Banksy’s modern Nativity, revisited in 2018: Trump’s wall, and Jesus


Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
==> Georges Santayana,
The Life of Reason, vol. 1: Reason in Common Sense)

Those who don’t pay attention to history are condemned to repeat it? Then, gods forbid we should have leaders among the condemned, and heaven keep us from joining their folly.

Hey, I’ve been putting this post up for most of a decade. It’s time for everyone to join Mr. Gorbachev, and tear down that wall. Which wall? That one. THAT one. Robert Frost noted, “Something there is that does not like a wall.” That something is God. Humanity. You. Your children. Act now.

Has there ever been a good wall that actually worked to keep trouble away? Do we need to rebuild the Berlin Wall in the Americas?

Thomas Nast helped bring down the crooks at Tammany Hall with cartoons. Boss Tweed, the chief antagonist of Nast, crook and leader of the Tammany Gang, understood that Nast’s drawings could do him in better than just hard hitting reporting — the pictures were clear to people who couldn’t read.

But a cartoon has to get to an audience to have an effect.

Here’s a cartoon below, a comment on the security wall being built in Israel, that got very little circulation in the west at Christmas time. Can you imagine the impact had this drawing run in newspapers in Europe, the U.S., and Canada?

It’s a mashup of a famous oil painting* related to the Christian Nativity, from a London-based artist who goes by the name Banksy. (Warning: Banksy pulls no punches; views shown are quite strong, often very funny, always provocative, generally safe for work unless you work for an authoritarian like Dick Cheney who wants no counter opinions.)

[That paragraph is a decade old; is there anyone who doesn’t know who Banksy is, today? Anyone besides me who didn’t see the movie?]

banksy-israels-wall-77721975_fda236f91a.jpg

Banksy’s modern nativity — does he ever bother to copyright his stuff, or would he rather you broadcast it?

*  At least I thought so in 2008.  I can’t find the painting now.  Anybody recognize a work underneath Banksy’s re-imagining?  Let us know in comments, eh?  Perhaps this one, by David Roberts?  Perhaps this engraving after Joseph M. W. TurnerTurner’s original? Plus, in 2008, most people said “Banksy who?”

Tip of the old scrub brush to Peoples Geography.

More, in 2011: 

More in 2012:

More in 2018:

 

https://twitter.com/LynnMarie19125/status/1073738088139022336

This is an encore post.

Yes, this is an encore post. Defeating ignorance takes patience and perseverance.

32 Responses to Banksy’s modern Nativity, revisited in 2018: Trump’s wall, and Jesus

  1. Ed Darrell says:

    Not sure what the problem is. I found several posts pushed into the spam filter; but more were pushed into the automatic-to-trash line. Something in the machine has taken a disliking to your posts.

    Could you e-mail me next time you post and it doesn’t show up right away?

    I’ve sprung from captivity all your posts I can find — so of course there are duplicates — holler if I’ve missed something.

    Like

  2. Ed Darrell says:

    Weird. Maybe sign out, just post as no one signed in.

    I’m searching for an answer.

    Like

  3. http://www.cartoonmovement.com/p/5918/cartoons
    http://www.cartoonmovement.com/cartoon/26186

    Christmas Spirit Yannis Antonopoulos
    International Migrants Day – 18 December
    18 Dec 2015

    Like

  4. www cartoonmovement com/p/5918/cartoons
    www cartoonmovement com/cartoon/26186

    Christmas Spirit Yannis Antonopoulos
    International Migrants Day – 18 December
    18 Dec 2015

    Like

  5. http://www.cartoonmovement.com/p/5918/cartoons
    http://www.cartoonmovement.com/cartoon/26186

    Christmas Spirit Yannis Antonopoulos
    International Migrants Day – 18 December
    18 Dec 2015

    Like

  6. https://www.cartoonmovement.com/cartoon/26186

    Christmas Spirit Yannis Antonopoulos
    International Migrants Day – 18 December
    18 Dec 2015

    Like

  7. Previous comment to that went through fine. Before that my second comment at https://timpanogos.wordpress.com/2018/10/09/october-9-2018-st-deniss-day-patron-saint-for-those-who-have-lost-their-head/#comments took many tries to get through, then never showed up in comments list.

    Like

  8. I’ve been having a lot of trouble trying to post the last few times, through twitter and wordpress logins. Multiple attempts a couple of days ago all failed. Comment seems to be accepted, even got the ‘looks like you already said that’ duplicate comment notice, but nothing ever shows up (comment with or without links).

