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darishaI should probably make a post on my experiences at Manifest (it's been two weeks already), but to be honest, I really can't be arsed. Although I enjoyed my trip to Melbourne to visit friends, the convention itself was kind of a let down. Sure, I met some cool people and learned some things, but for such a large, three day event, the results were rather pitiful.
Total Sales: 4 x bookmarks, 2 x bag tags, 4 x A5 prints, 10 x A4 prints, 3 x A3 prints, 4 x posters. That's even less than we we took at Avcon, let alone SMASH! where we sold twice as much. Very poor results indeed. Too much competition I think, considering we were in the traders hall with all the big company traders. And so many artists too... No one wants prints, they want the comic.
So rather than wallow in my failure at Manifest, I'm going to talk about something else. We spoke about Witchcraft in Anthropology recently, so I think I'll write something about that...
In today’s contemporary society, the terms “witch” and “witchcraft” have different meanings to different people.
If I were to walk up to anyone and accuse them of being a witch, I’d most likely get one of three reactions: (a) they’d laugh and think I was making a joke; (b) verbally (or physically, depending on their temperament) bitch-slap me for being rude and offensive; or (c) agree with me, and wonder what my point was.
My point is, in our western society, where we are more focused on individualism, “witch” and “witchcraft” are often just words and play no significant role in our daily lives. In older, isolated, and more close knit communities, however, where the actions of an individual greatly affect the lives of the whole, these terms take on new meaning. Witchcraft is not uncommon in many cultures, and is often used to explain away every day occurrences of misfortune when simple logic just doesn't cut it. The witch in question could be anyone - your parents, your children, your neighbours - and they are defined more by their actions (conscious or unconscious) than by their appearance.
I'm sure everyone's familiar with the Wicked Witch of the West from the Wizard of Oz - old, ugly, wears black clothes/pointy hat, and rides a broomstick. This image, and others like it, have played a major role in how we think about witches in Australia, and indeed, most of the western world. Witches are no longer an object of fear in a society that sees them merely as useful constructs in films and children’s stories. The idea that misfortune is the result of supernatural forces wielded by these fictional characters seems somewhat laughable.
Now I’m not saying that no one in Australia believes in the supernatural – we’re a large, multicultural society with many different belief systems. In cases of misfortune, many people will still look towards evil spirits, their god, or karma. BUT, in a contemporary urban setting like our own, most people tend to look for more logical and scientific explanations.
Misfortune can strike at any time. It can affect you, those around you, or people you’ve never met. It affects different people in different ways, but in all ways we are the same – we have a very human need to know, to understand “WHY”.
Some examples of misfortune:
Hurricane Katrina
• Around 1,836 lives lost.
• Property damage in excess of $100 billion US dollars.
• Roughly 70 Australians stranded during the floods.
WHY?
Science has shown us that hurricanes, or cyclones as they’re called in Australia, are formed when warm, moist air over the ocean rises, causing an area of lower pressure below. As the air rises and cools off, the water in the air forms clouds. The whole system of wind and clouds spins and grows, fed by warm water evaporating from the ocean’s surface. Nothing unusual about that – it happens all the time.
What is unusual is that Katrina started as a moderate Category 1 hurricane over the Bahamas. It even weakened as it crossed southern Florida, where it only caused minor flooding. So why did it suddenly strengthen to a Category 3 storm before making its second landfall over southeast Louisiana? And why when those particular Australians were in the area?
We look to science to explain the “what” and “how” of misfortune, but when it comes to explaining “why”, people tend to look for the answer in an entirely different direction.
So, coming back to Katrina, why were those particular Australians left stranded? According to many news reports, it’s because the Australian Federal Government wouldn’t use its close relationship with the United States to get into New Orleans to help them.
Bali bombings
• 202 dead, including 88 Australians.
• A further 240 people injured.
