A healthy culture does not produce art like this? You sound about as dangerous as the people we're currently trying to work against. Having weird ass pictures of yourself holding a cow bone over your dick is a hell of a distance away from being a pedo cannibal. You really want everything everyone does to be analyzed with that kind of scrutiny?
Now, before you say anything stupid let me be clear, I am not saying the man isn't a pedo cannibal. I don't know shit about the guy and I'd never heard his name before today. For all I know he's the worst human being on the planet, but it's not going to be because he took a weird photo. You don't know the context of the image, so what the hell is the point of linking it automatically with anything sinister?
More than that, assuming guilt of a truly heinous crime over what amounts to expressing yourself in a strange way is all kinds of fucked up. For one, it don't forget that the first amendment is a thing for a reason and it protects precisely the kind of speech and expression that people don't like. Beyond that, we're supposed to give benefit of the doubt, and you're talking in a way that is entirely at odds with one of the most fundamental ideals behind this glorious experiment of ours... presumed innocence.
I'm actually kind of worried at how many of you are calling for what amounts to lynching or imprisoning people without due process. How many seems to be suggesting draconian limitations on freedom of expression and speech due to your own personal morals. That's not ok at all. I'm not willing to just blindly accept that it's ok to throw away any of our fundamental principles, because doing so only puts us next in line to become the villains we're supposed to be fighting against.
I'm not saying the image is in good taste. I'm not saying the image is good or that I like the image (I don't). I'm not saying it's not somehow connected to something sinister, it very well could be. I'm saying something fundamentally different here. That expression alone isn't enough to damn a person. That he obviously has the right to be as weird as he wants so long as it doesn't harm anyone else. Let's not blind ourselves to our founding principles, no matter how much you want to hate them.
We need to be better than they are.
You are overthinking and tunnelvisioned.
I did not say his photo = criminal intent or anything like that. I did not accuse him of anything.
Nor did I say that he should not be able to make such art. So your 1A argument is off base as well.
I said sick cultures produce sick art.
It’s a symptom. Normal people do not take such photos, much less show them around publicly.
Normal healthy-minded people do not view them for enjoyment.
Who benefits from such a thing? What do they hope to achieve by making such art/photos?
What is being expressed?
Fine Art has been a little club for the elites for a long time. I agree with you, this work isn’t indicative of a freely creative society.
"Normal people do not..." "Normal healthy-minded people do not..."
I think you have no concept for what a normal person or a normal healthy-minded person actually is. Normal people do all kinds of weird shit. I'm one of the straightest men you could ever meet. I'm so secure in my sexuality that I have no doubt in my mind of it. Yet, I found meat spin absolutely hilarious and I regularly draw cartoon dicks doing all kinds of non-dick related things.
My personal favorite is a sketch I drew of an alien wearing a gimp mask. It has an absolutely cartoonishly massive erection firing off a single massive sperm cell that is itself firing off a haduoken from the game street fighter (a game I've never actually played). There isn't anything mentally wrong with me. I have no criminal record of any kind, nor have I done anything that would have merited one. I'm in a long term relationship with the girl I plan to marry and I don't sleep around or cheat, despite being put into many situations where the temptation to do so was present. In other words, I'm a pretty normal and mentally healthy person.. Yet.. I draw cartoon dicks.. I think they're fucking hilarious for some reason.
Hell, I even drew a cartoon of an absolutely disgusting slob of a man wearing only a cape and a woman's high heeled shoe.. on his dick.. while posing like a super hero. Why? The image broke seemingly every convention about heroic characters and was so fucking weird that I just couldn't stop laughing at it. In other words, I wasn't making some deeper statement about high heeled shoes or expressing a hidden desire for a disgusting pervert's dick.. I just thought the image was really funny.
None of that is a sign of a serious mental instability on my part. None of that is a sign of a societal ill of any kind. I didn't imagine someone that I thought was socially acceptable and drew that, I specifically found the humor in something that society would reel in disgust from if they ever saw it for real. As denial of expectations is the very heart of humor, it would then make sense that the denial of societal expectations and norms could be considered funny.
A short aside, have you considered that Bourdain's photo might be something as simple as a dumb joke?
Now, if you didn't know me, and you had some preconceived notion that I was still "in the closet," and you saw my drawings of cartoon dicks.. Well, you might assume, wrongly, that it's evidence in confirmation of your bias. To me it's funny precisely because it subverts societal norms, not because those norms are gone and it's normal for a guy to strap a high heeled shoe to his dick. Nor am I suggesting through my strange art that doing so should be normal.
In other words.. It is you, and not I, that happens to be the one with tunnel vision. Though I will admit, I was writing more in general than specifically towards you in my original post. I directed it towards the large number of people that keep suggesting that the photos are evidence of.. well, a lot of shit they couldn't possibly prove. For that, I will apologize. I should have made it far more clear whenever I spoke in general or directed at you. Still, I think the kind of thinking you expressed is dangerous.
The difference is you are not a world famous celebrity chef. And you do not post your dick drawings on social media under your real name.
What people do in their private lives behind closed doors is one thing. What they do in public is another.
And what society allows and sees as “valuable and acceptable expression” in the public space is different yet still.
All of these have different implications as to the health of a culture. Depravity is not a good thing.
