Monday, May 19, 2014

Description of a Portion of the Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch

This is a random post about picking out details in this painting. It was an experiment. Did it work? You be the judge.



At the bottom left-hand corner of the painting there is a black shadow of a figure standing with a branch growing out of her thigh, and an apple on top of her head. 

Right next to her, there is a female figure raising her hand to a bird.  A little behind that there is a figure holding an orange sack with green decorations.  To the right of all that, there is a cracked orange ball with a female figure in the inside of it, and a male figure leaning over a ball. On the orange ball there is a vine with some kind of purple fruit growing onto it.  Directly above that there are three figures,  they are all leaning over the orange ball. 

One woman has a big red piece of fruit with greenish yellow leaves on top growing out of  her rear end.  On the right of the orange ball,  there is a female figure sitting down in a relaxed position eating some type of fruit.  She has a circular object resting between her legs with a hole in the top of it. 

In the middle of the painting moving toward the right, there are nine people bunched together.  However, the main female figure in the front has two red apples, placed on her head.  She has her hand around a man looking into a green barrel.  Below the barrel an arm is petting a fish, which is coming out of the barrel.  In the bottom right-hand corner,  there is a pinkish egg shaped object with two arms planted on the ground.  Toward the top of the egg shaped object there are two legs, resting on the legs there is a bluish green bird.  On the other side of that object, there is another egg shaped object with arms and legs, but this one is an off white color that is cracked.  It has some kind of greenish flowers that are hanging of it. 

All the way in the bottom right-hand corner there is a male figure hugging a strawberry.  Moving up above the guy on the strawberry, there is another male figure who has two red flowers in his hand.  To the left of that, there is a female head, and a right arm that seem to be holding a cluster of blue balls. 

All the way on the complete left side where the black shadow of a figure, there is an orange ball in the water  with an oval hole in it, there is a head of a male figure staring through a glass tube looking at a rat.  On top of the orange ball, there is a cracked crystal ball with a man and a woman in it. 

The man has his hand on the womans stomach, and the woman has her hand on the man’s leg.  On the right of that ball with the two figures in it, there seems to be a figure with his head submerged grabbing himself, while he has a red circular ball between his legs.  The ball has a large hole in it with a bird sticking out of it. 

Submerged in the water are six heads of people surrounding a blue ball, which has various colors of other balls.  There is another pinkish orange structure that has vines growing up the top of it.  There are two people in it, an arm and a leg that are sticking out the sides.  Down by the lower limb, there is a male figure laying on his back. With another male figure holding his arm up in the air.  On the right-hand side of the painting,  there is a red tepee with figures of legs sticking out of the entrance.  There are also red limb type structures hanging on the side of the tepee.  On one of the structures there is a very large bird perched on one of the limbs.  Behind the tepee there are a number of people there while the bird appears to be feeding the people.   On the middle left hand side of the painting there is a male figure stroking an owls stomach, while there is another male figure sitting on top of a duck.  On top of the duck there is a bird perched that is blue in color with a auburn breast. 

There is another male figure  with a tear drop on top of his head, which is sitting on top of the bird with one arm sticking up in the air.   These figures are all in the water also.  Then there  is a female figure with an extremely large stomach dancing, with a man in the water.  

In the center of the painting there are various figures riding on camels, unicorns,  goats, birds, fish, boars and other strange animals that seem to be creations of the artist. 

These animals are all on land, which are circling a body of water which is directly in the center of the painting.  There are also various people bathing in the pond.  On the right side of the circle there is a group of people carrying a scorpion type structure, which consists of birds coming out of the front.  Also there is a male figure doing a hand stand with his feet in the air, holding a serpent type baby with his feet.  Above that there are people sitting in a large red flower with a pasture of monkeys.  On the top right there is a face with spike like structure with birds dancing all over it. 

In the middle of the painting on the ground, there is a pack of goats.  Above the circle of animals there is another pond,  which has a black  male figure pushing a tea cup full of people.  To the left there is large blue ball with a ring around it, and on the ring there are people doing hand stands.  On the top of that there is a surringe type object. 

To the left of that there is a half man half serpent with armor on, chasing a female figure.  On the far left there is a pink castle like structure  with clear tubes coming through the sides of it.  At the bottom of the castle type structure there is an opening with horses and people coming out of it.  At the top of the castle  there is a tree with spikes growing out the top of it.  In the back ground behind the castle there are trees, goats and horses.  In the top left hand corner, a male figure is riding on top of a bird which is holding a tree.  To the far right there is an armored serpent man holding a fishing pole flying on a bird.  Below that is a blue flowered castle structure.  People and horses are running  out of the castle like structure.  To the right of that is a pink type structure with a grey tube on the top.  

Saturday, May 17, 2014

Random thoughts about discrimination and stereotyping

Stereotyping can nevertheless lead to discrimination. In the absence of total information about a person, we assume a few traits in him or her just because s/he is African-American or Asian, young or old, tall or short, blonde or brunette.

The assumptions can be true of false, but are made nevertheless, when we are not exactly sure of who or how they are exactly. For example, not all African American men are 6’1” and not everyone is a basketball player; however, when we hear African –American male, we assume they are all tall, and they are all interested in basketball. Or, alternatively, when we hear professional basketball player, we automatically assume African-American and hence tall. Here, a few examples of African-American men who were taller than 6’1” and professional basketball player have created a genre where everyone else with similar traits are stereotyped into. 

Again, physically attractive female, especially blondes, are stereotyped as unintelligent and shallow. Without digging into her background or personality, attractive blondes are considered materialistic and basically ‘dumb’ regardless of her education or qualification.

The idea of a ‘dumb blonde’ has been stereotyped in movies, music as well as literature. There is a separate genre of joke based on them. All these have led us to believe that all attractive blondes are stupid. This is stereotyping, and is pretty harmless at times, until we seriously regard them as dumb and express it to them. For example, we consider all attractive blondes in the workplace inefficient and pass snide comments, or even deny them promotions or jobs. This is where stereotyping turns to discrimination.   

In many fields, African-American men of a certain age have been stereotyped as prone to violence and crime. This may be statistically correct of some African-American teenagers to be associated with crime, as with teenagers who are White, Hispanic or Asian. However, discriminating against African-American teenagers based on this knowledge and denying them jobs or educational opportunities without knowing the background of that specific individual is unfair and wrong.

Discrimination against a race or group that is different, this way, gives rise to racism in a society, which is an unreasonable and unhealthy treatment of people.
TV and media have flooded us with various types of stereotypes about people from various walks of life. There are some very common stereotyping which later on give rise to severe gender discrimination:

Men are physically and emotionally stronger than women
Women aren’t as intelligent or as efficient as men
Men are the breadwinners and women are the homemakers
Women and girls only care about their physical appearance
Girls are not interested or good at sports

These stereotypes were perhaps created with a certain person or a few people in mind, but that does not mean that all women or all men are the same.

Sexual stereotypes suggest that all gays are feminine, have a very distinctive speech pattern and are generally employed in the fashion industry or the Media. On the other hand, all lesbians are manly, rude and prefer manly jobs such as a contractor or a builder. Again, all men who are feminine are thought to be gay; and all women who have a masculine trait in them are supposedly lesbians.