The details of this unfortunate incident are easy to explain - Police investigations clearly tell us that the attack involved the detonation of three bombs: a backpack device carried by a suicide bomber inside Paddy’s bar; a large car bomb detonated via remote outside the Suri club; and a third, much smaller device detonated outside the United States consulate. But why? Why those locations? Why did those people have to die at that time?
It is claimed that the Bali bombings were in direct retaliation for support of the United States' war on terror and Australia's role in the liberation of East Timor.
Victorian Bushfires, or “Black Saturday”
• 173 people dead
• More than 500 people injured.
• 430,000 hectares of land were directly affected, including 70 national parks and reserves, 2000 properties, and 61 businesses.
Now, bushfires in Australia are nothing new. They happen at the same time every year. What starts as a small brush fire, can grow quickly under the influence of dry weather and strong winds. If caught early, they’re fairly easy to manage, but under the right conditions, bushfires can just as easily get out of control. That explains HOW it happened... So WHY did the Black Saturday fires grow so out of control? Why were they so large and so spread out? Why did they affect so many different areas and lives?
Police have arrested two suspected arsonists, believed to have deliberately started at least two of the fires.
Now wait a minute… These “WHYs” are starting to sound like “WHO”. Who is responsible? Who is to blame?
When misfortune threatens you individually, or as a society, it is a natural human reaction to look for someone to blame. Can anyone honestly tell me that, when they’ve had a crappy day, they haven’t tried to blame it on someone?
While we may no longer use the term "witch" to describe an evil person bent on causing misfortune for the "good and righteous", the idea of what a witch represents is still present in today’s society. We all have our "witches", who stir in us the same reactions of fear, hatred, and anger. We’ve simply replaced the word witch with that of "traitor" or "terrorist".
Has anyone seen the new Australian anti-terror ads lately? The ones that ask you to ring in if you notice something/someone suspicious? Now, if that isn’t asking you to cry witch, I don’t know what is.
Dimi's Random Thought For The Day: Did you know that, in Azande society (in Africa), witchcraft is called "mangu" and is often inherited? It is concentrated in a small black, oval shaped bag in the small intestines and will emanate witchcraft when the witch in question has strong feelings of malice, envy, or hate (making witchcraft a mostly unconscious action).
-
Total Sales: 4 x bookmarks, 2 x bag tags, 4 x A5 prints, 10 x A4 prints, 3 x A3 prints, 4 x posters. That's even less than we we took at Avcon, let alone SMASH! where we sold twice as much. Very poor results indeed. Too much competition I think, considering we were in the traders hall with all the big company traders. And so many artists too... No one wants prints, they want the comic.
So rather than wallow in my failure at Manifest, I'm going to talk about something else. We spoke about Witchcraft in Anthropology recently, so I think I'll write something about that...
In today’s contemporary society, the terms “witch” and “witchcraft” have different meanings to different people.
If I were to walk up to anyone and accuse them of being a witch, I’d most likely get one of three reactions: (a) they’d laugh and think I was making a joke; (b) verbally (or physically, depending on their temperament) bitch-slap me for being rude and offensive; or (c) agree with me, and wonder what my point was.
My point is, in our western society, where we are more focused on individualism, “witch” and “witchcraft” are often just words and play no significant role in our daily lives. In older, isolated, and more close knit communities, however, where the actions of an individual greatly affect the lives of the whole, these terms take on new meaning. Witchcraft is not uncommon in many cultures, and is often used to explain away every day occurrences of misfortune when simple logic just doesn't cut it. The witch in question could be anyone - your parents, your children, your neighbours - and they are defined more by their actions (conscious or unconscious) than by their appearance.
I'm sure everyone's familiar with the Wicked Witch of the West from the Wizard of Oz - old, ugly, wears black clothes/pointy hat, and rides a broomstick. This image, and others like it, have played a major role in how we think about witches in Australia, and indeed, most of the western world. Witches are no longer an object of fear in a society that sees them merely as useful constructs in films and children’s stories. The idea that misfortune is the result of supernatural forces wielded by these fictional characters seems somewhat laughable.
