Cyborg Cyclist and Butterfly Basher

Hirst Hurts

Armstrong and Hirst are in the news as cyborg cyclist and butterfly basher...

Alva: Same old story. Up and down. One day it’s clapping and celebrating then next day there’s a crucifixion. Lance Armstrong and Damien Hirst. Both.

Michael: Lance? Yes. There’s a place for him. In the future cyborg world, of cloning, regenerative tissues and erasable memories, Lance Armstrong will be the norm.

Alva: But as for Damien Hirst killing 9,000 butterflies and calling it “art”? That one is an extreme case of Oscar Wilde’s “There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about and that is not being talked about.”

Michael: Both will destroy the world as we know it.

Alva: The Tour de France will be an event where medical teams compete to win with cyborgs on steroids.

Michael: And if we applaud performances like Hirst’s the cyborgs will be cycling through a world of dying butterflies and slain cows.

_________

Voice-over

Performance and ego in the coming cyborg world.

There is an asymmetry in vilification here.

The applause that accompanies the crucifixion of Armstrong.

The outrage that accompanies the Hirst exhibition.

Armstrong could be simply ahead of his time. Get over cancer. Use tools. Get to the top. Independence Day. Survive. And start a charity.

Hirst milks the media to feed his ego. Massacre 9,000 butterflies? “Art is anything you can get away with.”

In 2050 Armstrong might be accepted by some people for using meds to go a little further.

In 2050 Hirst might still be mocked. Dead butterflies and cow carcases out on the street will never be “art.”

Link to

For the beginnings of a debate on Lance Armstrong.

For Damien Hirst, see currently more than 6,000 comments, virtually all excoriating him.