Bold artist, wherefore are thou?

When artists get together to laud each other’s work, lofty attributes like "bold," and "courageous" are frequently exchanged. But, as it turns out, many of these “artists” are just a bunch of little scardeycats.

     Roman Polanski, faced with paying a debt to (our) society, ran like a frightened 13-year-old girl from a creepy spider (or from a creepy 43-year old man). More recently, Yale University Press cowered -- so shook with “serious concerns about violence,” that nowhere to be found are “The Cartoons That Shook the World” in their publication of the same title.

     Now scifiwire.com reports that, in 2012, not *exactly* the whole world will be laid to waste. St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican and the famous Christ the Redeemer statue (Corcovado) in Rio de Janeiro are destroyed, director Roland Emmerich says, “Because I'm against organized religion.” But when he considered wrecking a structure in Mecca, he balked, telling the website, “You can actually ... let ... Christian symbols fall apart, but if you would do this with [an] Arab symbol … ” Well, you get the idea. He’s not against *all* organized religions, just the ones who’re easy to pick on. That’s too bad. If his off-limits approach to other religions was rooted in respect for diversity it would be admirable. Instead, it’s merely cowardice.

     Bold artist, wherefore are thou?

“2012” director Roland Emmerich says he’s “against organized religion” but you get the impression he’s praying that they’ll organize to protest and give his film some free publicity.