Are you a sheep or a shearer?

I think I have found the ultimate test which will determine whether you're a sheep or a shearer.

First to clarify the details. When I say 'sheep' I am not referring to the cute, edible woollen animal that gets herded. I am talking about the blind bandwagon-ers who jump at any cause, organisation, or opinion group without understanding, researching or actually reading.

Now the shearers. When I say 'shearer', I don't mean the farmers who shave the sheep for wool. I just couldn't think of another counter-name, besides 'not-sheep', that follows the sheep theme. I also like it for the image of shearers shaving bandwagon-ers...

Let's start the test shall we?

I first got sent an invite to this Facebook group that involved banning an artist named Guillermo Vargas. According to the group:

"This so called 'artist' is currently displaying his 'work' in the form of observing a dog's starvation. This is a public event. This is a shocking act of utter abomination and any gallery that allows this work to be shown should be shut down. Please help bring awareness of this monster."

And then a link to their petition.

Here's a blogspot version of the group for those who don't have Facebook, or logging in is just too tedious.

Now, as the reader, if you want to do this test properly you should stop reading this blog and look at the page at your own ease. Continuing this blog won't tell you whether you're a sheep or a shearer.

For those who have done the above, or much rather continue without knowing your result then follow on...



Were you be outraged at such animal cruelty used in the pathetic name of art? Would you join the group, share the blog and sign the petition?

Or, would you, like me, raise an eyebrow and research?

My first thought, towards the Facebook group, was the artist wouldn't be as slack as the people in the group hyped it. Give artists some credibility here.

After much googling, the most 'objective' materials I found was one news article and a wikipedia page. Even though the wordings on the wikipedia page was slightly jumbled, and wikipedia isn't particularly reliable, the content showed the writer did put a lot of research and made references. Something that the Facebook group didn't do.

I found the whole situation ironic and agreed with many of the shearers who accused all the sheep to be hypocrites. They only jump when it's been strategically displayed (as an art, in the media etc.), yet they don't address the real problem that the display is conveying, the issue of starving stray dogs all over Costa Rica. I don't recall any of the sheep mentioning they volunteer in a community program that addresses stray dogs, such as the (R)SPCA, have/had adopted stray dogs as pets. Instead, they prefer to bellow like an empty vessel...kind of like PETA.

Although PETA are better 'cause they get naked and have vegetarian orgies in public.

In the end the Facebook group had discovered that this starving dog is possibly a hoax! A member had recently made a post of an news article stating that this art had been taken out of unnecessary proportion with much of the 'critics' missing the point.

You can tell that most of the members of the group aren't aware of the prestige that is the Biennial. I showed a fellow friend, who has studied art, the Facebook group, petition and news article. Once he saw the Biennial, he knew it was a big joke.

As you can see, background knowledge and research does help.

Now we have reached the end of this test, and this article. First a congratulations to those that came out as a shearer, good to know there are those who won't jump the fence straight away.

As for those that came out as a sheep...growing wool isn't so bad, keeps you warm for the winter. Just don't get too startled when a shearer walks in your direction with a buzzing pair of shears.

Shearers get cold too...