A sadness that lasts forever

VanGogh self protrait

It’s hard to imagine feeling as though your world is so broken and the sadness so deep that you have to mutilate yourself in order to find any peace. I guess that’s how cutters feel and maybe how Vincent felt.

Vincent moved to the south of France, some say to start his own artist colony while being supported by his brother, Theo. Theo was able to talk Paul Gauguin to move there and keep Vincent company. Vincent had a great admiration for Gauguin and saw him as a kind of mentor. Gauguin influenced Vincent’s style, especially in the use of vibrant colors. Vincent painted his famous Sunflowers for Paul and in anticipation of his arrival. But they had a very turbulent relationship and after an intense and almost violent argument with Gauguin, Vincent took a shaving razor and cut off his own ear.

This was the beginning of a downward mental spiral for Vincent that not only resulted in committing himself to an asylum and his suicide but also some of the most wonderful art of his short lifetime. After shooting himself, it took him 2 more days to die. His final words to Theo were “the sadness will last forever.”  He was right – the sadness will last forever because we will never know the fullness of his art. He was only 37 when he died.

The importance of Paul Gauguin in Vincent’s life is reflected in this self portrait – over his left shoulder is a Gauguin painting.

I have to wonder why he put Paul’s painting in his own self portrait. Was he trying to manipulate Paul with this passive/aggressive gesture? To make Paul feel guilty? Was he trying to tell us that he loved Paul so  much that he put his work inside his own? Was he trying to integrate himself into Paul’s world? Was Vincent saying that he would never be good enough – never be as good as his idol?

It’s a question I guess I’ll ask him over lunch when I get to heaven.

The ghost of Molly Norris

My blood is boiling. Tonight I read a farewell editorial in the Seattle newspaper to their cartoonist who has been forced into hiding.  This is a tepid and pathetic goodbye statement to a woman who lived in a nation where freedom of speech used to be sacred. Molly Norris was the cartoonist who declared a “Everyone draw Mohammad Day.”

The ghost of Molly Norris

The gifted artist is alive and well, thankfully. But on the insistence of top security specialists at the FBI, she is, as they put it, “going ghost”: moving, changing her name, and essentially wiping away her identity. She will no longer be publishing cartoons in our paper or in City Arts magazine, where she has been a regular contributor. She is, in effect, being put into a witness-protection program—except, as she notes, without the government picking up the tab.

My question is: why have none of  her liberal media colleagues spoken out about this? No one in the media has shown an iota of outrage at the fate of one of their own. But they are quick to tell us all that Islam is a religion of peace and we have to be tolerant and accepting of their traditions and religious constraints, even at the expense of our own freedoms.

When an American citizen is forced into hiding because a fatwa has been called by some Islamic cleric on the other side of the planet and all because she exercised her once protected freedom of speech, we are now living under a de facto form of Sharia, ourselves. It’s time we admitted this.

“We understand the absolute seriousness of a threat from an Al Qaeda inspired magazine and are attempting to do everything in our power to assist the individuals on that list to effectively protect themselves and change their behavior to make themselves less of a target,” David Gomez, the FBI’s assistant special agent in charge of counter-terrorism in Seattle, told the News.

We have to change our behavior to make ourselves “less of a target.” Is this not acquiescing to Sharia? If it’s not then I’m a Chinese astronaut.

Who among us is brave enough to put a crucifix in a jar of urine and apply for a federal grant to do so? In America and all Western nations, it takes no bravery to do this. Christians are the butt of every joke and the target of every obscenity because Christians don’t fight back. Christians are non-violent and those who act in the name of God in violent ways, are not Christians; they are criminals and they face justice in our courts. But Islamists are and must be violent because the Koran tells them to behave so. And if we call them out for what they are and for what they are doing, we are intolerant and Islamophobes. Even while they are smothering our God-given freedoms, we must sit by and hold our tongues.

Or worse yet, we are forced to change our identities, leave our families and “go ghost.” Who wants to end up like Theo Van Gogh or Daniel Pearl?

We’re hoping the religious bigots go into full and immediate remission, and we wish her the best.

I guess Molly can take solace in knowing that her colleagues “wish her the best” because that’s the best she is going to get from her liberal media friends and from the government that is supposed to protect our freedoms.

From me, and I hope somehow Molly knows,  I send outrage and prayers for an existence that has to be like a form of evil purgatory.

