I created the Isis dildo flag at London Pride to start a dialogue, not get a laugh

[Jesus Malverde]

I spent the morning of London’s Pride parade hand-stitching dildos onto a flag.

I’d been using the sex-toy motif in my work before I made a flag of Isis out of them and brought it to the march. Previously, I’ve attached dildos onto postcards from each country where homosexuality is still illegal to point out that the laws of these places regards its gay residents as mere sex objects.

The decision to make the flag was a simple one: a sense of outrage at Isis’s brutal advance across North Africa, Libya, Syria and Iraq. Medieval ideologies and barbarism were being spread and recorded through that most modern of expressions, social media, with that flag ever-present. It has become a potent symbol of brutality, fear and sexual oppression. If I wanted to try and stimulate a dialogue about the ridiculousness of this ideology, the flag was key.

It was important that I didn’t try to replicate the writing on the flag, because the words and their subject – Islam – are not the target. But if I showed as little respect to this flag as Isis shows to the religion and people they claim to represent so that when people saw it they would think, “dildos”? Would that be a crazy idea?

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jun/30/isis-dildo-flag-london-pride-cnn

[Electric Monk]

1. This flag is art. I loved how CNN reported on it, too. k&r, nt.

[Betty Karlson]

2. I prefer this flag over the one Baghdadi invented.

Humour is a mighty weapon, because oppressors can never figure it out.

[Comrade Grumpy]

4. Oh, well.

[Kalidurga]

5. That is what I suspected.

But, I still laughed at CNN's report.

[cui bono]

6. Was that a different report than when the person first stated they saw an Isis flag

at the gay pride parade and it turned out it was a flag of dildos? I didn't watch that video but saw a pic and I think that was a different flag.

[Kalidurga]

7. I am not sure, but I think it's the same flag

either way CNN was wayyyyyyyyyyy off the mark again. The only time I see CNN is when someone posts a video and it's usually something like this where they just jump to some crazy conclusion. It's almost as bad as FOX lately as far as fact checking goes.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

8. I found it funny because they believed there's a link between ISIS and Liberals....

What could we expect from the birthplace of Lou Dobbs and Glenn Beck?

[Kalidurga]

9. Oh my I forgot that is where Glen Beck started. I know virtually nothing about Lou Dobbs except...

he has been around for a long long long time and he has a nice voice. But, yes it struck me as odd they would think that a gay liberal would be parading around with an Isis Flag. I was thinking that guy is really brave, you never know if you are around a lone nut. But, he lived to report the reason for the flag. I am starting to think amateur reporters might be better than many so called journalists.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

11. Too many "journalists" are infotainment personalities....

I remember when CNN was the home of actual journalists like Bernard Shaw. Wolf Blitzer is a joke.

[Kalidurga]

13. That is why I stopped watching the "news".

Sports, weather, and entertainment that is all they report. Real news is reported with those rolling messages under the "newscasters", unless it's a plane crash or something. They do manage somehow to get the headline making news stories on and get real reporters on the scene.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

14. Right-wingers DEPEND on the likes of FOX "News" to tell them what to THINK....

That's because thinking like a right-winger is not natural. It takes constant input.

I used to crack up when something happened late Friday or over the weekend and the Dittoheads were totally LOST as to how to respond until they heard Rush on Monday. Liberals don't NEED to listen to some hero figure's spin to form an opinion.

The Republican's greatest fear is a crackdown on the right-wing poison in this country because a lot of these people would have to think for themselves and the years of conditioning would be undone as their basic humanity took over.

[Kalidurga]

15. This is so true.

I talk to conservatives and I get Rush's talking points from them. So, in a way I do listen to Rush. Rarely directly and I am always surprised when a talking point goes back to that college drop out.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

16. I used to crack up when they felt the need to "teach"....

They honestly believe they were spreading the gospel and people would be in awe of their knowledge and insight.

It led some idiot working in the mailroom listening to the Pigman before lunch to believe all it takes is to parrot that crap to the right guy upstairs and they'd be invited to sit on the board of directors.

[Kalidurga]

17. Oh they are teaching us alright

They are teaching us we are not off the mark when we say that conservatives tend to be sexist, homophobic, racist, and xenophobic.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

18. Don't forget selfish and greedy.

[Kalidurga]

19. Oh yes they are that too.

I saw a poll asking conservatives who deserves to starve. They voted that low wage workers deserve to starve even if they have children. Yes, people who work 40 hours a week in the worst jobs deserve to starve because they couldn't afford to go to college. They are sick disgusting people.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

20. What gets me is they're a tiny minority who wants to wipe out minorities.

[Kalidurga]

21. No I don't think conservatives want to wipe out minorities

they love slave labor too much for that.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

22. Trust me, they'd like to kill them all....

It's the whole "Turner Diaries" thing. They want America and then the whole PLANET to be White Only.

[Kalidurga]

23. Yikes

I think there are some like that. Fortunately there aren't a whole lot of them, just enough to make things difficult or worse for POC and their allies. The worst thing is the ones who are seem to gravitate to jobs where they have authority like police work.

[MADem]

10. He may not have tried to replicate the writing, but some of it is recognizable nonetheless.

Particularly the Magic Word--the name of the Prophet less so, but in context one could figure it out.

He accomplished his goal, CNN notwithstanding:

But oh, it did. On a message board someone posted: “Whenever I see the Isis flag anywhere, all I can see is dildos!” Mission accomplished.

[Iggo]

12. It did start a dialog.

A very, very funny dialog.