Pointing Fingers

Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Condemn No Evil

The latest issue of Index on Censorship magazine includes an interview with Jytte Klausen about her new book on the Danish cartoons crisis and why Yale University Press chose to publish it without any illustrations. Index on Censorship positions itself as Britain's "leading organisation promoting free expression."

With more than a touch of irony, Index on Censorship also elected to publish the interview without including the cartoons, instead publishing the board's decision not to publish the cartoons, and the sole but vigorous dissent of a board member, Kenan Malik.

Islamic scholar Reza Aslan, describing Yale’s original decision as “idiotic”, pointed out that he has “written and lectured extensively about the incident and shown the cartoons without any negative reaction”. And, as Jo Glanville, editor of Index on Censorship, observed in an article in the Guardian earlier this year critical of Random House, pre-emptive censorship often creates a “self-fulfilling prophecy”. In assuming that an “offensive” work will invite violence one both entrenches the idea that the work is offensive and helps create a culture that makes violence more likely.

Back in February 2006, I made the decision, in my capcity as editor and publisher of Annoy.com, to publish all of the Danish cartoons.

Along with the following explanation

"The following 12 images were published in Denmark's Jyllands Posten newspaper, which sparked the furor among Muslims globally. The reason they are being displayed here is not to provoke, despite this site's name, but to allow our users to make an informed evaluation themselves. For the same reasons, we published Nick Berg's beheading and James Kirkup's poem. After two federal court cases, one before the United States Supreme Court, Annoy.com’s hard fought commitment to free speech – not an automatic guarantee, even in the West -- cost a lot in terms of time, determination and resources.

We are not oblivious to the fact that religious and cultural differences are far more complex than anything we could articulate in this small space, but our fundamental belief is this. Freedom of expression is not reserved for those wishing to express their religious beliefs, but also those who question them."

Author of The Jewel of Medina, Sherry Jones' response to Index on Censorship's decision on Redroom: No Laughing Matter: Index on Censorship Censors Itself

Index of Censorship magazine: See No Evil

Index on Censorship board member, Kenan Malik's, dissent.

Fuck You Holidays from The Gap

I happened to push pause whilst watching a recording of an episode of Glee (yes, I watched it), and voila!! the Holidays cover for December/January 2010 for Annoy.com was born. No manipulation needed. Thanks Gap. Fuck you too!

The Wall: No Darks in the Class

In 1980, the song, The Wall II, from Pink Floyds album, "The Wall," with its haunting chorus of school children singing we dont need no education, was adopted as a protest anthem by black students during the "Elsie's River" uprising in South Africa, protesting against the institutionalized propaganda and racial bias in the official curriculum. On May 2, the song, album and movie were banned by the Apartheid government.

This video piece was created for "Banned and Recovered, Artist Intervention," in connection with the California Exhibition Resources Alliance (CERA) for which 37 artists were invited to recreate or reinterpret a cover for a book that had been censored. Although most artists chose subject matter that had been censored in the USA, I focused on a musical that was banned in South Africa.

To communicate the relationship between censorship and Apartheid, I chose two songs for which I rewrote the lyrics as subtitles while retaining the original music, given the relevance of Pink Floyds commentary on the British educational system, and the extent to which it influenced white schools in South Africa. The censorship of "The Wall" and my exposure to it punctured the elaborate balloon of deception that architects of Apartheid had so effectively constructed to surround me. It precipitated a passionate leaning toward freedom of expression, and its power to reach and connect with people in ways previously unimaginable.

I juxtaposed imagery of my privileged, sheltered upbringing as a white South African in contrast to that of Hector Pieterson, who was shot and killed on June 16, 1976, and whose death precipitated the Soweto Riots. We were the same age. I also combined photographs I shot on a recent trip to Alexandra, formerly a "township" with some found imagery for which it was difficult to ascertain the creative source.

"Banned & Recovered: Artists Intervention" is divided into four themes: Banning Books and the First Amendment at Crossfires; Books on Trial; Race, Gender and Justice; and Burning Books: the Extreme Ban and includes original book art, mixed media, paintings, photographs, and multi-media pieces.

