Apparent truth
By Usayd
Peace
I was looking at some streetart on flickr when I spotted this rather interesting piece. It immediately struck me as something from the artist Banksy, and it depicts a ‘teddy’ bear with a Molotov cocktail in attacking position. If you look at the full wall you will actually see that it is aiming at three British riot police, with the caption ‘The Mild Mild West’.
There are many different conclusions you can draw from this, and really that is what makes real art. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words, and the real artists are those who depict that. Probably the most effective image this portrays in my opinion, would be that of “something different” being the “enemy”, and to emphasise this even further he uses the usually soft and cuddley “teddy bear” armed with - not a gun - but a Molotov cocktail. The choice of weapon further adds to the ‘difference’ as it is the usual weapon of the underdog, the usually branded “terrorist” and so on.
I added a comment in response to the first comment on the picture which said “how d’ya know he’s not a suicide bomber teddy.” saying “apparently hes not arab looking enough. Pathetic stereotypes. Love the artwork though..“. You see, when someone sees something fighting against the system - and I don’t necessarily mean physically - they automatically assume that they are the “terrorist” or the “suicide bomber” and so on. One never stops to question the actions and intentions.
I was extremely surprised to receive an email from the uploader of the picture:
Firstly thanks for your comments much appreciated, I thought I’d mail you instead of replying through comments as this all makes me angry as well and I’m trying to keep the political me under control here. I couldn’t agree with you more about the stereotyping that’s been going on, a while ago I heard the comment “not all Muslims are terrorists but all terrorists are Muslims” used on T.V. with no outcry at all, unbelievable. However the thing that’s really angering me at the moment is this letter bomber that’s just been caught, at least 7 bombs, maybe another 5, sent through the post, and he gets described as a poor misunderstood fool who temporarily lost his reason. I’ve looked a bit and all the definitions of terrorism I can find mention bombs but I suppose John Reid knows better than me, of course this bomber is a white geeky looking cyclist so maybe that’s why he’s not a terrorist.
Anyway I just wanted to say that as a white brit I find the Muslim communities response to this “racist” attitude from the government and media to be dignified and proportionate and I applaud all who can show restraint in the face of this seemingly unending assault on their culture. I also look forward to the day when we all stop being distracted by these differences that are imposed on us by our so called leaders, start to look at the real problems and deal with the cause not the effect.
What did I take of this? Well I wrote in my response:
Wow. Didn’t expect such a powerful response, and believe me we appreciate the support that many reasonable people from the British community have offered without any real need to do so.
Funny thing is - technically I’m as much British as you are, in fact, what does it take to constitute being ‘British’? I was born here, have a British passport, yet for some reason I’m more of a threat then you because I believe in a religion that actually enforces Peace and Justice as its core values.
You’re not to be so blind with patriotism that you can’t face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who does it or says it - Malcolm X
March 2nd, 2007 at 11:29 pm
Love the way you respond and stand up for what you belive in. Keep it up really is an inspiration. Can’t belive the uploader got back to you, seemed really genuine too.
March 5th, 2007 at 4:38 pm
it is very refreshing to hear these kind of views. reassuring too!
March 7th, 2007 at 12:22 pm
Before it was on the wall…. the original drawing from http://banksy.co.uk.