'Religious' war and modern art (of the cartoon kind)
Arguably the main 'religious' conflict is the Israel-Palestine one. Even with this, when it comes down to it, the Israel-Palestine conflict is not actually religiously based at all, it is more to do with history and international laws of land ownership etc. One of the reasons it has been turned into this is, in my opinion, because the two parties in question both have a religion that is the majority, and thus the world turns it into Jewish people vs Muslims, rather than Jews vs Palestines. This is further shown through the fact that I have noticed such pictures as below as endorsed and applied (e.g on facebook) by predominantly Muslims when regarding Palestine... often stating their 'solidarity with their brothers and sisters' in a Religious sense, and vice versa I'm sure although I have not often seen this from the Israel side.
E.g.
E.g.
VS
or
And there are many many more examples. Clearly, again if they are coming from both sides they both consider it to be an effective method and it is a communication of sorts, but with whom?
Is this propaganda? Or is it the nature of these that they're extremely inclusive? I know I personally have noticed that it is on Pro-Gaza/Palestine or Pro-Israel pages or groups on facey-b that display these. Or people furthering the cause of one or the other... in which case it is people who already believed in the cause that like or comment the pictures giving support.
-Do you think these almost comical controversial cartoons would ever alone, or with help, ever sway anyone's opinion?
-What is actually the aim?
-How do you see them?
As this is a (sort of) religious conflict, there are often factors that are depicted to emphasise the different religious sides. For example, in the second picture, the man in the spotlight is clearly meant to be Jewish in a very caricatured way (correct me if I'm wrong) and thats even with a sign next to the bodies saying 'Gaza'.
-In this sense, does it make religion look bad? as they are mocking one another and both sides are made to look bad...
-or Does it make religion look good? as they are not being violent or extremists but in fact calmly and rationally expressing their feelings through picture.
Another thing is, as shown in one of the examples above, there are often graphical images of dead people to prove a point... how do you feel about these? Do you think they're disturbing? Desensitising even? or again... are they JUST cartoons?
Lots of QOTDs for you today- just pick whatever you find interesting and go with it ;)
You're right, these political cartoons are only ever one sided, because they serve a purpose; putting across a quick, direct message but on the other hand, i think they are good for summing up what the "other side" have got to say.
ReplyDeleteE.g. You could be from another planet and one look at those images will tell you an awful lot about current affairs.
About the second Q, there are always going to be people cross-religions who have some sort of an issue with one another, there is no such thing as ever achieving a utopia like situation, so yeah, mocking one another is not good, but i think its better to mock with a drawing than to take a sword/bomb/gun out and go to war.
As for the dead cartoon bodies, personally, its just a cartoon to me. I wince at some scenes in Tom and Jerry more so than some of these "gorey" political comics, but then again i guess thats relative to just how sensitive a person is.
That's true actually. You can read a hundred articles and watch all these protests about this, and know exactly the same amount from each side as the cartoons tell you. The thing is they are from completely different perspectives though, if you look at them totally separately you'd almost think they weren't both seeing the same thing.
DeleteTrue, if they are going to, then I guess this is sort of a healthier way.