Now I’m not saying that no one in Australia believes in the supernatural – we’re a large, multicultural society with many different belief systems. In cases of misfortune, many people will still look towards evil spirits, their god, or karma. BUT, in a contemporary urban setting like our own, most people tend to look for more logical and scientific explanations.
Misfortune can strike at any time. It can affect you, those around you, or people you’ve never met. It affects different people in different ways, but in all ways we are the same – we have a very human need to know, to understand “WHY”.
Some examples of misfortune:
Hurricane Katrina
• Around 1,836 lives lost.
• Property damage in excess of $100 billion US dollars.
• Roughly 70 Australians stranded during the floods.
WHY?
Science has shown us that hurricanes, or cyclones as they’re called in Australia, are formed when warm, moist air over the ocean rises, causing an area of lower pressure below. As the air rises and cools off, the water in the air forms clouds. The whole system of wind and clouds spins and grows, fed by warm water evaporating from the ocean’s surface. Nothing unusual about that – it happens all the time.
What is unusual is that Katrina started as a moderate Category 1 hurricane over the Bahamas. It even weakened as it crossed southern Florida, where it only caused minor flooding. So why did it suddenly strengthen to a Category 3 storm before making its second landfall over southeast Louisiana? And why when those particular Australians were in the area?
We look to science to explain the “what” and “how” of misfortune, but when it comes to explaining “why”, people tend to look for the answer in an entirely different direction.
So, coming back to Katrina, why were those particular Australians left stranded? According to many news reports, it’s because the Australian Federal Government wouldn’t use its close relationship with the United States to get into New Orleans to help them.
Bali bombings
• 202 dead, including 88 Australians.
• A further 240 people injured.
The details of this unfortunate incident are easy to explain - Police investigations clearly tell us that the attack involved the detonation of three bombs: a backpack device carried by a suicide bomber inside Paddy’s bar; a large car bomb detonated via remote outside the Suri club; and a third, much smaller device detonated outside the United States consulate. But why? Why those locations? Why did those people have to die at that time?
It is claimed that the Bali bombings were in direct retaliation for support of the United States' war on terror and Australia's role in the liberation of East Timor.
Victorian Bushfires, or “Black Saturday”
• 173 people dead
• More than 500 people injured.
• 430,000 hectares of land were directly affected, including 70 national parks and reserves, 2000 properties, and 61 businesses.
Now, bushfires in Australia are nothing new. They happen at the same time every year. What starts as a small brush fire, can grow quickly under the influence of dry weather and strong winds. If caught early, they’re fairly easy to manage, but under the right conditions, bushfires can just as easily get out of control. That explains HOW it happened... So WHY did the Black Saturday fires grow so out of control? Why were they so large and so spread out? Why did they affect so many different areas and lives?
Police have arrested two suspected arsonists, believed to have deliberately started at least two of the fires.
Now wait a minute… These “WHYs” are starting to sound like “WHO”. Who is responsible? Who is to blame?
When misfortune threatens you individually, or as a society, it is a natural human reaction to look for someone to blame. Can anyone honestly tell me that, when they’ve had a crappy day, they haven’t tried to blame it on someone?
While we may no longer use the term "witch" to describe an evil person bent on causing misfortune for the "good and righteous", the idea of what a witch represents is still present in today’s society. We all have our "witches", who stir in us the same reactions of fear, hatred, and anger. We’ve simply replaced the word witch with that of "traitor" or "terrorist".
Has anyone seen the new Australian anti-terror ads lately? The ones that ask you to ring in if you notice something/someone suspicious? Now, if that isn’t asking you to cry witch, I don’t know what is.
Dimi's Random Thought For The Day: Did you know that, in Azande society (in Africa), witchcraft is called "mangu" and is often inherited? It is concentrated in a small black, oval shaped bag in the small intestines and will emanate witchcraft when the witch in question has strong feelings of malice, envy, or hate (making witchcraft a mostly unconscious action).
-
