Sometimes an idiot is just an idiot. One can hardly be outrageously stupid and ill mannered anymore without it taking on some grand societal context anymore with those who seek societal context. Case in point, this Reuters story:
A prominent fashion designer has sparked outrage in Chile by dressing up models like the Virgin Mary — in some cases with ample, near-naked breasts.
The Roman Catholic Church condemned Ricardo Oyarzun’s plans for a show featuring the models, and a conservative group tried unsuccessfully to block it in court.
Oyarzun said he had received telephone threats and had excrement smeared on his doorstep.
“There is no pornography here, there’s no sex, there are no virgins menstruating or feeling each other up,” Oyarzun said ahead of the catwalk show set to be held at a Santiago nightclub later on Thursday. “This is artistic expression.”
He said his designs — which include halos, look as though they come from a nativity scene and include religious icons — were inspired by the Virgin Mary but not intended to represent her.
“We look on with special pain and deplore those acts which seek to tarnish manifestations of sincere love toward the Virgin Mary, which end up striking at the dignity of womankind by presenting her as an object of consumption,” Chile’s Episcopal Conference, which includes Catholic bishops, said in a statement.
The show is more evidence that Chile, heavily influenced by the church for decades, is shaking off its reputation as one of the most socially conservative countries in Latin America.
Now why is this “more evidence” that Chile is casting off the morality of the Church? Isn’t this simply evidence that the designer Ricardo Oyarzun is more interested in money and media adulation than the state of his own soul? If there was a Chilean fashion designer who said, “Hey chicas, you know what, let’s raise up the neckline of that dress a little. It’s kind of impractical if there’s a breeze,” would this be evidence of a cultural shift towards modesty?
Now Chile might very well be leaning towards liberalism and fashion designer may be about to lead a cultural revolution in Latin America, but I hardly think one artist peddling pictures of breasts is ample evidence of a cultural shift. In fact, it’s just another sign that the Catholic Church is needed as much as ever.
January 17, 2009 at 3:28 pm
There is some truth in this statement, though. The idea, as in every country of Catholic culture (you see the same in Italy, Argentina – where it is much, much worse), is to challenge the symbols of Catholic tradition as a simple (so they claim) exercise in “democratic freedom”. The idea that democratic freedom rests on certain intangible common ground that makes such compromise possible and, as such, is founded on shared cultural heritage is lost on them. It’s pure and simple Alinsky at work.
It’s getting worse by the year here. The shrill, socialist Spanish school of “laicete” has been calling the shots for twenty years. As it stands, the Church is one of the least trusted/respected institutions in the country today, if one believes the polls. That, my friends, is what two decades of PR blitz will buy you.
January 17, 2009 at 4:14 pm
Let’s catalogue the cliches’: cutting edge, thinking outside the box, iconclastic and, simultaneously, iconographic, daring, innovative, exploring the boundaries, challenging the status quo, posing new questions, blah,blah, blah.
Tacky.
— Mack
January 17, 2009 at 4:52 pm
How did Mom do?
Did you notice the ignorance about the meaning of Episcopal conference?…. it includes Catholic bishops. Does it include anything else? I think the author was confused by a connection in his brain with the words Episcopal and Episcopalian in this country.
Susan Peterson
January 17, 2009 at 5:41 pm
Mack – you forgot “pushing the envelope”.
January 17, 2009 at 6:49 pm
Nothing new here. A few years ago Dior sent models down the runway dressed like Our Lady. There is a popular clothing line called Imitation of Christ and gothic crosses on purses and chokers are hot right now. It’s same old thing going all the way back to the serpent and Eden.
January 18, 2009 at 5:18 am
Sooo…
how come pictures of Our Lady covered with animal dung is ART…
and a Crucifix with a Corpus in a jar of urine is ART…
but Ricardo Oyarzun doesn’t consider excrement on his doorstep as ART?!
The FatMan
January 18, 2009 at 6:44 pm
As you said, Matthew, it could well be that there is a cultural shift for the worse underway in Chile. But the article proves nothing beyond Reuters’ (and other so-called “MSM” outlet’s) penchant of projecting what it is hoping will happen onto a news story and passing it off as fact. Let’s face it: the writer is only seeing what he (or she) wants to see.
Had there been objectivity, there would have been numerous examples to support such a shift. Had the writer been biased against a secular shift yet concluded that this is what was happening, he wouldn’t have written a newspaper article. He would have written a book.