Lynndie as the Madonna

Ok, it's potentially inflammatory on several levels.

Please note that I'm note trying to equate Lynndie England with the Madonna, or her victims with Jesus (expect insofar as Christians may believe Christ suffered for everyone, even Iraqi detainees).

What I'm trying to do is note that Lynndie is pregnant, and that she indeed has already helped give birth to a terrible atrocity that shames and <i>should</i> shame America, and to contrast Lynddie England's barbarity with the traditional image of the Mother as embodied in traditional paintings of the Madonna; and note that her victims, whatever else they are, are all the children of mothers themselves, and as such deserved human dignities that the Abu Ghraib torturers denied them, to our eternal shame.

sometimes just because art can lend itself in a particular direction doesn't necessarily mean that you actually have to go there.

I guess you wanted to be flamed, right?

you don't need to explain it. it speaks for itself, kinda funny, kinda frightening.

Really makes you think.

Throw it out there and let the philistines make of it what they will. I like it. It needs no explanation. Those fingers, however, could use a little more work in Photoshop. But the concept is good. Rock on. :thumbsup:

ps. you know you're on the wrong side of PC when Hardhead likes your stuff.

Those fingers, however, could use a little more work in Photoshop

Thanks. The fingers suck. Copy->Rotate->clip to Transparent->Paste->Smudge. But I wanted to get that by now iconic "Pointy Girl" imagery. And I used The GIMP.

The Fingers really are that long in the original, btw -- the real problem is with the thumbs.

GLAD you recognize that.

I'm not easily offended but I find it offensive.

She's just a nasty piece of shit.

My take on it is that you're trying to create something humorous, and it's in really bad taste.

If you're trying for something else, well, you haven't gotten there yet.

My take on it is that you're trying to create something humorous, and it's in really bad taste.

If you're trying for something else, well, you haven't gotten there yet.

I'm not trying to be humorous. I'm deeply offended and ashamed by what Lynddie and her friends did at Abu Ghraib -- and I think my country will have to live with the shame of Abu Ghraib forever.

Many Americans are Christians, and even those -- like me -- who are not will acknowledge that western culture has been strongly influenced by Christianity. The Madonna and Child is a Christian icon, and it also embodies what we as a culture think about that very fundamental relationship, the relationship of Mother and Child, that act of Creation that happens every time a child is born. And certainly Christians believe that Christ died for all, and that injustice to anyone is tantamount to injustice to Christ.

I wished to juxtapose these emotions that the Madonna and Child evoke with the disgust and shame I felt on seeing American soldiers commiting those atrocities in my name, and with Lynddie England's own pregnancy and her complaints about being ostracized as she awaits prosecution at Fort Bragg.

Please understand that my failure to clearly communicate this -- leaving you "merely" offended, as opposed to moved to feel the mixed feeling I do -- is entirely because of my meager skills prevent me from better expressing it, and not because I wish merely to offend or provoke.

:shrug: