A Minor Edit on Post: "Visually Changing a Place: A Strategy for Take-over"

The former Athenaeum Club on Church Street (Toronto) 
has incorporated its original "Moorish Revival" 
style onto a condo's facade.

In the previous post: "Visually Changing a Place: A Strategy for Take-over" I write:

Modern "Moorish" influence involves waves of Muslims who are leaving their countries to come to the West in a form of stealthy, steady colonization. Modern day Islamic influences are all about changing our landscape to fit the Muslims' worldview and way of life.

I use the word "modern" incorrectly in this context. I should have written "contemporary" instead. "Contemporary" better explains this new wave of Islamic influence on the West from the late 20th until now, which consists primarily of non-Western, Muslim peoples moving into Western lands. Islamic influences during the late 19th and early 20th centuries on modern artists such as Matisse were mainly transplanted either through documents and articles (of art, etc.) or travel by individual Westerners into Islamic lands.

Matisse, for example, spent some time in Morocco, where he obtained cultural and artistic insights that he incorporated into his Western art. This didn't make his (and other modernists') art "Islamic" but rather produced a new style of art which took cues from non-Western cultures to mark its own. Other influences on modern artists include the "primitive art" of Africa, and Chinese, Japanese and even Russian influences.

Currently, there is no "incorporation" or even adjustment of these Islamic and Muslim influences. What we're getting is simply a direct transplant of ideas, cultures and behaviors that the waves of Muslim immigrants are bringing into our lands. There is no interchange, assimilation, or "incorporation" of these ideas and cultures to fit our Western sentiments. What we've really got is the "other" living in our midst, in his full and glorious strangeness.

Visually Changing a Place: A Strategy for Take-over

On Church Street, Toronto. The former Athenaeum Club has incorporated its "Moorish Revival" style onto a condo's facade.

Here an article published at ChronWatch.com, which discusses in detail how our fascination with art and beauty of other cultures may be to our detriment: Stealthy Islamic Inroads Into Our Culture I wrote the above article as a response to a website that calls itself Spacing Toronto,"  whose mission appears to be: "understanding the urban landscape." Spacing Toronto wrote a glowing article about the Islamic architectural influences in Toronto, without considering the artistic aim of the original Moorish influences, and many of the tackier, uglier "revivals" we're seeing now. Modern "Moorish" influence involves waves of Muslims who are leaving their countries to come to the West in a form of stealthy, steady colonization. Modern day Islamic influences are all about changing our landscape to fit the Muslims' worldview and way of life. The original Moorish influences of the late nineteenth century artists, as I wrote in the previous post, were taken up by artists who incorporated, and even reformed, some of these architectural and artistic influences to fit their Western visions, rather than copy them directly. We are not currently experience a Moorish revival; simply a Muslim (attempt at) colonization and eventual take-over of Western lands.

The West's Fascination with the "Other"

Henri Matisse Still Life with Blue Tablecloth, 1909

I have written several posts on the influence of Islamic art on Western art. I argue that this very different from allowing huge populations of Muslims to immigrate to the West. Artistic influences are at the discretion of the artist. Not only that, but the artist (or architect) naturally subsumes the foreign art into his own cultural style, so the object or image doesn't look so foreign. Still, the modern painters and architects who spent so much time incorporating primitive and oriental influences into their art spent weren't immediately accepted by the public, since their work did appear so alien.

Here are some articles discussing this both at my art blog, Camera Lucida, and here at Our Changing Landscape.

- How much Influence did Orientalism have on Western Art?


- Why were Modernists Artsists so Interested in Non-Western Art?

Here is a quote from the post linked above:

The same spirit that produced Islamic "art" - which is really a profusion of ornamentation and decoration - is the same spirit that produced, eventually, abstract and non-representational art. That spirit is the disinclination to reproduce representational art, since non-representational art is believed (by these [modern] art practitioners) to be more pure and more spiritual.

China Rising? [Cont.]

[N.B. - The video for Monday's "Fears and Facts About China," which is part of a week-long program "China on the World Stage" produced by TVO, is now available on Youtube. I have linked to it below. I wrote about the Monday episode here.]

Fears and Facts About China (Monday, July 19, TVO) (Links to video of episode).

Most of the episodes on The Agenda's "China on the World Stage" do have videos on TVO's website, including yesterday's (Wednesday, July 21) fascinating discussion.

