Art, Anthem and the Police

I don’t know much about art. Yet, the whole fuzz about an artistic video that was presented in a Greek art exhibition, drives me nuts. In short, the video seemingly depicts someone masturbating while Greek national anthem is used as musical background. The reaction to this according to the Reuters’ report (and consistent with my local books) was:

Police stormed the Art Athina show on Saturday, shut down the video exhibit, which combined pornographic material with the Greek national anthem, and arrested curator Michalis Argyros who spent the night in jail.

I’m not a ferment patriot. ‘Scuse me, but I value living things more than symbols. This doesn’t mean that I don’t respect what others recognize as sacred. This means that I equally detest insulting Muslim prophets and the Greek national anthem. Let’s repeat that: I find equally detesting to insult Muslim prophets, Turkish flags, USA flags, Metallica, Iraq flags, Pope, Greek national anthem and all. I very well realize that what is void to me may mean a lot to someone else and either way insulting won’t ever dethrone Pope or Metallica. Subversives throughout history have been working in much more subterranean ways (1) than outward insults and take that as a tip if you are in fear that insults towards your favorite symbol may indicate a subversive mindset.

This is the little I know about art. Art is supposed to cross boundaries.

2 Paragraphs Using Word “Fundamental”

The two largest labor unions in Greece, GSEE and ADEDY have called a 24-hour strike for tomorrow, Tuesday, demanding the return of the money paid by their Social Security Funds to purchase structured bonds. To cut a long story short, workers, as you may know, pay money for their Social Security. These money go directly to Funds which are state governed. Funds are supposed to provide for health security and pensions. Health security means that workers and their family won’t have to pay MORE money for their check-ups, hospitalization, medicine and such. Pension is a monthly salary (well a far cry from a normal salary but a salary nonetheless) that is given to you when you’re too old to work. These money are being prepaid by workers during their lifetime. THEY ARE NOT A GIFT from anyone to anyone else. These money are also there for a sacred purpose called dignity. This is a thing that you might lose if you found yourself at your 70s with no income. Now please tell me