The exhibition is inspired by the exhibition "Banned & Recovered: Artists Respond to Censorship" that was on display at the San Francisco Center for the Book and the African American Museum and Library in Oakland in 2008. An earlier version of this piece was exhibited at the African American Museum and Library in Oakland.

We Came, We Pissed, We Desecrated

Remember that looting of the Iraq National Museum back in 2003?

American servicemembers were so busy helping Iraqis chop down and destroy statues of Saddam Hussein, they ignored the looting of people’s private possessions and Iraq’s greatest riches, as treasures from the Iraq National Museum housing ancient priceless Sumerian, Babylonian and Assyrian collections and rare collections of Islamic texts were carted off in wheelbarrows.

As marines peed in golden toilets in Saddam’s palaces, posing for cameras lounging on expensive furniture, and while Secretary Rumsfeld scornfully derided as “exaggerated” the already-too-late media reporting of the looting (missed almost entirely by the networks giddily repeating footage of the toppling statues), the renowned museum was emptied leaving nothing but shattered glass and broken pottery bowls littering its floors.

The cradle of ancient civilization destroyed and plundered by modern barbarians under the banner of liberation.

Enter, six years later, Google…

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness

This was a video installation for my exhibition WARning! in New York, 2004, during the Republican National Convention. Images were sourced from the Internet, and news sites such as Al Jazeera, to draw attention to what the world, it seemed to be, was turning a blind eye -- the devastation of "collateral damage" and what the Iraq war really looked like. The occasional image in American mainstream media, (who were so embedded and so ensconced in cheerleading the war), did nothing to present the truth about what was going on.

As President Obama is accused of "dithering" with regard to Afghanistan by the likes of Dick Cheney -- the very architects of these massacres, and as the President considers sending in more troops, it may be helpful to remember what depleted uranium looks like when its dropped on human beings. These images are meant to turn your stomach. And to cause you to question how your attitude might be toward the country responsible for this, if these were your family members.

UCSF Releases Follow-Up to Staph Pandemic Panic Coverage

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 8, 2009

San Francisco, California -- Last week, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) released a four page document outlining the steps they have taken following the fallout of a misguided press release pertaining to a study published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine that incorrectly extrapolated data linking a virulent strain of MRSA to gay sex. The press release, issued back in January 2008, resulted in an avalanche of sensationalism-driven stories, from the San Francisco Chronicle to the New York Times, and seized upon by anti-gay organizations across the globe, warning of a potential pandemic at which gay men in San Francisco were at the epicenter.

The publication was released in response to a request from Clinton Fein, who in the immediate aftermath of the irresponsible media coverage that followed, along with activists Michael Petrelis and Hank Wilson, had demanded and met with UCSF to ensure this type of incident did not happen again.

Fein later testified before the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, reporting on the promises made by UCSF, and urging the San Francisco Department of Public Health take steps to educate gyms and schools of the real dangers of MRSA, to counter attacks on the gay community, and to communicate that all populations could take steps to protect themselves.

“I am pleased UCSF released this update relating to the progress they have made since we met with them last year,” said Fein. “In the wake of an alarming new study relating to a new strain of MRSA called USA600 it is critical that accurate and truthful information about the transmission be reiterated.”

In a written response on behalf of Barbara French, Associate Vice Chancellor of University Relations, Shane Snowdon, Director of LGBT Resources at UCSF, characterized the document as an “overview of what we’ve done in relation to what was discussed at the meeting, answering your [Fein's] specific questions, and providing additional information.” Snowdon added, “We appreciate your following up on the February meeting, which helped catalyze a number of important initiatives here at UCSF.”

Fein also pointed to the UCSF document as a solid refutation of the misinformation campaign that resulted from the initial release. “Organizations like Concerned Women for America, Americans for Truth, and Eagle Forum, headed by the likes of Matt Barber, Peter LaBarbera and Andrew Schlafly, have misappropriated the San Francisco Chronicle’s story to spread lies and misinformation about homosexuality, demonize the gay community, and endanger any children who play sport or may be at higher risk for MRSA exposure,” said Fein.

“It’s quite stunning that these supposedly religious buffoons, in organizations that are breeding grounds for ignorance and stupidity, would sooner place children at risk in pursuit of a broader agenda filled with hate than tell the truth,” Fein added. "In the wake of this updated information from UCSF, these men will either expose themselves for the deliberate liars they are, or be forced to make a public retraction."

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The UCSF document, UCSF’s Response to Community Criticism of the Initial Press Release Regarding the UCSF MRSA Study Published in January 2008: An Overview Prepared by Shane Snowdon, Director, UCSF LGBT Center, can be downloaded here.

Pandemics and Polemics

Remember that awful headline back in January of 2008?

“S.F. gay community an epicenter for new strain of virulent staph.”

It began with a San Francisco Chronicle article by Sabin Russell, which in essence “reported” on a University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) study published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine related to a MRSA study, which resulted in widespread misinformation and fear of a “pandemic,” which could magically spread from gay men in the Castro to the “general population” (of which gay men were supposedly not included).

Binh An Diep, a researcher at San Francisco General Hospital and lead author of the report contributed to a UCSF press release that mischaracterized the results of the study, resulting in a global blizzard of sensational headlines, immediately seized upon by the likes of right wing groups, demonizing gay men, and endangering everyone else by its absurd implications that the virus was contained within the gay community, or could only be contracted through gay sex.

Whether an MRSA pandemic resulted seems unlikely, given how little attention has been given to the matter since. You would think.

But MRSA infections are not only on the rise, they’re even being linked to H1N1 (Swine Flu), and a new study by the Henry Ford Hospital's division of infectious diseases, released Sunday, relating to USA600 is alarming. As expected, being gay has nothing to do with neither the transmission nor incidences.

It seems the only real benefit of that initial press release, is that right wing and anti-gay organizations continue to use it as bona fide “evidence” of the “Health Effects of Homosexual Lifestyle,” as it relates to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

At the time, together with activists Michael Petrelis and the late Hank Wilson, we demanded that UCSF meet with us to help understand how they could have released such an ill-informed press release, and figure out what concrete and immediate steps they could take to ensure such a debacle never happened again.

The result of three independent activists demanding answers from UCSF in a face-to-face meeting, and who until then had only participated in the dialog by sending a representative to community meetings, resulted in some concrete action, and promises from UCSF.

Among those were the development of a database that would allow for easier access to accommodate interest in studies and results, even those not published, or terminated prior to conclusion, and the extent to which community relations and communications with the gay community could serve as an across-the-board template in managing other communities, particularly vulnerable populations, such as children, women or prisoners. Soon after our meeting, in which UCSF also agreed to release a retraction, they did.

Chronicle reporter Sabin Russell told SF Weekly, “…as for not responding to the UCSF 'retraction' — that was a clarification of a press release, not a retraction of the article. If UCSF retracts the [research] paper, that would be news.”

I was later invited to testify before the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to relay the results of our meeting with UCSF.

Owing to the extent to which the original misinformation continues to be disseminated, I am bringing attention to it again, including video of my testimony before the Board of Supervisors, (in which I refer to Sabin Russell, apparently present at the hearing, as a “transcriber” and the Chronicle’s atrocious coverage of this story).

Today I sent a letter to UCSF to see what, if any, steps have been taken since our meeting. Specifically, I requested follow up with the status of the following:

1. The internal task force that was set up, its findings in the wake of the MRSA fiasco, and the solutions implemented as a result of those findings.

2. The extent to which easier access to the database containing studies/results that would enable communities that may be impacted negatively to proactively protect themselves, and the extent to which, if at all, UCSF could/would help in identifying such studies.

The apparent dangerous rise of MRSA makes it worth reiterating the extent to which such idiotic reporting of a study did not only inspire a slew of homophobic headlines, but put at risk everyone who thought that the spread of the infection was unlikely to impact them. Like people who play sports, or go to the gym.

Imagine the difference in terms of audience awareness, sensationalism notwithstanding, had the headline read: "A new drug-resistant staph infection. Just how safe are your workouts at the local gym?"

In the meanwhile, I will keep you posted on what I learn from UCSF.

Stay tuned.

