“Let’s say you were a f@#%*!g muslim, what about if I put up a website where I degrade that allah or mahomet… Would you like to see that…?”
Hi “Mr. Bob Smith” (if that is indeed your real name),
If you thought that dressing up like Satan and selling T-shirts, magnets and gadgets with this highly controversial theme would make you stand out of the crowd, you’ve succeeded. Too bad for yourself that we live in an age in which we should all be “politically correct” yet there are websites like yours that are really distasteful and highly offensive to ALL christians.
I don’t know what religion you are (if you have one), and I don’t care, what I want to tell you is that your webpage is outrageously disgusting, distasteful, and offensive to millions of people in the world (not only in America)!
Let’s say you were a f@#%*!g muslim, what about if I put up a website where I degrade that allah or mahomet of yours, like you do on your website? Would you like to see that there is a popular website with your religious leader ridiculed in such a way?
I don’t think so, and if you would like it, it would show to all how sick and perverted you are.
You will do all of us a favor if you take down this website and stop your hate-spree.
I am positively ashamed that on this great thing called earth there are beings like you that instill anger, hate and extremely negative things in otherwise good and really normal people that are all geared toward yourself and guys like you! Are you some kind of sadomasochist?
There is no space for you and the likes of you on this earth!
Do yourself a favor, take the bloody f@#%*!g website down, and NEVER write or post anything like this again!
Marco Francesco Mario Guandalini
Imagine if I were a Muslim? That’s your retort? Had you thought maybe you deserve to have your god mocked if it’s led you to a place where you’re defending him by asking hecklers to imagine what it’s like? I think I used that same argument on my older brother while he made me hit myself in the head with my own hand.I’d scream at him, “Imagine if my head were a pot of gold! Ouch! And every time you made me hit it, Ouch! some gold fell out and was lost forever! Ouch, god-dangit!! Would you like that?!?!”
Marco Francesco Mario Guandalini, I regret to inform you that my line of protest had the complete opposite effect on my brother. And if I were in your shoes right now, I’d start thinking that perhaps I hadn’t been properly suited up for the show of life, and maybe, unconsciously I was leaving myself an open target to further ridicule in the not so distant future, and my fumbles were being recorded for future generations to giggle and titter to.
Imagine this, Marco. Imagine you were instead a thinking, rational adult with the ability to visualize himself in someone else’s shoes trying to understand how one could believe in magical gods who coincidentally lorded over the religion he was accidentally born into. Imagine having inner-arguments with yourself this complicated and working it out in your head before it ever got typed into an email and the “Send Message” button clicked.
In case you haven’t figured it out yet, Marco, I am the teasing big brother in the analogy, and you and Jesus are the stinky, turd-bottomed little brothers trapped in the garbage can that I sit atop. I’m making you hit yourselves with your own hands while I ignore your pleas for mercy and scoff your attempts to instill guilt. Why do I do these things, you ask? Easy. Because I love you, Marco.
Just kidding.
It’s because it’s hilarious and makes me feel like a big man.
Thanks for the email. I hope to hear back.
Normal Bob
Marco blocked me from emailing him back, and his Facebook page is private,
so my response was never received by him.
“Allah God will purnish u”
Insha Allah God will purnish u stupid man
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN
muminu.musa@yahoo.com
Yes, Allah is a very big and powerful brute. I am well impressed by his might.Please pass that on. I know my flattery of the magic powers he has in the spiritual realm mean a lot to him.
Normal Bob
“I used to basically be an atheist.”
Subject: Offensive material
Dear Normal Bob Smith,
Many of the things that you have posted on your websites are spiritually offensive. The Halloween Jesus Dress Up! makes Jesus a joke (the first thing I saw of yours). Then I realized that you have a lot of offensive material against God, religions, and spiritually. I request that you remove all of the religiously and spiritually offensive material from all of your websites, stop selling religiously and spiritually offensive material, and apologize for doing all of this.
I used to basically be an atheist. But, I did not go around selling anti-spiritual and religious products and putting down good religious and spiritual people (I admit, I may have done so at some point in the past, which I now regret). There is a difference between a good debate and offensive material.