First, there was a one-on-one interview with the The Agenda's resident political expert Janice Stein, followed by a half-hour panel with various political and intellectual experts. Stein talked with TVO host Steve Paiken on: "China's Authoritarian Economics." There is a video of the interview (15 minutes) available  here, but it isn't very interesting, and not very enlightening.

Like her fellow Canadian on the ensuing panel ("Reinventing China's Economy") Bernie Wolf, Stein, I believe, is a China apologist. Her message essentially is that China behaves in an authoritarian, and often cruel, manner towards its workforce and people because that is the only way that things would get done. She even seems to be excusing China's notorious intellectual theft and unfair trade practices (mostly with the United States) on Chinese "culture."

I will venture to say that Canadians' opinions on China are clouded by their competitive (and dare I say, inferior) relationship with the United States. It is almost as though these two intellectuals (Wolf and Stein) are saying that any country that competes against, and diffuses, the United States' power is a good thing.

Below is the link to the panel of yesterday's "The Reinvention of China's Economy."

The Reinvention of China's Economy (Wednesday, July 21, TVO) (Links to video of episode).

Peter Navarro, who hails from the University of California, is a panelist on "The Reinvention of China's Economy." He says that China's behavior in the global economy is unprecedented, incredibly aggressive, and is the recipe for a future trade war between the Western economies and China (especially the United States and China).

He says, without mincing his words, that the Chinese are the biggest thieves and cheats of our global world, past and present. One of their audacious behaviors is to steal American inventions and to reproduce these same goods in their slave-labor style factories (his words, not mine) to later sell as cheaply as possible right back to the Americans (and the world at large).

His book: The Coming China Wars: Where They Will Be Fought and How They Can Be Won, discusses the point he made during the panel that a trade war is inevitable if China continues (and is allowed to continue) in this manner.

Then there is Andrea Chun, who is presented as "a lawyer and host of Newsbeat, a Cantonese-language talk show on Fairchild Radio", which serves Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto. (As an aside, look at the website for Fairchild Radio. It is entirely in Chinese). She openly apologizes for, and defends, China's behavior in the  manner of  "all's fair in love and war." Thankfully, Peter Navorro wouldn't cave in, and said that that this kind of behavior by the Chinese is recipe for a trade war. True to the manner of a bully, Chun, near the end of the panel, started softening her positions.

Andrea Chun is a prime example of the fruits of contemporary multicultural Toronto (and Canada). Loyalties are for the motherland, to the extent of even selling out Canada.

As an aside, Chun has a strange accent. It sounds as though she tried hard to extinguish her Chinese accent, but strange residues still remain. I've been noticing this Chinese/English style.

It is clear that in many ways the Chinese have free rein over what they are doing globally. I'm not sure how they were given such unprecedented power. Perhaps it is unprepared Western countries, with their own problems to deal with, or it is the "multicultural" ethos that has now permeated the world (notice how this is playing out with Muslim in the Western world). But, the Chinese (Indians, Muslims, Arabs) are not about to soften. Whatever they do will be in their own interest. Loyalties have now been divided where they can influence their own countries even while living within the shores of Western lands. Americans seem to be waking up to this. Canadians, represented by the likes of Wolf and Stein, are still in denial, clouded partly by their competitive nature toward the US. But, in the long run, Canadians are better off forming stronger links with their neighbor (and ally), the US.

China Rising - Postscipt

As I look through the internet for the phrase "CHina Rising," which I used as the title of my previous blog, it appears to be quite a common phrase. Perhaps it is part of a poem, but I will try to track it down.

I got the title from an expermental film by a homosexual filmmaker (which we watched numerous times during my film edcuation at Ryerson University) called Scorpio

China Rising?

The "public television" of Canada (or Ontario, to be more precise) called Television Ontario (TVO) has started a five-day program on China. Last night's (July 19th) episode was titled "Fears and Facts about China." Recently, I have been having premonitions about China, starting from St. Paul's decision to evangelize westward instead of eastward, and leaving out those big lands like India and China to find Christ through other means, to the overwhelming presence of Chinese - or East Asian - people in Toronto which is made even more prominent by the large number of Chinese women with white (and now more frequently, black) men. The goal is to dominate the West (and the world), at least economically for now, and surely for bigger and better political gains in the future.

