"He physically threw out the money changers and kicked over their tables, using his body and his actions to convey his message. It was an æffective political performance so provocative that news of his deed, and therefore his message, traveled throughout the city." - pg. 89
Action speaks louder than words. This saying is true in many instances, especially when it comes to protest. When Jesus wanted to show people his outrage, he did not go to the streets to yell at the people, but used action to convey his feelings. When he physically assaulted the money changers, it would easily capture the attention of others around him. Obviously, violence is a big indicator of displease. It clearly showed to others that Jesus was extremely displease with what the church was doing. Jesus is one person and was able to make commotion like this. Protest that uses actions (not necessarily violence) instead of just words can be inspiring and can create motion to change the system.
"Faith-healing and magic tricks were stock-in-trade for the many wandering holy men and prophets (The Amazing Jacob! Disappearing Jebediah!) who used public demonstrations of their supernatural power as a means to fame and fortune. These miracles, implausible by our standards, were the popular entertainment of the time." - pg. 92
This was kind of funny to me. Today we're easily entertained by our phones, but they didn't have phones back then. It is crazy to think that people would go outside and try to find people doing magic tricks for entertainment. Magicians now would have been seen as prophets back in the day. It reminds me of the movie Dune 2. In the movie, Paul Atreides was seen as a messiah because of the outrageous performance he had put on. He could get glimpses of the future and summoned the biggest sandworm to ride on. Eventually he gained a big performance.
"Culture is necessary for our very survival. Without it we wouldn’t know who or what we are, nor how to function beyond rudimentary biological life." pg. 132
I love this quote and how true it is. Culture is something that's passed down for generations and makes up who we are as groups and individuals. Our identities are embedded in what culture we're from. What I love about culture is that there is sooooo many different cultures around the world. It is amazing to see cultures mix and how different groups come together to learn about each other's differences. Without culture, we as people would be living in a black and white world. Everyone would be the same, everyone would eat the same things, have the same routine, have the same ideas. Culture is what keeps life spicy.
"It’s not just that we reject unorthodox things because we don’t understand, relate to, or agree with them, but also because, beyond this, we’re not culturally equipped to recognize, hear, or see them: dissident speech sounds like noise, marginalized people escape our field of vision, and so on." - pg. 140
Guernica by Pablo Picasso is a depiction of the atrocities the Nazi's did to the citizens of Guernica. This art piece created from a request of a left-wing republican government of Spain. In his painting, he took an abstract approach instead of a realistic approach. This was something that bewildered many as art representing of war are usually more realistic. The different geometries, colors, and chaos in the art had a large meaning to his art. Instead of a realistic take, where the art shows a true image to reality, he took an approach where he gave his prospective of the events that took place in Guernica. This forces the audience to look into the mind of Pablo Picasso and look at the art with the inspiration to actually dissect the meaning of the art piece. The perspective or meaning of the painting could be different from others depending on your culture, but that was a part of why Pablo Picasso had made this art piece in the first place.
Cut Piece - Yoko Ono 1965
Cut Piece by Yoko Ono is a captivating performance art that is interactive to the audience. In her performance art, Yoko Ono sits at the center of the stage with a pair of scissors. No words where spoken, no movement was made, Yoko Ono sat on the ground idle and waiting. Eventually the audience began to use the scissors to cut a piece of clothing off of her. What was really captivating about this performance art is the interaction between Yoko Ono and the audience. While Yoko Ono was motionless, without emotion, she was still able to bring out the personality of each audience. It was almost like giving full control to the audience allowed them to freely express their personalities. Some came up and only cut off very little pieces, some took the sleeves of the shirt instead of the collar, some boldly cut off multiple big pieces of clothing off Yoko Ono. Nonetheless, Yoko Ono did not budge and showed the fearlessness she had within. The overall message I got from this performance art was the perspective of what it would be like when you don't have control over yourself. Yoko Ono showed what it would be like when you give other people the decisions over your own body.
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