Ganesha, the elephant-headed Hindu god of luck and the offspring of Shiva and Parvati, is my favorite deity. Pot-bellied and full of fun, he’s also the god of wisdom and patron of arts and sciences. But I’ve never seen the numinous pachyderm in Jesus and Mo before. In today’s Jesus and Mo strip, called “nose”, Ganesha (also called Ganapati) appears for what may be the first time. The strip came with a note:
A silly one today. Ganesh seems to bring out the inner child in the prophets. The story is about Cher riding a mechanical elephant on stage, and the furore it caused:
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/tusk-tusk-cher-73-rides-mechanical-elephant-into-row-with-hindus-05c9lws73
(sorry, this subscription-only source was all I could find)
Well, I could read this much of the Times article, which came with a photograph:
Cher is wowing audiences with her age-defying looks on her tour, but she has been accused of being outdated in her attitude towards ancient religions and culture.
During a segment in the show, Cher, 73, comes on stage singing the Gayatri mantra, a revered Sanskrit text, while riding a mechanical elephant and wearing a sari. She then transitions into her 1990s dance classic All or Nothing.
Following her London show at the O2 arena on Monday, she was accused of cultural appropriation. Rina Arya, a professor at Huddersfield University, said she understood why the act had “riled South Asian communities”. Cher had taken sacred Hindu symbols and “emptied them of significance”. The elephant represents the Lord Ganesh.
“Cher’s display is unequivocally insensitive because of its… [paywall begins].
Clearly, people are outraged at the “cultural appropriation” here. These seems to be a lot of that species of outrage going around. . . .
Bathroom? I had always assumed that the creator of Jesus ‘n’ Mo was British. But bathroom? Unless, of course, it is designed to throw the nutters off the trail.
Yes but J & M are at home & most loos are in a bathroom – if it were USA would he say ‘rest room’? That makes me think of actors – ‘resting’ between engagements!
Don’t USians call the home loo the bathroom? If a Brit said they wanted to use my “bathroom” for purposes of numbers 1 or 2, I’d think they were a bit…well, weird and 1950s.
My favorite cartoon featuring Ganesha
https://pbfcomics.com/comics/spelling/
The Perry Bible Fellowship is definitely the best humor comic since The Far Side.
Oh yes. Isn’t that the one that turns into a punch-up? (Follows link) Yup.
(Have I just demonstrated a liking for ‘inappropriate’ comics and an embarassingly familiar acquaintance with pbf? Probably. Well I claim in mitigation my deliberate ignorance of all TV soaps and ‘reality’ dreck 😉
I have many faves, but this will probably do
https://pbfcomics.com/comics/the-jubilee/
cr
Oh, and how could I have overlooked this one:
https://pbfcomics.com/comics/harlots-web/
cr
omg, a real lol moment. thanks.
Fun and wisdom in a deity? A delightful deity – at last.
Cher sure does know how to ride’em.
https://www.thisismyjam.com/song/cher/if-i-could-turn-back-time
She succeeded in getting a “wordless workshop” message across by wearing her ” just say no to crack” outfit.
Anything for the troops. 🙂
Would you say she is “odd” on account of riding this mechanical elephant?
There’s not much more to the article after Jerry’s “paywall begins” note, but here it is:
““Cher’s display is unequivocally insensitive because of its superficial treatment of the solemnity of sacred text,” said Arya.
“It is not the first time the star, whose hits include If I Could Turn Back Time and Believe, has been accused of cultural appropriation. She recently dropped her 1973 hit Half-Breed from her shows, which she had performed wearing huge Native American headdresses.
“Cher, who claims Cherokee heritage, told a fan on Twitter: “I did a song 50 years ago and it wasn’t meant to be offensive. However, that’s a kinda bullshit excuse. Need to retire beautiful costume and stop singing it. It’s WAY past time.””