I remember getting a visceral, negative feeling when we heard about the "poisoned" dog and cat food, medicine, and paint that were part of China's exports recently. I don't think the Chinese are conspiring to kill people off with their spoiled goods, but I think the Chinese hegemony is not nearly as functional and trustworthy as we like to think it is. I don't think that their standards are up to par with the West, hence all the products that kept going wrong. But, I don't doubt that they have found an uncontested entry into the Western (and Christian) world, and are building their influences and presence through many ways.

Unfortunately, the video for the panel discussion on "Fears and Facts about China" is not up (these episodes are all repeat programs). One member of the TVO panel, Daniel W. Drezner from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, voices the same opinion as I do about China's ambitions, and elaborates further that if things keep going in this direction the West will have no choice but to cause the retreat of the ever-encroaching Chinese. This is, after all, what happened to the Japanese in WWII. Those are his thoughts, and I have also voiced this opinion in discussions.

As I wrote in my July 15 blog "Islam and the Antichrist," I try not to be a doomsday advocate. But, so many things seem to be going in that direction in our era.

The Underbelly of Belly Dance

For some reason, I posted the article The Underbelly of Belly Dance (which I have posted in full below this blog entry) in my Articles section at Camera Lucida. Probably, it is because I wrote it before I set up Our Changing Landscape. Also, at the time, I considered belly dance a form of art. And I am have rather ambitiously described Camera Lucida as "a place to explore and shed light on how art, culture and society converge." I took belly dance classes for about two years, several years ago. I had taken ballet and modern dance into my mid-twenties. I started belly dance classes because I wanted to take a form of exercise that was more related to dance, which wouldn't feel like the grueling and boring gym exercises that I was doing at the time to stay in shape. Then, I abruptly quit my belly dance classes. Partly, I was perturbed by the Arabic names that were part of the classes. The harsh guttural sounds were alien, and aggressive. Of course, they disturbed me mainly because of the 9/11 attacks that had become part of our modern imagery and experience. But, as time went on, I began to question the artistic merit of these dances. My article, The Underbelly of Belly Dance, discusses these issues, and concludes that there is less artistic merit to belly dance than its greatest aficionados give it. I will admit, though, Arabic music is mesmerizing and often has lovely melodies. Belly dance seems to be an aggregate of borrowed ideas from other dance disciplines. This seems to be part of the legacy of Arabic (and in particular, Islamic, culture). In Islam's case, I argue here that it has borrowed (and distorted) many Christian themes and stories to build its own particular belief system. I believe that belly dance has done the same with ballet. This is what I argue in The Underbelly of Belly Dance (posted below), as I try to show that its artistic merit is negligible.

----------------------------------------------------------

The Underbelly of Belly Dance

(Originally posted at Camera Lucida under Articles)  

There is a curious phenomenon that has been going on in North America and Europe for the past few decades. Thousands of women are ‘shamelessly displaying their femininity’ through a Middle Eastern dance form more dubiously known as belly dance.

The ‘Finding your Femininity through Belly Dance’ hype is actually the last vestiges of the so-called female liberation’s movement. Belly dance is advertised to Western women to release their apparent inhibitions regarding their bodies. The undulations, body waves, hip circles and other abdomen-centric movements appear to glorify the unique feminine body. If you are not embarrassed at moving in these overtly erotic ways ( there is no other word to describe the movements in belly dance but as erotic), then you have come a long way, seems to be the message. 

Many belly dance aficionados have tried to historically disassociate the dance from its erotic nature. An ancient Egyptian woman called the Almeh, who was well versed in poetry, music dance and other intellectual stimuli, is portrayed as having been the sophisticated cultivator of the dance. Yet, this description fits perfectly with the modern Japanese Geisha, who is a sexualized entertainer of men despite her erudition and education. The prestigious Almeh no longer exists in modern Egypt, if she ever really existed before. 

The belly dance craze in North America started gaining momentum in the seventies and has been growing steadily since. Recently, belly dance schools have tapped onto the extraordinary success of the fitness movements. Gyms started giving belly dance classes along side aerobics. Even yoga centers brought in their belly dance teachers. Still, most women attend classes in belly dance schools at many convenient (and sometimes quite inconvenient) locations. Finally, the convergence into popular culture was sealed when overt eroticism became a daily routine on TV and in the movies. Belly dancing became something to do. 

The majority of women say they started belly dancing to make themselves feel better. They’re searching for some kind of uninhibited narcissism – a feel good about their body - while doing all these undulations and shimmies. Their ultimate proclamation is "we don’t need men to make ourselves feel better" slogan that came out of the feminist movement. Yet quite contrary to this much advertised slogan, it is the poor men who become subjugated to the girl-power type of behavior (exhibited by grandmothers and granddaughters alike) and who end up supporting the dancers. 

