stephen-turner.net

A bit of fun here… if you’re a Doctor Who fan, catch this preview of the new series with David Tennant (the new Doctor) and Billie Piper. It was made for a British charity night, so if you’re from the UK, make a donation as well…

I think about politics and how they relate to the world a lot, but I haven’t posted much about it here. But this article I found really stood out:

Ministerial art prompts treason complaint

“Manipulated portraits of the Prime Minister and two of his senior ministers on display in a regional art gallery have been labelled treasonous but they will not be coming down.”

In a week where the merits (or otherwise) of new anti-terrorism laws are being debated, especially provisions regarding sedition and treason, we already have an artist being labelled treasonous simply because he’s created some images that someone doesn’t like.

The exact worst thing that could happen – free and peaceful expression being treated as potentially criminal – has happened already, before the laws even become official. Artist Michael Agzarian has created a work to comment on the plight of refugees, and he obviously dislikes government policy, and the juxtaposition of the image is supposed to be disturbing, but it’s also clear of its artistic merit and its obvious lack of threat or violence towards anyone.

Here’s the image in question (from abc.net.au):

Emotional, but innocuous, and the idea of it being labelled “treasonous” is beyond a joke. Shame on whoever the emotionally cripplied bastard is that thought to label it as such.

In fact, the minicomic that I’ve had out for a couple of years: “Meena: An Immigrant Tragedy” would fit into this exact category as well. It’s disturbing, it’s violent and it’s hardly pro-government, but it’s also clear in its condemnation of violence and of course in its fiction – because whatever it depicts it’s just a collection of words and images, nothing more.

So if you come upon this, read the comic. I think that it just might be treasonous, if this absurd laws come to pass.

This article works on two levels – first, it’s amazing new technology that was science fiction just a few years ago, and two, it begins by comparing it to “The Diamond Age”, a magnificent SF novel by Neal Stephenson that I read a few years ago. That was the best depiction of “electronic paper” that I’ve ever read.

And now it’s real…