So what's up with all these religious statues being used as New Age garden gnomes? Kitschy Buddhist sculptures are being sold everywhere nowadays. Apparently, Buddhas amongst Begonias are very popular.
And really, why stop there? Why don't these companies start manufacturing other religious gnomes as well? Got a puddle where eavestrough dumps out the rain water? Just put a Jesus Gnome there, and it could look like he's walking on water. Take a spare pebble from the yard and put a Mohamed Gnome on top (for added accuracy, draw in large footprints). Put a Baby Moses Gnome in a basket amongst tall blades of grass because they look just like reeds. Kind of. What would the religious symbol be for Scientology? Oh, of course -- a dollar sign. (Same as for Objectivism, apparently). If we're going to trivialize one religion, why don't we start going after others, as well?
I just think that selling statues of religious figureheads as tchatchkas is tacky and inappropriate. I don't feel like I need to defend Buddhism (they have Richard Gere for that) but I am somewhat put off at the way that our secular society is triviliazing an important world religion. Plus, when Christianity is "disrespected" at all, Christian groups start throwing hissy fits. If they don't like it when Kanye West poses as Jesus for the cover of the Rolling Stones, or when Family Guy makes a funny episode about religion, then they should stop buying and selling these Buddhist statues just because they think it looks cool. Religious figureheads are not garden gnomes.
Oh, and finally, while this might not be as important as horticultural theology, are those Febreze fabric fresheners any good? They look so awesome, especially for people like me who are too cheap and lazy to do my laundry all the time.
19 comments:
Why didn't you post a link to the GWB gnome? www.bushgnome.com
Oh, that's right, how could I forget our Hannukah gift for our mother? And really, the George W. Bush gnome is also sacrilegious--it's not fair to the Satanists out there.
And oh!!! Didn't you like my Objectivism comment? I'm not one to compliment myself...but that was hilarious.
Febreeze is awesome! Though I'd stick with the original scent fabric freshener... I don't like their flowery scents.
Their airfreshener is good too... though a little really does go a long way.
As for the gnomes, I really never thought about it before. But that's why I come and visit your blog! To have my eyes opened to these things... and to the virtues of David Hasselhoff music vids!
Oh yeah, we've talked about the wonder that is Febreze before. I think you said that it's how you clean your apartment! Personally, until I'm rich enough to afford a maid (or until I can convince my mom to drive up to Waterloo and clean for me) I'll be using Febreze a lot. I just wish that it could wash dishes and take out the garbage...
I am happy to see you defending Buddhism. As a Buddhist and as a Buddologist, I have always been saddened by the way Buddhism is marketed in the West. Unfortunately, 95% of white "Buddhists" have only purchased an idea of Buddhism that is anything but accurate. The real Buddhism is quite distinct from all of this commercial new-age nonesense, and those many people (esp. those in Hollywood) who try to defend this notion of Buddhism do it more disrespect than service.
Now, of course, the Dalai Lama would no doubt say something about how it doesn't matter if Buddhism is corrupted in the West by new-age consumerist hippies, so long as they benefit in some small way from what tortured pieces of misinformation they are able to extract. Furthermore, even Buddhism the product and Richard Gere help to raise awareness about real Buddhism and may lead people to push past the lies and learn the truth. Well, maybe it does raise awareness, but I think that the type of awareness that has been raised has done more harm than good. People who are inclined to search for spiritual answers will find Buddhism eventually through comparative religious studies, and they would be better off to do so as such an encounter would not be tainted by preconceptions created by the marketed Buddhism of tacky idols, crystal divination, false gurus, and Hollywood stars.
At the end of the day, however, the damage has already been done. For better or for worse, Buddhism in the West is basically a style. I only hope that it has been marketed so well and so thoroughly that most people (new agers aside) recognize it is such, and do not confuse this commercial Buddhism with the real thing.
Oh, and re: gnomes - a fellow I used to work with collected Chairman Mao statues to use as garden gnomes.
I agree with Lydia's comment about Buddhism being turned into a fad, and find it sad how it is the case with so many other religous fads (e.g. Hollywood/kabbalah).
Interesting about Chairman Mao gnomes - I wonder if The Dear Leader Paul Martin collects them? I suppose he has a lot more time for gardening now...
