So you all heard the story last week, the one about the boy who drew a picture of himself on a crucifix – after being asked to draw a picture about Christmas, which, you know: the birth of Christ, the guy on the cross – and then his school went apeshit and sent him home with the words NEEDS HELP stamped on his forehead?*
That story was stupid.
That story was stupid, because kids draw weird shit all the time. This isn't even all that weird:
Mine draws phallic-shaped figures, which might lead someone to think that she's been over-exposed to phalluses (phallii?), but in reality it's just because her lovey, Toadstool, happens to look kind of shaft-like. (The story of Toady is a long one that I will not go into here. Suffice it to say that there is nothing dirty about him, save for the Toady-qua-Old-Man-Nutsack jokes that my husband and I sometimes tell.) Which is just to say, kids see stuff, they think about it, they draw it. Whatever. That a crucifix was involved in this case doesn't make it any more weird than, say, a puppy.
Speaking of puppies…
If you're looking for bizarre uses of the crucifix in – and I use this term very loosely – art, this qualifies. This is batshit crazy stupid, never mind offensive to anyone who regards the crucifix as sacred. What do naked models and crosses have to do with adopting stray dogs? Why does she have her parts pressed up against it? WHY DO I HAVE TO LOOK AT THIS?
And the primary question, the one that I've been ambling towards here: why is a picture of a naked model wrapped around a crucifix NOT seen as strange and troubling, but a kid drawing a simple picture of a figure on a crucifix IS?
Am I wrong to think that this is kind of, I don't know, effed up?
*those words weren't actually STAMPED, but, you know, that was the gist.
About Her Bad Mother
And not only that, but she’s totally walking on those poor dogs’ little adoptable heads. Nice work, PETA.
That is SO stupid. Kids draw weird shit ALL the time. Mine do it daily.
I completely missed that first story. I do not understand why that is odd at all. Would it have been okay for him to draw himself shooting a gun at ‘bad guys’. WTF?
ciao,
rpm
Ridiculous! PETA is so self-righteous though, it’s easy to see how they could miss the obvious offense such an ad might cause.
Oh my. I didn’t hear about the first story, but that’s complete bull.
And that ad does NOT make me want to adopt, it makes me want to send angry mail about how stupid they are. Angels aren’t portrayed by naked hot models, they are usually dressed in white.
At least there will be more men adopting this year. (har har?)
It’s ALL idiotic. The story about the drawing makes me want to be a teacher just so I can NOT be like that. The world is so ass-backward, kids watch violent shows and play first-person-shooter video games, but they can’t express their religious beliefs without being labeled as ‘unstable’? Geesh.
And as far as PETA is concerned, considering the fact that they kill over 90% of the animals they supposedly “rescue” and adopt out less than 1% (the rest are transferred to other groups)… I don’t care if they have a naked Viggo Mortensen on their ads, I won’t ever take anything they say seriously.
I believe this drawing nonsense happened in Taunton MA. I heard someone on the radio (I’m in CT) said the boy had just the day before been reading the bible with his dad, and when told to draw something about Christmas, this is what he drew. It’s not of himself, but of his interpretation of Christ.
It’s getting freaky out there, folks, gird your loins…(pun intended)
And why are the dogs in back LEERING??
The kid drawing/exploring ideas about the cross is normal, healthy, and incidentally a great opening for talking more about that story about Jesus and what’s scary about it. The PETA ad is messed up and, yes, offensive. That is my judgment as an actual ordained Christian leader.
Excellent, excellent post and point. When my husband was in grade school, they were asked to draw a picture of Jesus. (He went to Catholic School). He drew a picture of Jesus on the cross, but the sun was shining in the background, and he had a smiley face. He got in serious shit for that! But he was so young… .
I always support the cause of PETA.“;
my friends and i are all members of PETA, we love to protect animals”:’
i would love to be a member of PETA, i love to protect animals rights,~’
i always admire PETA, they really protect some of the helpless animals on this planet `-.