Zuma’s Public Privates

In case you missed it, last week a South African artist by the name of Brett Murray exhibited a painting of Jacob Zuma with his scholng hanging out. This has caused a massive outcry in certain circles and there’s now a controversy as to whether or not the artist had a right to use Zuma’s likeness.

On principal I’m inclined to support Brett’s right to use art as a means of political protest, even if I think the painting is in poor taste, but a lot of people are up in arms about the invasion of Zuma’s privacy… I have a couple issues with that.

First off, Zuma is a public person. As president of our country he is in the public domain and must submit himself to criticism, commentary and satire: that’s just the way that a free media operates. Now, you could argue that his wedding tackle is not part of his public profile but if you look at everything he’s been up to while in the presidency (and before) then it’s not a big stretch (ah-ha) to see where the artist is coming from.

Additionally, if Zuma is really personally mortified by this painting and wants to have it removed then it is his right as a private citizen to request that. Note that I said “his right as a PRIVATE CITIZEN” – this is an important distinction, because he chose to lodge his complaint through his position as president of the ANC. In my opinion, the position of President of the ANC is a public position and so open to satire of this nature. You can’t have it both ways, JC: Either you’re a public personality that is backed by the ANC and open to satire or you’re a private citizen without political powers and a right to privacy.

This sort of situation is precisely why politicians in the first world resign at the first hint of controversy. They do that to avoid further embarrassment to themselves and their political party. With all the shenanigans that Zuma has been through in his political career, can anyone really say that they didn’t see this coming? Really?

-Odd

“The first 20 stories written about a public figure set the tone for the next 2000 and it’s almost impossible to reverse it.” –Charles W. Colson

In The News:

Google teaches computers regret - google is again pushing the envelope, this time in the field of AI

Chinese Space Program confounded by X-Prize - the capitalist model of privatising the space program seems to be paying dividends.

Robotic jet fighter passes two test flights - the first truly robotic war machine, no pilot, no remote control... it does it's own thing... does this sound like skynet to anyone else?

Crowd-sourced choir sings over the internet - such a cool thing!! 2000 people from around the world all pulled together into a single choir.

NASA gives out funding to private space firms - more on the private space industry... I want to holiday in earth orbit... how cool would that be?

A little bit of fun

Wow...  two posts in one week? That's amazing! Woot!

... Don't get too excited, this is not going to be a regular schedule... Think of this more as a bonus post.

I realised that my last few posts have been quite political... and as this is supposed to more of a geeky/techie blog, I wanted to do something a little more lighthearted.

With that in mind, I'm going to give you links to a couple websites run by two unconventional but truly epic artists:

1. Pavement Art - this is the guy who does those amazing 3D chalk drawings on the sidewalks... every time I see one of these online, I'm bowled over anew... awesome work.


2. Banksy - A graffiti artist out of the UK, this man is a serious talent, and his work is great fun.

I would also like to thank everyone who stopped past the site on Wednesday, and all those who linked to it. The Odd Blog had over 100 hits that day. It might not sound like much to you... but to me it's increadible that 100 people thought it was worthwhile to take out some time and read what I spew out on here.

Thank you. ^^

Come back next week for another post, tell your friends, and please use the comment buttons on the posts.

-Odd

"I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask them where they're going and hook up with them later." - Mitch Hedberg