    Like

  9. Christmas Spirit Yannis Antonopoulos
    International Migrants Day – 18 December
    18 Dec 2015

    Like

  10. I’ve been having a lot of trouble trying to post the last few times, through twitter and wordpress logins. Multiple attempts a couple of days ago all failed. Comment seems to be accepted, even got the ‘looks like you already said that’ duplicate comment notice, but nothing ever shows up (comment with or without links). Previous comment to that went through fine. Before that my second comment at https://timpanogos.wordpress.com/2018/10/09/october-9-2018-st-deniss-day-patron-saint-for-those-who-have-lost-their-head/#comments took many tries to get through, then never showed up in comments list.

    Anyhow, if this makes it (previous test worked), https://www.cartoonmovement.com/p/5918/cartoons
    https://www.cartoonmovement.com/cartoon/26186

    Christmas Spirit Yannis Antonopoulos
    International Migrants Day – 18 December
    18 Dec 2015

    Like

  11. I’ve been having a lot of trouble trying to post the last few times, through twitter and wordpress logins. Multiple attempts a couple of days ago all failed. Comment seems to be accepted, even got the ‘looks like you already said that’ duplicate comment notice, but nothing ever shows up (comment with or without links). Previous comment to that went through fine. Before that my second comment at https://timpanogos.wordpress.com/2018/10/09/october-9-2018-st-deniss-day-patron-saint-for-those-who-have-lost-their-head/#comments took many tries to get through, then never showed up in comments list.

    Anyhow, if this makes it (previous test worked), https://www.cartoonmovement.com/p/5918/cartoons
    https://www.cartoonmovement.com/cartoon/26186

    Christmas Spirit Yannis Antonopoulos
    International Migrants Day – 18 December
    18 Dec 2015

    Like

  12. I’ve been having a lot of trouble trying to post the last few times, through twitter and wordpress logins. Multiple attempts a couple of days ago all failed. Comment seems to be accepted, even got the ‘looks like you already said that’ duplicate comment notice, but nothing ever shows up (comment with or without links). Previous comment to that went through fine. Before that my second comment at https://timpanogos.wordpress.com/2018/10/09/october-9-2018-st-deniss-day-patron-saint-for-those-who-have-lost-their-head/#comments took many tries to get through, then never showed up in comments list.

    Anyhow, if this makes it (previous test worked), https://www.cartoonmovement.com/p/5918/cartoons
    https://www.cartoonmovement.com/cartoon/26186

    Christmas Spirit Yannis Antonopoulos
    International Migrants Day – 18 December
    18 Dec 2015

    Like

  13. Ed Darrell says:

    Here’s a twist. Whatvif it’s not a Banksy?

    Like

  14. Ed Darrell says:

    Banksy? He’s probably doing fine. More orople appreciate his work, now.

    https://twitter.com/i/events/1076726691588759552

    Like

  15. j a higginbotham says:

    Christmas Spirit Yannis Antonopoulos
    International Migrants Day – 18 December

    18 Dec 2015

    Like

  16. Christmas Spirit. International Migrants Day – 18 December
    18 Dec 2015 Yannis Antonopoulos

    Like

  17. Christmas Spirit. International Migrants Day – 18 December
    18 Dec 2015 Yannis Antonopoulos

    About MFB

    Like

  18. Christmas Spirit. International Migrants Day – 18 December
    18 Dec 2015 Yannis Antonopoulos

    https://www.cartoonmovement.com/cartoon/26186
    https://www.cartoonmovement.com/p/5918/cartoons

    Like

  19. Christmas Spirit. International Migrants Day – 18 December
    18 Dec 2015 Yannis Antonopoulos

    About MFB

    Like

  20. jahigginbotham says:

    Christmas Spirit. International Migrants Day – 18 December
    18 Dec 2015 Yannis Antonopoulos

    About MFB

    Like

  21. jahigginbotham says:

    Christmas Spirit. International Migrants Day – 18 December
    18 Dec 2015 Yannis Antonopoulos

    Like

  22. jahigginbotham says:

    Christmas Spirit. International Migrants Day – 18 December
    18 Dec 2015 Yannis Antonopoulos

    About MFB

    Like

  23. jahigginbotham says:

    Christmas Spirit. International Migrants Day – 18 December
    18 Dec 2015 Yannis Antonopoulos
    https://www.cartoonmovement.com/cartoon/26186
    https://www.cartoonmovement.com/p/5918/cartoons

    Like

  24. Ed Darrell says:

    New Banksy in Wales causes a stir.

    Like

  25. Thanks for sharing Banksy as I don’t believe I had heard of him or if I saw his work don’t remember his name. Very timely art.

    Like

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