Censorship is Dictatorship...

When I was growing up... in high school... in universities... on the sidewalks... in the cafe' trottoirs of Europe... we were debating in high voices... in different languages... arrogantly... passionately... very serious... with an attitude of "we-know-it-all"... with a vision of "we will change the world for the good of society... for the better"... with an approach which repudiated all "sacred cows"... The topic "engaged literature..."  (Check the box below.)                                                       .........                                                            

Littérature engagée, (French: “engaged literature”), literature of commitment, popularized in the immediate post-World War II era, when the French existentialists, particularly Jean-Paul Sartre, revived the idea of the artist’s serious responsibility to society. The idea is an application to art of a basic existentialist tenet: that a person defines himself by consciously engaging in willed action. The position was a reaction against the creed of “art for art’s sake” and against the “bourgeois” writer, whose obligation was to his craft rather than his audience.

                                                                      We debated "engaged literature..." We drank wine...vodka... at times cognac too... The more we drank, the more sure we were of our points of view... of ourselves... In those days we were invincible, like the youth today... like my friends-students of higher learning...like my students of high schools... from before. Ross, our chaplain in my last teaching post, always advised me to go back to my initial passion... to writing and debating and higher learning... the writing-debating did not appeal to me any more... I wanted to be with younger people with great vision and energy. I needed their energy-vision...                                       I had survived my youth... but I did not have the energy and the vision of changing the world any more... Like most of the "baby boomers," I was sort of defeated... disillusioned... and the high school kids were the safer... more docile option...                 Ross still had the vision, the energy... He could not believe that I had consumed all and was getting ready to retire... though he retired before I did... the ironies of life never halt to intrigue me... 

All these feelings...memories flooded my being... when I read about the controversy of the Donald Trump nude... It was funny and full of irony... that a vain person will evoke serious thoughts deep down within me...

It is Sunday... I was going through my Sunday morning routine... Listening to Holy Mass... and Bach cantatas... and Gregorian Chants... I burned some incense too... I am not sure why... But with the rising curls of the incense suffused the house with the spirits of the past... All the friends and debaters who are gone to dwell somewhere in the universe now... I do not know where... but I am sure there are there somewhere... and I am sure Ross met them by now... and I am sure Ross chuckled with them... I am not sure if there is "happy hour" there... But I am certain that they are happier than they were here while they were with me...

It is funny that a full-of-himself nude will compete with the rising incense and bring me all that i cherished... Memories...

I am opposed to ALL kinds of censorship... Censorship is for the coward... for those who are afraid of the naked truth... Censors are just fearful chicken... they are scared of their shadows and they cannot tolerate mirrors that reflect their "the-emperor-is-naked..." reality...                                         Censorship is the mutilation of the reality around us and is the tool of dictators who are scared of the people...

What is the harm-danger of letting a naked Donald Trump in the public... After all he is undressing himself in front of us all... His striptease is performed for all of us to see... 

I am not a fan of Big brothers... ALL ARE THE SAME... and I do not vote for anyone... at times I just go to the booth and spoil my ballot... After all, it is not worth much... Things will be done... like things have been done for centuries... Nothing changes... Check the history and the chain of wars succeeding each other...

So I do not see any harm in the Donald Trump nude...  Europe has always been more mature and visionary... 

Check below the nude and the controversy...

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Big mouth, tiny penis: X-rated painting of Donald Trump on display in Britain after being censored in USA...                        "Simply put, you can be a massive prick, despite what is in your pants.”

         

Check the nude... Check his fingers... He is performing mental striptease... and he is allowed... But the artist who has transferred his striptease to canvass is banned to show her art...

Censorship is the art of covering the truth by fig leaves... and it is for the cowards who are scared of the reality... around us...

Illma Gore, the artist, said...

'While it is obviously a great shame that I cannot exhibit it in the USA due to censorship and also threats from Trump supporters to harm both myself and the artwork, I am so excited that it will finally be exhibited in a gallery space where interested parties can come and see it 'in the flesh'. 'London has always had such an open-minded attitude towards art and has regularly displayed works of art that push boundaries and cause controversy, it is the perfect place to show Make America Great Again.'

Illma Gore, the creator of "Make America Great Again", during a performance...

The painting cannot be displayed in a gallery...and it is censored in the U.S. But she has published it on social media... and, Illma Gore, has had death threats since creating the picture of Trump in the nude with a tiny penis...

She says: “Make America Great Again was created to evoke a reaction from its audience, good or bad, about the significance we place on our physical selves.

“One should not feel defined by their penis size or vagina, as it does not determine who you are.

“Your genitals do not dictate your gender, your power, or your status.

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Will a "fig leaf" domesticate the snake... ?Will censorship honey-ize the venom...? 

  

Bookshops across Italy are refusing to stock a new book written by the son of one of the country's most notorious Mafia bosses.

The mafia epidemic cannot be solved by censoring books... After all, the mafia sickness is based on human greed and profit chasing... Those who have millions are after yet other millions...  Mafia(s) can be defeated by a change of attitude for humans in educating humanity to SHARE and live in PEACE and HARMONY... 
If we cannot share...than mafia(s) cannot be defeated...stopped!  

The shop's sign makes clear the Riina's book won't be ordered or sold...

"I have seen and we have seen - the people of Palermo more than those of Catania - what the Mafia is," the paper 
quotes Ms Sciacca as saying. "I don't need Riina's son to write a book to tell me who his family are and what the Mafia is," she says, adding that it would be disrespectful to the victims of Mafia violence to stock the title. The shop's Facebook post has been shared more than 23,000 times and garnered hundreds of supportive comments, although some users express concern that the move amounts to censorship.

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I oppose censorship in ALL its forms... 

...and I want to ask the censors... Why caricaturing or saying "funny" and outrageous things about Jesus and Christianity is okay... is not censored and Donald Trump's nude or caricatures of Islamic (or other Judaeo-Christian minorities) is NOT okay...?

I just wander... about the rule of asymmetrical and not-so-balanced laws... ! 

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Art and literature search for the truth... 
Art has to rebel against the status quo... Art has to provoke... enrage... and make a person think... Art has to transcend the mundane and the temporal . Art has to bring us closer to the spiritual and reject the materialistic values. Art should open up a debate about human... transcendental and spiritual values... Art should bring PEACE and HARMONY... usher in more love and communal sharing...
Some say automobiles-cars represent art... 
For me cars may be beautiful... and their speed maybe exhilarating... but they essentially bring in all the materialistic vices that have plagued society and devastated community spirit... and sharing... A "beautiful" car reminds me of the greed and profit chasing of individuals... Cars are very selfish and individualistic... and materialistic too... they define status and prestige and riches and wealth... 
Ross, the chaplain at my school, agreed with me... other teachers blamed me of rigidity ... 
But remembering the cafe's of my youth... I will always agree with art that is engaged... and art that brings forth communal spirit and sharing and peace and harmony among people...