Imams order beheading of Geert Wilders

I wrote about the assassination of Theo Van Gogh over a year ago. Theo (the great grand nephew of Vincent) was murdered on the streets in Amsterdam, in plain site. I have a soft spot for Theo because I love the treasures his great great uncle left us. His uncle, also named Theo was a resistance fighter during WWII and was executed by the Third Reich. His father, Johan was a member of the Dutch secret service.

Theo was arrogant and basically not a real polite guy. In fact, he was kind of a jerk but that does not by any means, excuse his murder. He was a hard drinker and smoked furiously.

Theo produced and directed a very enlightening film – Submission – about the treatment of Muslim women. I posted that on this blog, last year, too. But it bears being repeated. This is part 1:

While he was cycling to work one morning in November of 2004, he was murdered by a radical Muslim and had a 5 page note left stabbed into his chest.

Now Muslim clerics are calling for the murder – once again – of Geert Wilders. Yesterday, I posted a speech he gave in NYC 2 years ago. Geert is a member of the Dutch parliament and is currently on trial for “hate speech” and inciting violence by producing the film that I posted in another blog below. He is being accused of using the words of the Koran and images of terror attacks by Muslims, which the Dutch claim as inciting violence. Amazing, isn’t it?

Wilders told Reuters it was “really terrible news” [that he was being targeted by the Muslim cleric] and that he was taking it seriously.

“I will ask for clarification from the Dutch minister of interior/justice why the secret service and anti-terrorism unit NCTb have not informed me before and what the consequences will be for me,” he said in an email.

Wilders was also charged because of outspoken remarks in the media, such as an opinion piece in a Dutch daily in which he compared Islam to fascism and the Koran to Adolf Hitler’s book “Mein Kampf.”

Of late he has been in the news for plans to speak out against a planned mosque in New York City on September 11, the ninth anniversary of the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.

But his views have also made him extremely popular with a segment of the country uneasy about the Netherlands’ commitment to multiculturalism.

I believe that there are peace loving, moderate Muslims but they are not speaking out about this or any other thing the Islamic fanatics are doing, have done or saying they will do. I’m a true believer that if there were more Muslims who would stand up and disavow this kind of violence and hatred, it would move their cause in a great way with the American people..

But I’m afraid the next murder will be that of Geert Wilders.

Larry David marks a new low

Larry David, who has a series on HBO – Curb Your Enthusiasm – has finally reached a new low. I used to enjoy his show. It was funny; his self deprecating humor and his lack of reverence for the politically correct was refreshing.

Late yesterday, I read a story on BigHollywood about his latest episode where he does his own version of “Piss Christ”. Today, it’s big news on the Fox website with an attached poll.

“Was Larry David always this crude? Would he think it’s comedic if someone urinated on a picture of his mother?” [Bill] Donohue [president of the Catholic League] said in a statement. “This might be fun to watch, but since HBO only likes to dump on Catholics (it was just a couple of weeks ago that Sarah Silverman insulted Catholics on ‘Real Time with Bill Maher’) and David is Jewish, we’ll never know.”

Donohue is right. HBO “entertainers” only do dump on Catholics, and by extension, Christians. As far as I’m concerned, any attack on a Catholic is an attack on all Christians. It would be no different if his “jokes” were aimed at Baptists or Methodists. A Christian is a Christian, no matter what church they belong to, just as there are numerous sects of Muslims.

And this is not the first episode that David has made parody of Catholics. A few years ago, one episode dealt with losing a blessed nail (reminiscent of the crucifixion of Christ) that belonged to his father-in-law.

Can you imagine the death threats against David and HBO execs if this had been “satire and parody” about Muhammad?

This illustrates better than anything the difference between Christians and Muslims. Christians are not issuing fatwas. They are not calling and threatening the lives of HBO executives and their families. They are not taking to the streets and burning effigies of Larry David. Unlike Islamists, Christians do not turn to violence in situations like this. No one will find Larry David dead on a street corner (as Theo Van Gogh was at the hand of an Islamofacist) because he offended their sacred beliefs and images of God.

When will Jews realize that Christians, and Catholics in particular, are the best friends they have? Was it the Pope who proclaimed that Israel must be erased from the face of the earth? Are there warheads in Vatican City aimed at Tel Aviv?

Most incredibly, Jews, Christians (and supposedly) Muslims all worship the same God.