook and then eat.
In
some countries, such as France, horse meat is perfectly acceptable for
(human) carnivores eating whereas in others, such as Great Britain,
such action is, in many quarters looked down upon as 'savage' and
'uncivilised' behavior by 'foreigners' – such as, for example, 'the
French'.
The
reference to 'Jewel Robbery' is mentioned in the context of the
Champs Elysees – famed for surounding shops which sell some of the
rarest pieces of finely crafted jewels in the world.
Indeed
film producers (and actors) have made careers from inspiration taken
from the exquisite nature and value of such items on display not in
London nor in Berlin but from Paris, France ( see the The Pink Panther
films.)
In yet
another context, the glorification, adulation, and for some, awe,
which jewel theft 'inspires' is in total contradiction with the very
real crime itself which has been committed – yet we are asked by
the media, by Hollywood and other production centers to accept one
and all at the same time, without question, without contradiction,
and total acceptance with nothing other than surface thought.
We are
told that the horrors of war are evil. Yet all politicians in the
developed world, in the West and in Russia, know that before sending
troops into war zones they need to be made aware (psychologically)
about what will await them – humans torn from limb to limb, bits
and pieces of body parts, blood guts, brains and everything else you
can imagine (and more) all over you -maybe even looking at your own
body parts, dismembered.
What
better preparatory tool than horror films or other visuals depicting
all of the scenes you are likely to encounter in order to inure you,
in advance, from what is about to come.
There
always has been 'psych-up' before a battle or war zone – by all
sides. Yet we are all instructed by the media to accept this without
question – on this particular occasion out of patriotism and love
of country. Even the War Chaplin will not raise any objections to
such violence beeing screened in this context because he or she knows
all too well what horrors await the unit. (He or she might opt not
to view it – but they too are human are will be subject to the same
experiences as others in their platoon.)
[I am
deeply indebted to my Secondary School (Sub Mariae Nomine) for
enabling me to experience the classical works of ancient Greece and
ancient Rome.]
'Ship
Of Fools' by Sebastian Brant was another inspiration for the above
satirical allegory.
That
is why, folks, it is often said, ''a
picture paints a thousand words.''
©Patrick
Emek, October 2016