Ralph Lauren: Impossibly Fashionable

Yep. Believe it or not, the Ralph Lauren model above has not been manipulated. At least not by me. By Ralph's fashion empire. He placed her in a slightly different context however. Note the body types though. Spot any differences?

I cannot believe in 2009 we still have to vomit our guts out, or slice off half our abdomens to fit into crappy clothes designed for holocaust victims. It's not just Ralph Lauren. The entire fashion industry seems to be fixated on perpetuating this bullshit. I hope Ralph Lauren comes after me. I'll have to gorge on laxatives to fit into one of his outfits to wear to court. Below would constitute my response:

Annoy.com deals with a subjects of intense public concern. These subjects have been and are the subject of acute debate in the media. Annoy.com constitutes both a reference work and a visual commentary that is relevant and important to the debate. It is speech entitled to the greatest and strictest protection under the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

As far as their trademark is concerned, I acknowledge those rights. However, protection for trademark rights under the Lanham Act is limited to protection against another's use of a designation to identify its business or in marketing its goods or services in a way that causes a likelihood of confusion. Such trademark rights do not override First Amendment rights.

Eat it Ralph. Or at least have your models eat it.

For more context:

Last month, Xeni blogged about the photoshop disaster that is this Ralph Lauren advertisement, in which a model's proportions appear to have been altered to give her an impossibly skinny body ("Dude, her head's bigger than her pelvis"). Naturally, Xeni reproduced the ad in question. This is classic fair use: a reproduction "for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting," etc.

However, Ralph Lauren's marketing arm and its law firm don't see it that way. According to them, this is an "infringing image," and they thoughtfully took the time to send a DMCA takedown notice to our awesome ISP, Canada's Priority Colo. One of the things that makes Priority Colo so awesome is that they don't automatically act on DMCA takedowns. Instead, they pass them on to us and we talk about whether they pass the giggle-test.

This one doesn't.

Cory Doctorow, The criticism that Ralph Lauren doesn't want you to see!, BoingBoing.net, Octber 6, 2009

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Dude, her head's bigger than her pelvis.

Xeni Jardin, Ralph Lauren opens new outlet store in the Uncanny Valley, BoingBoing.net, September 29, 2009

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When Ralph Lauren tried to remove a creepily retouched advertisement from the net, was it embarrassed by graphic design woes, or by a cutting hatchet job by an unknown prankster?

It's obvious by now that Ralph Lauren *hates* being mocked. They hate being mocked so much that they ordered their attack lawyers to send letters trying to fool ISPs into pulling an "infringing" advertisement featuring a ridiculously skinny model (in fact, our posting of the image was fair use, not infringement; Ralph Lauren's takedown notices are bogus and they should know better).

It's also obvious that the photo of Filippa Hamilton used in the Ralph Lauren advertisement was digitally manipulated. But we still have three questions: 1) who, exactly, gave Ms. Hamilton the Olive Oyl physique? 2) If the photo was manipulated after it appeared in the advertisement, why didn't Ralph Lauren's law firm make mention of that in their silly DMCA takedown notice? and 3) Where's the original advertisement?

Mark Frauenfelder, Searching for the skinny on Ralph Lauren ad, BoingBoing.net, October 8, 2009

An Evening With Marina Abramovic

My friends Nancy Toomey and Stephen Tourell (owners of the San Francisco gallery that represents me, Toomey Tourell) invite you to an evening with the legendary Marina Abramovic. The event is to raise awareness for The Marina Ab...ramovic Institute, and will be held at a new project space (where I will having my next exhibition) at 575 Sutter Street. Date: Oct 8, 5-8pm, please RSVP to stourell@marinaabramovicinstitute.org as space is limited.

The TenThirtyOne Project

You over Glenn Beck, and his manipulation? Sick and tired at the hatred he spews and the lies he propogates? Find the coopting of Yom Kippur to achieve his political and financial goals distasteful and inappropriate? Well now there's a way to demonstrate your displeasure. On October 31st, anyone who wants to send Beck a message that enough is enough should join in by dressing up. It doesn't matter what costume you choose to express yourself. Even if your kids are too young to understand, dress them up too. Let's send this snakeoil salesman a clear and unmistakable message. Let's show the little crybaby that anyone can play with numbers.

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