The Assassination of Art

Highest Degree of Sacredness

One of the most popular destinations around Angkor Wat is the Ta Prom temple. It is better known to movie goers around the world as the backdrop to "Tomb Raider", the adventure born in the virtual world of video games, then brought to life in the shape of Angelina Jolie. Tourists of all nationalities flock to have their picture taken where Laura Croft defeated her brutal opponents.

What the local guides have correctly figured out is that the throngs of visitors are often more interested in the Hollywood connection than in the centuries of history and meaning of these beautiful grounds. Ignoring the ancient legends told on the fading murals, everyone wants to see where the movie action took place. Pictures of Angelina Jolie next to local shopkeepers are in fact seen throughout the town to help sell goods to tourists.

Furthermore, our guide informed us that the tall trees, with their picturesque giant roots weaving in and out of the crevasses of the temples' walls and foundations, are protected by law because they are such a tourists magnet. It matters little that these trees actually damage what remains of the temples in the long run, since when they die they leave the whole edifice unstable, without structural support.

In the preface to the second edition of The Essence of Christianity Feuerbach states:

But certainly for the present age, which prefers the sign to the thing signified, the copy to the original, representation to reality, the appearance to the essence... illusion only is sacred, truth profane. Nay, sacredness is held to be enhanced in proportion as truth decreases and illusion increases , so that the highest degree of illusion comes to be the highest degree of sacredness.

His words are directly related to the situation that is evolving in Angkor Wat along with the rest of the world. Just like tourists at Disney World or Las Vegas take pictures of replicas of cities or monuments, this picture taking and sharing has often become the primary end of what used to be journeys of discovery and enjoyment of a moment or an experience. A photograph is no longer just a way to share or save a memory, it is in fact more important in and of itself than the actual event. If you can't show it to the world online, then there is no point in living it. The significance of a place is secondary to its symbolic representation.

In a way this mirrors our spectacle-driven culture, with the omnipresence of Paris Hilton and the likes built on no accomplishment whatsoever other than being famous for being famous. Devoid of any actual talent, their celebrity is a self-perpetuating phenomenon, and the reflection of a society that more and more values appearance over essence.

Reporting Life from Angkor Wat, Cambodia

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Above, a quick video of Bun, our tour guide through Cambodia's Temples. If you are coming to visit these parts anytime in the near future, do contact him, he is a fantastic man more than willing to share his wisdom. His email: bunhak2004@yahoo.com

Below, a picture of yours truly at the Angkor Wat site.

Everyday Censorship

As I read in the Hong Kong press how the young Chinese perceive the Dalai Lama, it is almost as if they are talking about a different person than the one we know. All their life, they have been told that he is some sort of dangerous separatist, intent on taking away land that is rightfully China's. No wonder they react with dismay when confronted with the growing pro-Tibet demonstrations in the West.

There are many ways the Chinese government imposes censorship that makes such lack of understanding possible. You would think, for instance, that the Internet has made information accessible to everyone and anyone, creating a true democracy of knowledge. And yet, governments have devised or acquired the tools to monitor everything that goes on online, and they are therefore even better equipped than before to track and crack down on dissent. And the results can be devastating. Egyptian blogger Kareen Amer got four years for insulting his President (imagine if that were to happen here - the prison population would reach new records!).

And it's not just authoritarian governments. There is no doubt that, since 9/11, we are being kept in the dark as to the extent to which the online activities of Americans are being tracked by our own government. We don't even need to know for sure the extent of the government's eavesdropping capabilities - knowing they exist is enough to make you think twice before publishing anything. Knowing that everything you say and do online can and will be held against you creates a certain level of subconscious self-censorship. Not for me. Publish and be damned, as they say.

691

This is the number of of sexual abuse accusations that the Catholic Church has had brought against it in the United States since 1950. For all of these proceedings, the church has had to pay out $2 billion in abuse costs with the majority of these transactions happening in the last six years. It is in preparation for his arrival in America that Pope Benedict states that he is "deeply ashamed, and do what is possible so this cannot happen again."

A. I think Pope Benedict XVI is ugly. I point this out only because, in comparison, when Pope John Paul II ruled the earth he at least had a gummy bear/grandpa/lovey dovey look to him. Perhaps I am biased because when I was little my grandmother had a photo of JP above her bed and I got to see it every week when we visited her on the weekends. This one just looks like an oger.

B. I think Pope Benedict XVI is immoral. It is immoral to stop stem cell research. It is immoral to not give condoms out in Africa.

C. I think Pope Benedict XVI is ignorant. While giving a press conference when he first arrived he grouped homosexuality and pedophilia in the same sentence. What a fool.