Thank you,
Andrew Pankow
Oh, that’s sweet. You were offended, therefore it needs to be gone. That which offends you must be removed from public viewing. It really is adorable that you think emailing your personal complaints about stuff on the internet is still a thing someone does. There’s just too much stuff on the internet, huh? Some of it needs to go.”Basically an atheist?” What’s that? You sorta didn’t believe in any gods except for one, and for that one you had a stretch you stopped believing out of spite? That’s what I’ve come to understand most believers tout as “once being atheist.” – As a teen, God was something included in with your rebellion against the parents, or whatever authority figures you had to rebel against at the time, so that’s the time you were atheist. Basically.
How about this? I’m offended that you believe your wrongs can be taken on by an innocent, and the handoff of your mistakes to him relieves you of them, all available at your convenience? I request that you remove that from something you ever voice publicly. I find it offensive.
There. Let the war of the arms-folded-frowny-faced offended begin!
We are all made of stars.
Normal Bob
“I do not believe that.”
I did not used to believe in God. Although surrender to God is good, I am not really sure what you mean by “I’m offended that you believe your wrongs can be taken on by an innocent.” If you are saying that my wrongs can be put on the innocent, I do not believe that.
Thank you,
Andrew Pankow
Oh, sorry. I misunderstood. I assumed that you believed Jesus (an innocent) saved you from your sins and such. Sometimes I jump the gun on responses because the complaints have a standard protocol. My mistake.Please tell me more about your beliefs so I can find something to be offended by in them.
Thank you.
Normal Bob
“Delete the site”
Subject: Dude this is bad news.
Delete the site for your own inner peace.
Alex Green
No thank you. If I had any more inner peace than I’ve already got I’d be dead.Normal Bob
Yolandi Visser signature snarl portrait digitized in Adobe Illustrator
Earlier this year (Feb 2012) I drew this snarling picture of Yolandi Visser of Die Antwoord. I’m a big fan of the band and drawing her with that signature snarl came pretty easy. However, while researching images of her, I noticed a trend – Every artist who’d attempted, few drew her without the snarl. And the ones who tried with any sort of a normal facial expression failed (in my opinion) at capturing her unique likeness. They succeeded in drawing some girl who was perhaps trying to look like her, but none would leave you to confidently proclaim, “That is Yolandi Visser.”
In the months following that first illustration I’d randomly stumble across other caricatures of her where different artists couldn’t seem to agree on whether or not her eyes were too close together, or far apart. Is her nose big or tiny? Is her mouth little or huge? And for some reason these questions seemed to be plaguing the renderings throughout my searches at Google Images.
After realizing all of this, I assigned myself the personal challenge of capturing a recognizable likeness WITHOUT the snarl, or growl, or sneering. A normal facial expression that is clearly, unquestionably, a portrait of Yolandi.
After my first few stumblings I found myself running into these same corner-cutting solutions other artists before me had fallen into. Make her eyes farther apart and that’ll separate her from any other girl with that haircut. How about her eyes closer together? No, that’s not it either. Clearly a tiny little button nose is what makes her so adorable. Nope. Well, she doesn’t have a big nose either. How about no nose at all? Then the viewer’s eye can sort it out. Right?
Five illustrations later and I was getting nowhere. Simply putting sharp, shortened bangs on a strange looking little girl wouldn’t cut it. And I swear to you, with each sketch I put to paper she got uglier and uglier. It was terribly, terribly frustrating.
I put the project away for about a week before I could return to it again. I had to try something new. A new angle. That was the key.
Yolandi Visser Portrait digitized in Adobe Illustrator
It wasn’t until I stopped trying to draw her straight on and instead tilted her head to a 3/4 view that it started to come together. Her mouth protrudes, and that’s something difficult to convey head on. Her nose is neither big nor tiny. It’s flaired, and the nostrils are well defined, coming forward as part of her Gelfling-like mouth. Her eyes are certainly big, but not googly. They’re neither too far apart or too close together. That in itself is a curveball for a caricature artist. And as a girl who was walking behind me at the coffee shop pointed out, “She has Nordic eyes. Not Anime eyes. Think Bjork. Not Sailor Moon.”
