How did we become so hypocritical that images of guns are fine, but pictures of mothers feeding their children are outlawed?
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I am an artist, and as such, I try to have a critical view on the things that surround me. Someone has suggested it`s part of our work.
And I look around, and I don`t like what I see at all. I am 41 years old. I grew up in another world, without cyberspace and infinite connections. But we were happy, or at least it seemed to me that the way we related made us happy.
My concern is human relationships. And how these have been changed.
Technology is changing. It is changing us. Our relationships are more and more ephemeral and virtual. We live connected. We live talking.
Before, silence had another value. It had a value.
We live in times of euphemisms. And they are diluting our perspective and therefore, our capability of analyzing the facts as they really are.
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Now, we have the imperious need to talk, say, and scream whatever pops up in our mind, even at the risk of having others confirm our stupidity. It doesn´t matter.
And, as a consequence of so much information (?) our processing capability is being saturated and, gradually, we are focusing more in the shape than in the content. The content has been moved to the background.
We live in times of euphemisms. And they are diluting our perspective and therefore, our capability of analyzing the facts as they really are.
Our hypersensitivity has increased exponentially, and we don`t care what it is said to us but rather, how it is said. Communication has been weakened and our interaction is more and more superfluous, just as superfluous as the bonds which link us to others.
We seem to be submerged in hypersensitivity and explode before a minor provocation. But, we continue being restrictive. Modern society provides us with the daily and exact dose of violence, death and blood. That doesn´t matter. What is common has turned into normal.
Nipples don’t kill, they nourish and yet we are afraid to show them. What is happening to us?
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Why is there no place for the nipple? Have we become disloyal and so sacrilegious that we cannot admire and respect a mother’s nipple while she feeds her child? Is it better to show violence, the stoning of a woman or the killing and starvation of a child?
Nipples don’t kill, they nourish and yet we are afraid to show them to share the love.
What is happening to us? When did we start to scandalize for love, sex, and the beauty of the human body, instead of doing so for violence?
What are we turning into? Where is this hypersensitivity leading us to? I am afraid to look for the answer.
Modernity is good. It most certainly is. But, it would be good if we realized that before the arrival of the Internet, optical fiber, smartphones and all the other comforts, we people lived just the same.
We would become a bit more human, or better said, we would be what we have always been, if only we could be more in touch with our nature (human nature) than with this content we have created, this matrix which many times confuses us and changes our values.
Does this sound as a utopia? I don´t know…I suppose that we artists are nearer to our imagination because it is the source that nourishes us in order to create.
If it is a utopia, I apologize. It´s just that I prefer wings to shoes.
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This post is republished on Medium.
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Agreed Martin, I found it odd when I was raising my children that my kid’s friends parents were horrified that my children were not ‘protected’ from the sight of the naked human body and could not understand why I did not allow images of violence. Their kids watched violence daily but were never allowed to witness anything suggestive of human sexuality. The message struck me as ridiculous; “sex is bad but violence is good”. I prefer the message my kids got; “exposure to violence is not OK but exposure to human sexuality is no problem”. Do we want to raise… Read more »
Hi Martin, I think one partial answer to your question lies in your own words: ‘nipples nourish’. I think many people, maybe especially men, feel undernourished. Not so much for lack of food but rather lack of basic kind inference. Even the people who post horrible mean words on social media are desperate to be seen, acknowledged, reassured of their underlying goodness. Social media has created the illusion that others are seen and loved and fuels and magnifies what is a basic human need that used to be met by saying ‘hello’ to someone in the grocery store or post… Read more »
Your points are valid, Martin. We are becoming more brutish by the day, in the name of love, peace and humanity. But it’s not true. In the books, of the mid 90’s, “Conversations with God”, the author brings the exact same point. God asks, “what is it about you people that millions will cheer a killing in the street, yet shriek with disgust at a young couple in love making love on a park bench” That’s one of the reasons I am not impressed with protests for humanity, the rhetoric that inspires hatred on either side. I think it more… Read more »