The First - A plea to artists

So this is my first post in what I hope will be an adequate blog to showcase how I feel about the world, and the people in it. I'm usually not one to take my own opinions seriously, as I'm both a nerd and an artist. So let me start off by saying..

Please. If you don't agree with what I say, comment. I don't mind. I like hearing other people's opinions.

A little about myself:

I'm in my early 20's, and I'm from DC. I'm an artist, and I work as a 3d modeler for an Engineering firm. I'm a singer, and I sing for a power metal band called Blood Corps. Any other information, you're likely to get from my blog.

And so we begin!

As an artist I find it fairly simple to pull at people's emotions. We're expressionists, we can bring people happiness, joy, anger, and we do it for money. Personally, I like to make people excited with my art. Happy. I'm a happy person, so I want others to be happy. Some people want to make people sad with their art, which is also cool. Having the ability to invoke emotions is a gift.

What I don't understand is people who want to hurt people with their art. For example in

this article here

we learn about a European cartoonist who's on the run from Al Qaeda because he decided to draw the Prophet Muhammed as a dog. He claims to be

a self-described atheist, points out he's an equal opportunity offender who in the past sketched a depiction of Jesus as a pedophile.

Now. I've got no issue with people who's beliefs are different from mine. If he wants to insult my religion, he's free to do so. I'm not arguing the validity of his beliefs. What I wonder is why he'd do it. Why, when you have the skill to make people happy, would you go out of your way to make people unhappy? Why would you put your life in danger, for something so trivial? Is it for popularity? For the thrill? I honestly don't understand.

Bear in mind, I'm not the type to shy away from joking. I joke about everything from religion to race to sports, but I've never gone out of my way to insult someone else's beliefs.

Except for Scientology.

And therein lies the biggest argument of them all. Am I a hippocrite? You betcha, but at least I'll openly admit it.

However, let it be known that my art will never be used to paint an ill picture of anyone's beliefs. I don't agree with Scientology, so naturally, I won't bring it up. What would be the point? I think it's a scam, so the last thing I want to do is advertise it. I'd rather let it's followers do their thing without getting into some sort of weird situation where people are trying to kill me for drawing Xenu as a hampster.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is.. please people, lets try to be courteous to eachother. There's no reason to hate, especially when there's so much hate in the world as it is.