Exactly, Lydia, that's why I have a problem with religion, especially non-Western ones, becoming a part of popular culture. Celebrities are presenting only their very distorted perception of what it's like, and people are buying into it.
I don't know if all this increased awareness is actually a good thing, either. People who get suckered into a commercial version of spirituality are bound to have only a transient interest in it, before they move onto the next fad. I have friends like that, who find god(s) every other week. Plus, when a valid religion is being so grossly misrepresented, only followers or people who are knowledgable about it, will realize how it's so inaccurate. I know people who think that Judaism is cult-y, just because Madonna and Britney Spears make it seem that way. Who knows, maybe Scientology is actually really profound, and we just think that it's crazy because of Tom Cruise?
Oh, and how come all these other religions get such positive attention, while my personal favourite one, the Raelians, is basically ignored?! (When they're not cloning babies, that is...)
And Fred, be careful what you say against Paul Martin to Lydia. Them's fighting words.
Besides, Martin won't be so bored--he has a real career outside of politics, unlike our current PM....
About the Mao gnomes, while it wasn't Paul Martin, it was someone I worked with at Queen's Park...
And about Scientology: all that stuff about the galactic lord Xenu and the oppression of innocent thetans with hydrogen bombs and brainwashing seemed pretty profound to me... you know, Tom Cruise might be on to something...
And who can forget the enigmatic Raelians...
This all reminds me of a cult my friends and I wanted to start a while ago. We thought it would be great to worship google. Really, if you think about it. Google is Omnipotent. :)
It knows all the information out there. you can ask it questions like population of france and it will tell you. It knows what people think.(It reads and searches through blogs)
It knows where your packages are. It eventually will know the content of every book written.
See! It's omnipotent. A little scary actually.
We did not end up creating the cult though. Mostly out of laziness, partially cause we couldn't name a meschiach, and I guess partially because we didn't want to...you know, worship false idols. :)
Praise be to Fonzey.
Glad to see that you agree with me about Scientology, Lydia. I realy do think that they have some great ideas--like the whole "silent labour" thing. I'm sure it's not that painful to give birth, but all women do is bitch about it. This should shut them up.
And David, what a thought provoking commentary on Google! If I weren't already into the Raelians (I have my Rael gnome coming in the mail now) then I would for sure worship them. But just for the record, I think that the search engine is more omniscient (all knowing) rather than omnipotent (all powerful). While, I, of course, am omnibitchous.
Breaking news! Apparently, there won't be any Mohamed Gnomes, unless people want to have their cars torched and Arab ambassadors recalled from their countries. News story.
Although I think that the Muslim reaction is too strong, the French newspaper showed a remarkable lack of sensitivity when they agreed to publish the cartoon, and then said: "because no religious dogma can impose itself on a democratic and secular society". They're right, but that doesn't mean that they can't voluntarily choose to respect the customs of one of the most important world religions.
So I guess Moses, Jesus and the Budha will be alone.
Didn't anyone ever tell those journalists: 'don't to poke the bear?'
Yeah, totally. I would go as far as to say that the Muslims in France are being oppressed (not that this justifies all the violence that's been going on lately). So at a time when they are feeling particularly tender, what this newspaper did is basically rub salt in their wounds. Great idea.
The current political climate in France is scary--a lot of Jews left for Israel, at Sharon's promptings. Let's hope that Muslims (Arabs, North Africans, etc.) will leave too, and the French will be left alone to drink wine and eat brie to their hearts content. What is it about that country that makes them so intolerant?
I think that anytime a government gets really dogmatic about something, it breeds intolerance and disrespect. In the U.S. it's dogmatic Christianity, in France it's dogmatic secularism... and it's all running amok.
By my way of thinking, most reasonable people just want to know that at the end of the day, their beliefs are respected. Sure a little satire here and there doesn't hurt anyone, but from what I've been reading about these cartoons, you're right... they're just being downright mean.
You're absolutely right, Erin, this is forced secularism. It didn't work in Communist Russia, and it sure isn't working in France now.
