Daily Archives: May 27, 2015

Quotes About Free Speech (79 quotes) – Goodreads

Posted: May 27, 2015 at 8:44 am

Some Christian lawyerssome eminent and stupid judgeshave said and still say, that the Ten Commandments are the foundation of all law.

Nothing could be more absurd. Long before these commandments were given there were codes of laws in India and Egyptlaws against murder, perjury, larceny, adultery and fraud. Such laws are as old as human society; as old as the love of life; as old as industry; as the idea of prosperity; as old as human love.

All of the Ten Commandments that are good were old; all that were new are foolish. If Jehovah had been civilized he would have left out the commandment about keeping the Sabbath, and in its place would have said: 'Thou shalt not enslave thy fellow-men.' He would have omitted the one about swearing, and said: 'The man shall have but one wife, and the woman but one husband.' He would have left out the one about graven images, and in its stead would have said: 'Thou shalt not wage wars of extermination, and thou shalt not unsheathe the sword except in self-defence.'

If Jehovah had been civilized, how much grander the Ten Commandments would have been.

All that we call progressthe enfranchisement of man, of labor, the substitution of imprisonment for death, of fine for imprisonment, the destruction of polygamy, the establishing of free speech, of the rights of conscience; in short, all that has tended to the development and civilization of man; all the results of investigation, observation, experience and free thought; all that man has accomplished for the benefit of man since the close of the Dark Ageshas been done in spite of the Old Testament. Robert G. Ingersoll, About The Holy Bible

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Quotes About Free Speech (79 quotes) - Goodreads

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Futurism, explained in meaning facts & art characteristics

Posted: at 8:40 am

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Futurism, described by art quotes on the Futurist artists ideas, their many Manifestos, the meaning of the Futurism art movement, the art characteristics and some history facts.

short introduction: Futurism was a very dynamic art movement of Italian origin; it started circa 1910 by Marinetti. Bendien explains Futurism essentially as an art & LIFE movement. Bendien describes here the main ideas of the Futurist artists and the meaning of the famous Futurist Manifesto.The Futurist artists were longing for a dynamic modern city-life, full of movement, vitality, power and energy. The roots of Futurism origin was this dynamic, modern city with its many cars, busy traffic movements, early airplanes, the daily noise, etc. Starting-point was the Futurist Manifesto in 1908, by poet and writer Marinetti; Futurist artists who followed him were Carra, Boccioni, Severini, Luigo Russolo, Balla etc.. These selected art-quotes on Futurism are taken from Trends in the Present Day Art of Painting, by Dutch art-critic Jacob Bendien. Editor, Fons Heijnsbroek translation, Anne Porcelijn.

Noise of the Street (detail), Boccioni 1911

- Futurism starts its theoretical manifestation more or less like other dogmatic movements, with all other expressions (art movements) encompassing just a few sentences. In fact, even more radically than did Neo Plasticism (= De Stijl).

- The first demand made by the Futurists is that the lazy spectator leave his comfortable chair, from which he can view the painting and be drawn into the centre of the painting ( the basic concept of Futurist ideas, fh!). This way the spectator will be less critical but experience the painting more spontaneously.

- Futurist art makes us ask ourselves whether we are capable of surrendering to a painting without criticizing it beforehand, and only passing judgment afterwards.

- In the first place Futurism is a philosophy of life, based on the question of how to push life to its greatest possible force and fullness. It asks itself only: what creates the most turbulence?

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Futurism, explained in meaning facts & art characteristics

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