It was the three-quarter view that gave me the base to sculpt the shape of her face around. It’s the first right thing that happened in this project. After I had a completed sketch, I scanned it into my computer and traced it in Adobe Illustrator. This is where I can cheat some more and do all the gradual tweaks that you miss on the first (my case, 7th) attempt. Tilting the eyes, adjusting the mouth position and the curve of the upper lip, then adding color, and the white lashes & eyebrows to drive it all the way home.
The whole idea behind this project was that the final piece could be used as a display model for a Yolandi Dressup game. And if you want to get a feel for the confidence level I had going into this, I wasn’t going to spend the $12 on the yolandidressup.com URL until it was successfully rendered in Illustrator.
The whole process took place over the course of a month (that doesn’t include any building of the dress up game, art for the clothes, etc.). I’m proud to say that I feel vindicated. I drew a perfectly recognizable illustration of Yolandi with a variety of facial expressions to choose from, allowing me to be the creator of the greatest ever Yolandi Dressup game on Planet Earth (at least at this particular moment).
I urge you to check out the fruits of my labors at YolandiDressup.com, and try out my latest invention – a Clothes Toolbar on the far right side of the page. It’s my solution to getting all the clothes you’d want in a dressup game without all the art having to be tiny. The game is loads of fun, and I hope one day to hear she agrees.
Yolandi Visser digitized in Adobe Illustrator for YolandiDressup.com
Here’s something different! Now, I’m not sure how many of you still keep up with the site during these slower winter weeks where the updates are fewer, and farther between, BUT I’ve got something new for you today!
It’s yolandidressup.com, and it’s SOOOOOO Ke-ute! There’s lots of bells and whistles, so play around with her a lot while you listen to Die Antwoord. It’s pretty fun.
Yes. Without Jesus is actually more moral & healthier. Pretending an innocent can pay the price for someone else’s wrongs is not justice. It’s crime. And thinking there’s a better world in the grave deludes the importance of this one.That’s two.
There’s way more.
Let me know if you need others.
Normal Bob
“mockery of him is a reflection of whats going on with you internally”
Hi Bob,
Actually, I was asking if you had more websites since you weren’t sure which one i was referring to. I can understand your not wanting Jesus, but to attempt a mockery of him is a reflection of whats going on with you internally; that you are bringing out externally. Usually if one feels their life is better off without something then they leave it behind. Although, you say its moral and healthier without Jesus, you make a website to offend knowing that you will attract Christians to it.
Once again this is an internal battle you are manifesting externally. You say one thing but your actions are clearly another.
Where do you “personally” believe you are going after you die? I find you a little hurt but interesting.
Absolutely not.I could see leaving it behind if it had no effect on my life once it was abandon. If Jesus, Christianity & the Bible never reared their ugly heads into my daily life in the USA I would agree with you whole-heartedly. If I was an ex snake handler I could simply walk on my merry way and never look back. Same with if I were an ex Voodoo Doctor, Raelian or Heaven’s Gater. I’d never have to listen to their beliefs being preached at me by strangers, referenced to alter Science, or pried into the laws I’m required to follow. Christianity however isn’t so modest. Thus it is necessary to stand my ground, defend, and sometimes offend to live as an atheist in today’s society.
Much of what I do is providing a landing spot for others who also feel surrounded by a cult that’s constantly attempting to scare, threaten or seduce them and their loved ones. I’ve found that in the last 12 years that I’ve been working on this site, there are thousands upon thousands of people who feel the same way I do.
Where do I think we go after we die? My guess is that it’s the exact same place we were before we were born. I think it’s that simple, and all the other projections are wishful thinking. Why, what do you believe?
I appreciate your interest in what I do!
Bob
“To stand your ground and live your life as an atheist isn’t difficult.”
