Dark Horse video: Katy Perry Opposing Allah Petition

It was not just a man being disintegrated along with his Arabic “Allah” necklace that sparked demands for youtube to remove Katy Perry’s Dark Horse. Shazad Iqbal’s petition, which had over 65 thousand signatures, also claimed Katy Perry was in opposition to God with her powers in the pop video.

Such goes to show, that blasphemy is clearly conveyed in the video, since Katy Perry (who appears to be representing an opposition of God) engulfs the believer and the word God in flames.

This is not just about whether an act of blasphemy was committed – I am inclined to agree with views that it was bling jewellery which no one realised was the word “Allah.”

Rather, a personal interpretation of a pop video that a woman was destroying a believer as a challenge to God. Rather than the story of a woman that was rather exacting on would be suitors; where dating her was like playing with magic. Watch out!

The lyrics of the song make that clear enough and the video takes it’s cue from them:

Make me your Aphrodite
Make me your one and only
But don’t make me your enemy, your enemy, your enemy

So you wanna play with magic
Boy, you should know what you’re falling for
Baby do you dare to do this?
Cause I’m coming at you like a dark horse
Are you ready for, ready for
A perfect storm, perfect storm
Cause once you’re mine, once you’re mine
There’s no going back

So while the video has been edited not to show the necklace anymore (see photo above) Iqbal has failed to have the video removed. Some questioned why as a Muslim he watched music videos like this:

There has been a mixed response to this discussion some For and some Against many people comment why was he watching the video in the first place? My answer

I’m a regular 22 year old I do watch music videos this particular one I didn’t watch it was brought to my attention and felt disgusted by it. Also even if I was a devout Muslim that shouldn’t be watching “sexed up videos” this does not take away the fact that the name of the Lord was used in an inappropriate, manner what do you expect us to not watch it and turn a blind eye? Unlikely.

Still, while there are bigger battles and issues out there a peaceful petition was used and responded to. That is at least preferable to intimidation and violence whether you consider offence to yourself deliberate or unintentional. The concern is distorting what art is trying to convey and censoring. The call was to ban rather than edit.

Iqbal is right though that Katy Perry does oppose his version of Allah, stating:

“I don’t believe in a heaven or a hell or an old man sitting on a throne. I believe in a higher power bigger than me because that keeps me accountable. Accountability is rare to find, especially with people like myself, because nobody wants to tell you something you don’t want to hear. I actually don’t trust people who start to turn on me because they get scared of telling me the truth. I’m not Buddhist, I’m not Hindu, I’m not Christian, but I still feel like I have a deep connection with God. I pray all the time—for self-control, for humility. There’s a lot of gratitude in it. Just saying ‘thank you’ sometimes is better than asking for things.”

To be more honest the Egyptian theme interested me more in the video. MTV on the Egyptology of the video:

“While there is clearly an amalgamation of other cultures and Egyptomania at play in the video (Is that a Viking ship in the opening? Spinning rims on the chariot?),” Creasman wrote to MTV News in an email, “Perry’s modern take on ancient Egypt is refreshing. With Perry’s star power and Juicy J’s beats, I expect enrollment in Egyptology classes will see a welcome surge this year.”

A surge in learning Egyptology rather than blasphemy allegations against artists would be more than welcome. Claiming art and story telling as against God is religious fundamentalism we all need to oppose.

Article written by John Sargeant on Homo economicus’ Weblog

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Was it Twitter Wot Won it?

If the American Presidential election was decided by social media it would be a landslide:

On Twitter, Obama has 21.5m followers; Romney has 1.6m. On Facebook, Obama has 31.6m likes; Romney has just 11.6m. The list goes on – Obama’s YouTube channel has 254,000 subscribers, Romney, just 27,000; Obama’s Instagram feed has 1.5m followers, whereas Romney’s has only 68,000.

More on that can be found here.

In reality it will be a handful of swing states (marginals to us Brits) which will tip Romney or Obama via the electoral college into the White House. Though I have occasionally received breaking news via a Facebook status update:

… it’s worth remembering that not everyone is on social media. Recent research from the Pew Research Center points out that, while the number of Americans who regularly go to social media networks to find out their news has doubled since January, it is still only a regular news source for a relatively small number of people: just 17 per cent of the population.

As Talan puts it: “It’s like breakfast. You want to have it – it’s a really important meal – but it’s not the only meal.”

Also twitter is like preaching to the choir rather than converting infidels. Studies that looked at the influence of social media on voting need look at not just voting intention, but whether social media use meant more likely to vote, helped them change their mind, persuade others to vote, campaign for a particular candidate and how. If there was a scale included (not just yes or no) the data may enable us to see whether social media is more a communication tool or an influential opinion maker.

Like “It’s The Sun Wot Won It!” on the front page of the same newspaper in Britain when the Conservative Party narrowly retained power in 1992 claiming their support helped John Major overturn the opinion polls. Traditional media are still the main way we receive news – and whether it is a column in The Wall Street Journal or a video clip of Fox News we make use of Twitter or Facebook to share with others in the digital age.

Celebrity endorsement probably are less about giving a candidate new supporters, rather it is about creating enthusiastic supporters to definitely vote, get campaigning plus all the publicity and campaign finance that helps come polling day. The photo above of Katy Perry was tweeted (sent) to the 28 million people that follow her – that photo was retweeted (sent to others to see) by over 14,000 of them to those following them. So an audience beyond fans of Katy Perry could see that photo.

By the way if you would like to follow me on Twitter feel free @JPSargeant78

Article written by John Sargeant on Homo economicus’ Weblog