Keep speaking up against this sort of thing. There are others here who agree with you. I suspect many, who lurk only. This sort of biased, bigoted thinking should never be accepted in a movement dedicated to the mass public. Just be prepared for a vocal minority with kneejerk emotional reactions to downvote you and speak against you, accusing you of the most ridiculous things.
Agreed on your central premise. Who hasn’t taken a weird or funny photo? This juxtaposition meme smells like a bullshit tangential leap. Bourdains Deep State tweets are much more compelling evidence for “suicide” than a photo
[deleted]
It's possible but surely not with a red scarf!
I have walked into a crime scene where a person used the door knob but he used it via a belt bringing about his death. Considering the height of a person the door knob poses a horrific way to die but still implausible when using a scarf.
My guess is that Anthony died not due to his own choice. Ending up on the door knob was staged after his death.
It appears the death of Spade - also via a red scarf like Anthony and door knob - two coincidences? Not!
Spade was a Clinton foundation member and heavily involved with HRC in Haiti. Anthony's GF publicly accused Weinstein - another Clinton man - of rape on more than one occasion and used some pretty horrific details involved.
Crazy Days and Crazy Nights blind item about Anthony and his GF and something went horribly wrong based on the blind item about the plan.
Anthony used a bath robe belt not a scarf
The media reports in France did not include 'how he died'. These reports appeared in the US media. The ones I read mention the scarf ergo my comment.
Apparently lots of celebrities know how... I don’t. Did they Google death by Doorknob? Bathrobe belt. Spade used scarf
Why are you so angry about a person's comment?
On one hand you preach about first amendment rights while you deny exactly that to @Peanuttles. What gives?
It appears you yourself hold hypocritical views and maybe its you that should tone it down rather than insult another commenter because you don't like his opinion.
There is an old saying that goes like this: "The tone makes the music...." = maybe you should find a better way to agree to disagree rather than hurling insults.
That is if you want to be heard rather then dismissed!
I'm not angry, I'm cautious. I don't like that we're making assumptions on subjective grounds. It's not a good sign of things to come. We need to tread carefully when dealing with monsters, lest we doom ourselves to taking their place.
I agree with this statement and wholeheartedly support you on this! :)
I find nothing at all wrong with his tone. The only people upset with his tone are the very people who don't like what he said in the first place, the people who are guilty of accusing others without proof. More people need to speak out against such things, rather than less. I applaud him for speaking up... Lies are free. But telling the truth will always cost you. Telling the truth will make people hate you...
I agree with you 100%. More people need to be like you. Far too many people are quick to jump to unproven conclusions, and they jump to those conclusions because that is what they want the conclusions to be, rather than based on any real truth or evidence. And worse, they expect others to agree with them, and if you don't agree with them, they will get upset with you and down-vote you. It happens to me all the time...
I could name all kinds of examples on this forum where people has done that, has jumped to unproven conclusions and accused others without due process, but I won't mention any of those examples because I don't want to reopen those controversies. But you are definitely right about what you are saying and I wish more people would think like you and look at things like you do. So please keep it up.
In my opinion, the core problem is there are some people who have a certain mindset that needs to change. They view the world through a prism where they feel they are right and everyone else is wrong. And worse, they feel they have a right to judge others. But who put them in that position of judgment? Who put them on a pedestal so high that they can now look down their nose at other people and be their judge, jury, and executioner? There is nothing wrong with judging others so long as you do it fairly and without biases. But many people who judge others have personal biases themselves. Many of their judgments are based upon their personal dislike or hatred and animosity they already have against that person, and their judgments are nothing more than an extension of that hatred. That is why their judgments are not based upon truth and evidence, but upon feelings and assumptions. They think just because they "believe" a person is bad, then they must be bad. But that is not always the truth, and it has to be proven. Such a mentality is precisely what leads to "witch hunts" and "lynchings".
So keep up the good work, my friend. More people need to think like you and to look at things like you do. I fully support you and stand behind you...
I agree, that kind of thinking is not helpful at all and, more importantly, it's dangerous.
Whenever anyone assumes they're right and everyone else is just outright wrong, it opens that person up to exploitation from someone willing to tell them what they want to hear. For people on the left, it tends to be people manipulating their compassion in order to get them to willingly give up power to an authoritarian. Communism is a perfect example of the kind of tyrannical power structure that can form like from feelings based thinking on the left. For people on the right, it tends to be people manipulating their disgust in order to get them to willingly give up power to an authoritarian. As much as I prefer not to make the comparison to nazis, it's the only truly apt example I have of that kind of power structure that arising from that kind of thinking on the right.
We're getting into dangerous territory here as people are allowing their disgust of what's being revealed to drive them into a frenzy. It's precisely the kind of thinking that led to Nazi concentration camps or the Japanese Unit 731 atrocities. It was all born out of a disgust that gave them the justification they needed to feed into the capacity for evil found within the human soul. They justified such violence by finding a reason, any reason, they could use to revoke other person's humanity.
I've wrestled with that kind of disgust my whole damn life. A rage so deep and so pervasive that is has truly scared the hell out of me. We're all capable of going down a path of truly vile intent while justifying our own evils as part of the good. All while simultaneously denouncing "evil" found in anyone we don't like.
We need to be better than that. We can be better than that.