But Bob… The things that you say you despise, don’t believe in, and reject, are the same things you go out of your way to attract and build your life around. The jesusdressup website is there not so much for those who want to dress up Jesus, but more to offend those who don’t.
When one googles “Jesus” there is your website on the first page. The majority of the masses who look up “Jesus” on the internet are doing so to seek solace and knowledge about Christ. So its sort of like one being on their way to church and you erect your website in the path and then complain that you have to defend and argue all day every day with Christians.
To stand your ground and live your life as an atheist isn’t difficult. That is one of your unalienable rights of living in the USA. People for the most part just want to go along peacefully. Live and let live. But to publicly desecrate and mock Christ in a country where about 75% of its people are Christian is viewed as a personal attack. So why do it? The reason is always deeper than the obvious.
Atheism as you know is the rejection in the belief of deities. But I don’t believe you are a true atheist. There is too much energy there, albeit negative energy.
My girlfriend Marilyn is atheist. Last year her boyfriend committed suicide while she was caring for her sick father, and two weeks later her father passed away. Her life was and still is devastated. She prayed to God asking why, asking for help, no answers came that healed her, so now she hates God and is an atheist.
She attacks me because I do believe. (My older brother was killed a week before her boyfriend died.) God didn’t give me the answers I sought either. She is filled with hate and hurt and is going full force away from God. She has new atheist friends and that’s where she obtains her comfort from.
I’ve seen this more than a few times. True deep devastation in ones life, a call out to Christ with no answer, and then a turn away because they feel abandoned. The surface is masked with many different faces but the wound once uncovered is usually the same. These are the people I feel you also attract to your site under the guise of being atheist. The internal/external struggle and a wound which never properly healed.
So where do I feel I go or what happens when I die? Well, I believe there is an afterlife. Everything is energy so when one dies the energy doesn’t die it just changes form. The body is only there to enclose / house the spirit of each of us. Without the soul / our spirit, the body is empty. We just get use to looking at the body and contribute that solely to the person, so when one dies there is enormous grief for us left on Earth. But the spirit of the person lives on and moves on to a different realm, that obviously we cant access until we die. Ok. There is much more to write but I’m off to the gym. Have a great night Bob. : )
Jeanine
Whoa whoa, Jeanine. First off, you can’t hold me responsible for Google results. As much as I wish I had that kind of control, Google decides its search results without any consideration to my wants & needs. I believe it’s that high because of the popularity of the site, and the length of time it’s existed (over 12 years). Don’t get me wrong, I’m thrilled that my rating is high, but I have zero control over what Google does. It’s really on the first page of a “Jesus” search? I honestly thought that my run with that ended years ago. *blushes*I feel for anyone who’s lost a loved one and I understand that some find comfort in believing they continue to live forever in paradise. That want does not bewilder me. However, it also doesn’t sway me in the least to believing it’s true. And considering you can’t have heaven without hell, I could easily give you several very convincing reasons why it’s not comforting in the least, but I’ll move on.
If you have a friend who claims to be an atheist but also hates God, that person is not an atheist. This is a common misconception about atheists that I hear from believers. Preachers & pastors love to explain atheism as a hatred of God, like actually not believing doesn’t happen. Saying atheists hate God incorrectly defines their atheism, subsequently severing a path of communication you might hope to have with them. I assure you, Jeanine, my belief in God is identical to my belief in Darth Vader. I don’t hate either because they are both made up characters. Anything you might ascribe to hate in my writing or art comes entirely from my hatred of its teachings.
I’ve no doubt built a life around countering a belief I find harmful. Everyone should spend their time so fully, in my opinion. And I hope that people searching for solace in Jesus stumble across my sites and find a less imaginary way to deal with the serious issues of life, living and death. In my opinion people really have to go out of their way to avoid stumbling across someone offering the Jesus solution, so you shouldn’t worry about all that much.
I don’t think we are the least bit empty without Jesus or pretending we’re an everlasting spirit in a physical body. In fact I don’t see how believing there’s an everlasting life in paradise in the afterlife doesn’t make this one seem less, not more.
I hope I’m answering your questions enough so that at the very least you understand where I’m coming from.