Monday morning my old friend Russell Simmons called me up. Before he even finished the sentence I knew what was going down and what I wanted to do. We were going to revisit The Liberty Street protest. This was warrented by all the insanity surrounding the proposed building of a new Muslim mosque about six blocks away from "Ground Zero" (never mind that there is already a mosque two blocks away from Ground Zero already, for 40 years) and isn't there going to be a multi-denominational grieving place at the actual memorial on the hallowed ground? ...
Anyway, my personal idea was to just label the entire building with the huge 7 foot letters spelling out M-O-S-Q-U-E (similar to how we did N-O W-A-R back before the Republikkkan convention in 2004), but unfortunately Russ, and my wife (who came up with the idea to use "CoExist"), thought it was a bit too harsh, or "punk", and feeding into the frenzy of "negativity"... Well they are Russell's windows, and there are many things we don't agree about, being friends for over 25 years, you overlook some things, besides, it was still a great opportunity to make a statement that the world could see from his windows overlooking the actual World Trade Center site, not blocks away like the proposed mosque/cultural center will eventually be. So we went over some ideas and searched some existing graphics (with my friend and design collaborator over the years, Sean Bonner) and came to where we did. I think it's pretty cool, even if a bit tame. 
(Yes, the "aum" symbol is backwards, this was obviously liberty taken in the original to help spell out the "Coexist" message that inspired our rendition.)
I mean seriously, of course we don't give a shit about where a mosque is. There should be one there closer by the WTC! We have them all over New York City. Personally if someone needs the crutch of religion, why not there? I don't give a fuck! This is a matter of principle. This is not being fought by real New Yorkers, this is being fought by some right wing assholes who have nothing to do with our city, carpetbaggers trying to make the news for their batshit, fucked up, xenophobic, racist agenda. The whole thing is fucking disgusting, I can hardly believe how so much of the country is falling for this diversion, it's pathetic and sad. 
from the Bible. Mark 12:31 "Love thy neighbor..."
Cool. The M-O-S-Q-U-E sign would have totally been punk rock, but the Coexist sign works well enough. Dig that the Atheist footnote was included too. Thanks for the effort.
ReplyDeleteGlen and Russell, You guys are so right on. Yet another beautiful installation with a significant message that I truly appreciatE.
ReplyDeleteI'll put in money towards making a banner that can drape over the entire front of that building. What a prime space for educating the public.
ReplyDeleteThank you all....
ReplyDeletehere's a cool comment i read on BoingBoing this morning: "The educated should not be having a debate about this. There should be no reason, under the law and constitution, that this should be an issue.
We are letting fear mongers run our thoughts and this country. Islam did not take down the towers. Christianity did not take down the towers. Judaism did not take down the towers...
... terrorists did. We did not ban all churches of christianity in Oklahoma when Timothy McVeigh did HIS evil."
Yo Glen- this is killer- I have done my best to read up on this to try and understand what has motivated these people to make this an "issue". Seems to me that the farther away from New York you get the more angry people are about the "Ground Zero Mosque".
ReplyDeleteMaybe that "coexist" message should be brought to the people in Wyoming or wherever who are so scared about living up to the Constitution even when it goes against what they believe in.
In this case i gotta echo the sentiment of the 2nd Amendment gun lobby folks who say "Guns don't kill people, murderers kill people"...... "Religions don't kill people---assholes and lunatics do"
The strangest meme I hear from some right-wing pundits (though there doesn't seem to be the same coyness with the protesters on the street) is that they claim to not be "anti-Muslim", they are just offended by having a mosque "there."
ReplyDeleteWell, WHY are they offended? The only reason I can guess is they blame ALL Muslims for 9/11, including several million peaceful law-abiding Muslim Americans (who were horrified at 9/11 like the rest of us-- go ask one.) Isn't that the very definition of bigotry?
No one ever answers the questions about 1) the two existing mosques within a four block radius or 2) the two strip clubs that are even closer. Somehow, those aren't disrespectful to "hallowed ground".
ReplyDeleteSomeone on Twitter said they were going to go downtown with a card table and two chairs and start their own Islamic Community Center. I think that's a fantastic idea.
shālôm ʻalêḵem
ReplyDeleteAs-Salāmu `Alaykum
sliem għalikom
Om swasti astu
May peace be upon you
I don't really care if the Muslim "cultural center" is built near Ground Zero, but the ridiculously simplistic "coexist" message is utter nonsense.
ReplyDeleteThis pipe-dreaming, bumper-sticker ideology of "coexist" is nothing more than choir-preaching to idealistic hippies who have no concept of reality.
How mindless does one have to be to believe it's possible for diametrically opposed ideologies to "coexist?"
Wake up, no one is going to have a complete paradigm shift by reading this witless, slacktavist pap.
and WHAT THE FUCK HAVE YOU DONE FireInTheChoir? mindless? witless? Pap? Seems you're just an asshole. Let people do what they can. Not everyone is a terrorist and will kill themselves for the cause, but if someone is at least trying to do something positive I think it's a lot better than doing nothing, or worse, sitting back and not doing shit but commenting on a blog. Please enlighten us to what you have done to make the world a better place or put a smile on someone's face, or a dent in someone else's, to make a difference, or change a thought process, attitude or inspire.
ReplyDeleteWhat have I done? Well, let's see: Today I fought against world hunger by posting a sign in my car window that said "FOOD 4 ALL." Tomorrow I think I'll fight against AIDS by wearing a post-it note that says "NO AIDS." Next week I'll probably tackle Cancer.
ReplyDeleteI wish I knew this activism shtick required so little effort. I would've started years ago.
OK, so making people laugh and following your blog posts closely is what you do. GREAT!
ReplyDeleteYou're so witty, and you're putting it to the best use you know how. Good for you.
Glen,
ReplyDeleteI read about the Liberty St. Protest and the Coexist display. They're great. They remind me of when John Lennon promoted peace on billboards. I'm glad that you and Russell Simmons are doing this. We need more efforts like this through out the world because promoting peace works better than people realize.
I am working on promoting peace on a global scale and I have a proposal I would like to send you. If you're interested, please let me know how to reach you or contact me.
You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Alan
It isn't just "pap" as someone stated. It's inspiring! You are spreading a positive educational message to balance that negativity in the air surrounding the situation. I love it. Thank you~!
ReplyDelete