There is also the unexpected (or probably quite expected) competition. The urge to be a belly dancer can be a cut-throat experience. Gilded in clenched smiles and girlish voices, what everyone really wants is to stand center stage in full sequined costumes. As with every activity which does not quite reach the level of art, the acrobatics and costumes in belly dance act as substitutes for artistic sublimities. Belly dancing styles become a contortionist’s feat of moving as many parts of the stomach muscles as possible. In fact, its initiation into North America was at Chicago's "World's Columbian Exposition" in 1893, which introduced to the American public the 'dancing girls of the Middle East’, whose huge popularity was mainly as a circus act, along with the hoochy koochy label. 

Many North American professional belly dancers guard closely that they hail from the much more artistic and cultivated discipline of ballet. They started dancing very young, as is required of ballet, and were rejected an entrance into this elite art form. Belly dancing offered them a chance to script their own standards, where the rigorous ballet judges cannot criticize them – what do they know about belly dance anyway?

The overriding promise of belly dance is that ‘you will feel better about all the failures that have derailed your life no matter what they are’ is really a message about masks and camouflage. The real issues are not addressed and resolved. What better way to forget the past than to immerse oneself in something so foreign that all those forgone defeats can be forgotten. Ironically, far from giving them the self-worth they crave, it puts them in an ambiguous relationship with the dance. Even in Middle Eastern circles, where belly dancers are hired for weddings and other festivities, it is still a dance that is frowned upon. Dancers are forever trying to find euphemisms for their dance, emphasizing its folk nature, or its erudite beginnings, or as a dance for pregnant women. Unlike ballet, a belly dancer can never proudly and publicly proclaim her profession.

Reference:

Donna Carlton. Looking for Little Egypt. Bloomington, Ind. : IDD Books, 1994.

De-Islamization of Europe

Despite the hard work of many European counter-jihad groups, not least the efforts of the Dutch Parliamentarian Geert Wilders, to slow down and stop the Islamic influence in their countries, Muslims march on with their determined (and existential) drive to convert everyone in Europe to Islam.

But, here is a bright light in the same Europe, which seemed to be hurtling towards Mohammed. I think, as I have written previously, it is the Geert Wilders effect. If one, two, three, a hundred, take a firm and unflinching stand against Islam in their respective countries, others will surely follow suit. And so have the French, where there is now in effect a ban on the burqa, as approved by the French Parliament. The news can be found here.

More on Hiris Ali, and Her Disdain for Christianity

I had forgotten this piece I wrote on Ayaan Hirsi Ali in April 2010 on her interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper, and her telling proclamation for "equal opportunity scrutiny" for all religions, including Christianity. I have written that the antidote to Islam is not atheism, or disdain for religion in general. The antidote for Islam is Christianity. I won't trust any "former" Muslim who doesn't accept that. Even if the individual proclaims to be an atheist, as long as he argues that following a religion is better than having no religion, and in such hierarchies, that Christianity is better than Islam (or all the others - there are scores of theses that make this argument), it will be difficult for me to take any of them seriously. I have written here about a former Muslim, Sam Solomon, who converted to Christianity. I attended a presentation by Solomon (and Bat Ye'or) recently in Toronto, and his arguments have far more persuasion than whatever Hirsi Ali has been able to offer.

Here is the quote from Ali during a CNN interview which caught my attention in the blog entry I mention above:

We have to take them [Muslims] on. And that means, I think, scrutinizing Islam, criticizing it in the same way that we criticizing Christianity, Judaism and other ideologies, and other religions.

Equal opportunity scrutiny, equal opportunity offense.

I write in the post:

Ali has come forward as an atheist, and has declared her dislike for Christianity (to put it mildly)...[I]t is clear that she politely disdains religion, and that offending Christianity might be just as commendable as offending Islam.

I cannot agree that Christianity and Islam can be scrutinized in the same "equal opportunity" manner that Ali advocates. Some things are better than others. Let us be honest and admit that Christianity is better than Islam.

Stealth Islamic Inroads Into Our Culture

Poster downloaded from the Journey of Faith conference website  

Here is an article of mine that was published at ChronWatch.com in July 2008 titled: Stealth Islamic Inroads Into Our Culture. It is as relevant today as it was almost two years ago.

