Of course, all artists want to attract attention but one can sympathize with the director in not wanting his throat to be slit as happened to a fellow landsman only a few years earlier.

I believe if the work is so bland as to antagonize no one, then it's more like advertising copy than art. Art should inspire, provoke, excite and rattle our mundane lives. It should cause us to cerebrate, it should stir our imagination, it should make our blood roil. If I want mindless, banal amusement, I can always turn on American Idol.

I personally do not get excited by seeing a Crucifix in Urine or Elephant Dung on the Virgin Mary, but if those images help you erupt into unbridled ecstasy then by all means go view them. If they offend you, by all means avoid them. Art cannot please everyone, nor should it.

And before I get accused of being Laissez Faire with art offensive only to Christians or Muslims, I posted anti-Jewish, anti-Israeli art from the Iranian Holocaust Cartoon Contest because I believe exposing evil to ridicule does more good than trying to bury it.

Sooreh Hera believes that religion wants to exercise control over people's sexuality and especially over homosexuality. And so her work is obviously, blatantly in-your-face provocative. But I believe in freedom of expression. I even believe Muslims have the right to express hatred for Jews in art, literature, whatever. But the rest of us are equally free to disagree, ridicule, and even write contemptuous responses to those expressions. Freedom of expression would mean nothing at all if it only meant freedom to express views that offended no one.

So let me say here that I find her work puerile and uninspiring, but that is just me. Sooreh also made a video compilation of her views but hits to her site exceeded bandwidth considerations. She posted the video to Youtube, but we know how intolerant and obsequious they are to certain groups, so she finally found a venue here.

Despite the fact that almost all Islamic nations punish homosexuality with death, there is rampant gay sex running amok in all of Islam. I doubt the men are all homosexuals, most probably are simply desperate men who are just tired of shagging their neighbor's goat or unable to find enough willing female partners or cannot afford to pay prostitutes of which, Iran alone admits there are 30,000 although the real number is more like hundreds of thousands (most of their customers are the wealthy or members of the Islamic clergy) [Salam Worldwide].

Since Islam deems Western technology as evil and our culture as corrupt, it is the natural condition for the majority of Muslims to be poor and wretched; thus there are hundreds of millions of frustrated souls who end up raping other men as well as camels and goats; who are so sexually inflamed that the mere sight of an unveiled woman's face is like a sizzling juicy steak to a starving man.

But in truth, the veil protects no woman: fully hijabed women are constantly raped in Muslim countries. It isn't beauty or sexiness that attracts rapists but vulnerability. And because Muslim women are practically powerless they are, by definition, vulnerable and perfect candidates for rape.

Related:

Planck's Constant,
Fewer Rapes [Reported] in Muslim Countries

According to a "religious" decree, virgin women prisoners must as a rule be raped before their execution, "lest they go to Paradise." Therefore, the night before execution, a Guard rapes the condemned woman. After her execution, the religious judge at the prison writes out a marriage certificate and sends it to the victim's family, along with a box of sweets.

Hey, I don't make this sh*t up, I am merely passing it along. Got a problem with this? Then petition your congressman to make sure Muslims do not enter this country.

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