California State University, Dominguez Hills
University of Wisconsin, Parkside
Created: February 22, 2001
Latest update: Maarch 8, 2001
jeannecurran@habermas.org

We are exploring the juxtapositions of beauty right along with the scenes of torture and killing, and wondering how we have come to let this be.

On Thursday, February 22, 2001, Araceli Mark wrote on the Culture of Denial.

Courbet's "Still Life with Apples and Pomegranate" and Villon's 'Ballade' are a good example of conflicting culture. While Courbet's still life speaks about achievements, Villon's ballade speaks about hanged men; a subject society would rather not talk about. The juxtaposition brought about a good message: there are things next to each other that we tend not to see. For example, you mentioned that we think of ourselves as being civilized, and, yet, a man got dragged from the back of a truck in Texas.

For some reason, reading Villon's ballade made me think of Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit." The song is based on African American lynchings. During Holiday's time, lynching was a subject that many did not want to talk about, yet, it was still taking place. Holiday let society know just how civilized it was by singing a song that exposed the truth.

P.S. Strange Fruit was not originally written by Holiday. It was written by a white Jewish man. I can't think of his name right now.

On Thursday, March 8, 2001, jeanne responded:

Araceli, you couldn't access this comment because I had forgotten to upload it. I had left it unfinished. That was a good idea to tag me. I just pulled up the file, and there was your comment. We're getting the system down!

Your comment here shows the importance of our discussion exchange. I did not know about Strange Fruit. I could not have included it in the examples. Each of us has important information to add in a world in which we respect each other.

love and peace, jeanne