An Islamic conference just concluded this Sunday in Toronto. The organizers called it Journey of Faith. What is a lay Torontonian supposed to think about this title? Evangelical Christians are viewed suspiciously. But when a full-blown Islamic event, clearly present to proselytize, descends upon Toronto, even subway advertizers oblige with giant posters promoting the event.

I don't think an Islamic invasion, whether by stealth or by war, is far-fetched any more. Geert Wilders certainly believes it is possible. Here is another article of mine Christian Tolerance, Islamic Jihad, which describes the gradual, stealthy inroads that Muslims and Islam made into the ancient Christian kingdom of Ethiopia in the 16th century, until they orchestrated a take-over of the country. Despite the devastation, Ethiopians eventually defeated the Muslims, and lived to tell the tale, continuing with their Christian heritage.

"Stealth", by the way, is a word coined by Robert Spencer, who used it together with Jihad in a book he wrote: Stealth Jihad: How Radical Islam Is Subverting America without Guns or Bombs. In this book, he describes how Muslims infiltrate, slowly and meticulously, the predominant institutions of the land, and eventually convert the society to Islam. This happened 1,000 years ago and is happening now in our own century. This is what Wilders is battling against in the Netherlands, where the infiltration there, and in Europe in general, has reached the turning point, and Muslims have started mandating laws and rules according to their own religion and religious laws. They may or may not use violence, depending on the success of their stealth.

One spectacular stealth-turned-war is Islam in Ethiopia. Christian Ethiopians, for a variety of reasons including Christian piety (all people are equal under God), and a certain complacency, allowed Muslims to infiltrate the land. By the 15th century, Ethiopian Muslims, Muslim tributaries of Ethiopia, and foreign-led Muslim armies consolidated their efforts to eventually invade the country. This fifty-year occupation temporarily devastated the Christian civilization. But, the Emperors, in hiding with their religious leaders, eventually staged a come-back, and regained the land and the religion. I deal with this in another article Christian Tolerance, Islamic Jihad.

Not many stories have such happy endings. Egypt, the former Coptic nation, is now steeped in Islamic culture. India is in a constant battle with its Muslim residents. Europe may now have a spark of hope under the leadership of Geert Wilders, but Muslims will never tire. Even in Ethiopia, nothing is static. Muslims are constantly pushing forward.

Here in Canada, we have the main television channel of the country, the CBC, promoting a Muslim show in its prime time slot, called Little Mosque on the Prairie. I wrote about this in an article titled: How "Little Mosque on the Prairie" Is Aiming at Our Souls, and the article was published both at Chronwatch.com and at the American Thinker. The stealthy infiltration of Islam is a fact of our modern life. Weaknesses in our system, for example: The rampart multiculturalism that is promoted and celebrated in Canada; the atheism of many former Christians; and the immigration policies that don't discriminate against Christianity's avowed enemies, allow Muslims and Islam to grow unabated in our societies.

The eerie culmination of these observations I made is the Islamic conference that I mentioned above, that took place this past week-end in Toronto. It was matter-of-fact, despite it clearly tremendous ambitions. This year is a peaceful conference. What happens a few years down the road?

Islam and the Antichrist

Antichrist and the devil by Luca Signorelli
(downloaded from Wikipedia)

I wrote in a previous post that the more I learn about Islam, the more I realize what an impostor religion it is. In that post, I use an article from Frontpage Magazine to describe how Muslims have appropriated Jesus. They call him Isa, and reduce him to a mere prophet.

In this National Post article last Friday, the theme was Elijah. Again, the Judeo-Christian story has been annexed by Islam, and Elijah has been made into one of their prophets.

What a strange religion. Like a pouting, envious child, it has to steal and usurp the objects of others in order to "build" its own. What a lack of imagination - for the child. And a dearth of holiness and truth - for the religion.

I will even venture to say that Islam is the epitome of the antichrist. I'm not the only one who thinks so. I'm not one to dwell on doomsday, but surely we are approaching that epoch, when the ultimate false christ is now spreading so vigorously around the world.

A Worldnetdaily article also discusses this Islamic connection to the antichrist through a book by  Joel  Richardson titled: The Islamic Antichrist: The Shocking Truth about the Real Nature of the Beast. The Muslims call their saviour the Mahdi, who will bring his Muslim followers to eternal salvation at the day of judgment. Yet another apporpriation here.