Normal Bob Smith
Normal Bob Smith (born June 24 1969, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin) is an American freelance graphic artist, writer, and satirist of Christianity.
Personal life
Normal Bob Smith was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and graduated from Bear Creek High School in Lakewood, Colorado in 1988, and the Art Institute of Colorado with an Associates Degree in Visual Communications in 1990. He has described his early relationship with Christianity as a cause of many personal problems, including a lack of self-confidence. Now, because of Christianity's negative influence on his early life, Normal Bob Smith uses his art and several websites to educate people about why he thinks religion is harmful.
Work
His art major has been applied in several in-house creative positions, and he has been a self-employed New York City artist since 2001.
Normal Bob Smith's artwork includes several websites that satirize Christianity. The most well-known is Jesus Dress Up[1], a game in which users can dress a crucified Jesus in clothing like a traditional dress-up doll. As a result of the controversy surrounding this site, Normal Bob Smith created a companion refrigerator-magnet set, as well as other game editions, including Revenge Dress Up, featuring his likeness, and Muhammad Dress Up.
The official website for Normal Bob Smith [2] showcases some more art: Creatures of Neptune depicts unusual beings, and The Sheeples are caricatures of actual people who have sent hate mail. These caricatures are accompanied by verbatim quotes from the subjects’ letters. So far, Normal Bob has responded to over one thousand complaint letters which he publishes alongside his satirical replies in the Hate Mail section. At over 300 pages, Hate Mail accounts for the bulk of his site. Among the complainants are young and old, pastors and preachers and even his family and acquaintances. Another feature is Satan's Salvation, a comic strip chronicling a humorous ongoing struggle between Jesus and Satan who interact with each other and the artist as he’s drawing them. Normal Bob Smith was chosen to speak at the 29th American Atheists convention in 2003 [3] and was a subject of Neil Abramson's documentary film Bob Smith USA. [4]. He has also been an invited guest speaker for Arizona State University’s Secular Freethought Society [5]
During October 2006, in response to the Mel Gibson DUI incident, Heavy.com hired Normal Bob to produce a Mel Gibson Dress Up page [6]. This led to more media coverage of the incident in the press, furthering reactions to the controversy [7].
Reactions
Normal Bob Smith's Christian satire has encouraged debate on theological issues and often has provoked outrage from the religious community. His products and sites have been featured on Fox News, MSNBC, and other news outlets; he has been most widely covered for the creation of Jesus Dress Up and for attending Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ dressed as Satan.
The Jesus Dress Up refrigerator-magnet set was carried by Urban Outfitters, a store chain operating more than 140 shops, then pulled from most stores after much protestation from the Christian community. Clayton D. Harriger, a pastor of the United Methodist Church, even voiced a sermon on the topic of Jesus Dress Up [8].
Among the groups that have staged organized protests against Normal Bob Smith are the American Family Association, the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property, and the now-defunct Laptop Lobbyists, a conservative organization that managed to briefly shut down his website.
Quotes
"Any man who enjoys heaven's paradise while others suffer eternally is a gloating villain at heart." -NormalBobSmith.com (hate mail page 261)
"The 'sacrifice' [God and Jesus] made for us included both of them getting an eternal visit to paradise." -NormalBobSmith.com (hate mail page 298)
"You asked how I could make such a blasphemous fridge magnet set that is punishable by God? I suppose I'm a lot like those guys who leap off of bridges on bungie cords or scale the sides of buildings with suction cups. I'm very courageous, to the extent that taunting and teasing God is no different than, say, feeding a dog a spoonful of peanut butter and laughing at the stupid looking results." -NormalBobSmith.com (hate mail page 170)
"I also heard that the people who go to hell suffer like double what a crucifixion feels like. Those are the real heroes if you ask me!" -NormalBobSmith.com (hate mail page 113)
"Yes, and by dressing up as the devil that shows that I believe in his existence, just like those guys who dress up like Santa Claus every Christmas, or a sports mascot, or the man who plays the tinman in the Wizard of Oz. In fact, you name me one instance when someone dresses up like something to show he believes it exists in real life and I'll take you off my list of dunderheads. And hippy Christians don't count. That's just coincidence." -NormalBobSmith.com (hate mail page 283)
"I think it's funny how people can't imagine their life just ending but we've no problem laying that destiny on ugly animals." -NormalBobSmith.com (hate mail page 96)
"None of us are above a swift pie in the face. Take it or leave it." -NormalBobSmith.com (hate mail page 311)
References
External links
- Artist’s homepage
- Yahoo-group
- Interview with Normal Bob Smith
- Comment on the shut down compelled by Laptoplobbyists
- Article on LaptopLobbyist shutdown of Normal Bob & Jesus Dress Up
- "Kits seen as affront to Jesus", by Chris Baker, The Washington Times, March 22 2004
- "Web users no longer can dress up Jesus", by Chris Baker, The Washington Times, April 01,2004
Critical Weblinks