But I don't necessarily agree with you about dogmatic Christianity in the U.S. Sure, there are enough crazy right-wing religious groups who try to impose their own beliefs and values on others (and unfortunately, they managed to get one of them elected as President) but in general, it is becoming a more tolerant society. Not as much as Canada, unfortunately (yay same-sex marriage!) but definitely getting there.
And I think that the thing is that these countries need to evolve on their own--when governments "force" secularism, it doesn't work. But when it happens naturally, over time, then it's better for everyone.
Politics and religion do not belong together.
ahhh this whole thing with Muslim's reaction is being too much now, someone needs to shake them and ask what exactly are you defending? because they are acting exact opposite of how they should be reacting if it were according to how a Muslim should in this kinda situation.
I actually feel like copying and pasting what someone wrote cuz it was a good read and reflects my views but its too long, don't wanna make u sleep through it :p
Sana baby, I want to see the article!
^ :D
By Tarek Fatah
Keep to forgiveness (O Muhammad), and enjoin kindness, and turn away from the ignorant. - The Qur'an, Chapter 7, Verse 199
During his lifetime, Prophet Muhammad endured insults and ridicule on a daily basis. His opponents mocked his message and used physical violence to stop him from challenging the status quo.
At no stage during this ordeal did the Prophet lose his temper or react to these provocations. Tradition has it that he would, instead, offer a prayer of forgiveness to those who showed contempt for him.
Today, however, many followers of Prophet Muhammad are acting the exact opposite. Reacting to the provocative Danish cartoons about the Prophet, they are burning newspapers, threatening journalists, issuing bomb threats, yet claiming they are standing up for the Prophet himself.have seen the cartoons published by the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten. There is no question they are meant to hurt the feelings of Muslims. As I saw them, I had to restrain my anger. Once more, Muslims were being depicted as a violent people. (One particularly derisive cartoon showed the Prophet wearing a turban with a bomb inside it.)
No one in the Muslim community is willing to buy into the notion that these cartoons were not meant to promote racism against Muslims. The editors may say otherwise, but the community knows better when it is depicted as the "other," to be scorned and sidelined.
Caricaturing racial minorities has been a tradition in Europe and North America since long before it became acceptable to deride Muslims. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it wasn't uncommon to see Jews and blacks depicted negatively. Today, thanks to the great work of many civil rights and anti-racism activists, no newspaper would invoke press freedom to depict Jews and blacks or their leaders the way the Danish paper depicted the Prophet.
Having said that, the way some Muslims have reacted to the provocation leaves a lot to be desired. Provoked, they walked blindfolded into a trap set for them, and came out worse than what they started with.
In Canada, we had a similar case, if not of the same magnitude. In the mid-90s, a Toronto man distributed highly inflammatory literature against Islam and the Prophet. Unlike our European colleagues and some fanatics of the Middle East, Canadian Muslims took up the case with the police and the gentleman was charged under Ontario hate laws and convicted. End of story.
In the Danish case, the Arab world's reaction, led by the Egyptian government, suggests there is more to it than meets the eye. Thousands in the Arab world have protested against the publication of the cartoons. The Danish paper has received bomb threats. Two armed groups threatened yesterday to target Frenchmen and Norwegians in the Palestinian territories, as well as Danes, after the caricatures were published in their countries.
Many believe that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's government is acting not for the love for Islam, but for love of the power it has usurped for decades.
Egyptian-American journalist Mona Eltahawy, a regular columnist for the London newspaper Sharq Alawsat, wrote in the Egyptian newspaper Al-Dastour: "Perhaps the Muslim governments who spearheaded the campaign -- led by Egypt -- felt this was an easy way to burnish their Islamic credentials at a time when domestic Islamists are stronger than they have been in many years."
For the Arab League to demand that the Danish government shut down the newspaper Jyllands-Posten shows how deeply entrenched dictatorial practices are in many Muslim countries. They are so accustomed to closing down their own newspapers, they could not understand why the Danish government could not issue a decree closing the Jyllands-Posten.
This posturing by Arab governments and Islamist movements is not in the tradition of Islam. These zealots should ask the question: What would Prophet Muhammad have done when faced with this insult?
He would, I suggest, have said a prayer for the cartoonist and "turned away from the ignorant," as Allah commanded him to do in the Qur'an.
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