Use it or lose it.

Having read fairly extensively about the multicultural debacle that has rendered the UK a social garbage dump I despair that, for them, it might be too late to change direction. Particularly given that many people are confused as to what multiculturalism actually means. Most think that you are racist if you even question the concept, but then most people are ignorant of what the philosophy behind the policy actually is.

Philosopher Roger Scruton despairs:

FOR WHAT IS BEING brought home to us, through painful experiences that we might have avoided had it been permitted before now to say the truth, is that we, like everyone else, depend upon a shared culture for our security, our prosperity and our freedom to be. We don’t require everyone to have the same faith, to lead the same kind of family life, or to participate in the same festivals. But we have a shared moral and legal inheritance, a shared language, and a shared public sphere. Our societies are built upon the Judeo-Christian ideal of neighbor-love, according to which strangers and intimates deserve equal concern. They require each of us to respect the freedom and sovereignty of every other, and to acknowledge the threshold of privacy beyond which it is a trespass to go unless invited. Our societies depend upon a culture of law-abidingness and open contracts, and they reinforce these things through the educational traditions that have shaped our common curriculum. It is not an arbitrary cultural imperialism that leads us to value Greek philosophy and literature, the Hebrew Bible, Roman law, and the medieval epics and romances, and to teach these things in our schools. They are ours, in just the way that the legal order and the political institutions are ours: they form part of what made us, and convey the message that it is right to be what we are…
So what happens when people whose identity is fixed by creed or kinship immigrate into places settled by Western culture? The multiculturalists say that we must make room for them, and that we do this by relinquishing the space in which their culture can flourish. Our political class has at last recognized that this is a recipe for disaster, and that we can welcome immigrants only if we welcome them into our culture, and not beside and against it. But that means telling them to accept rules, customs, and procedures that may be alien to their old way of life. Is this an injustice? Surely not. If immigrants come it is because they gain by doing so. It is therefore reasonable to remind them that there is also a cost. Only now, however, is our political class prepared to say so, and to insist that the cost be paid. And it may be that this change of heart comes too late.

I pray that Australia wakes up to the reality that while we are a welcoming society, we open our arms to those who really want to come and are prepared to fit into the 'Australian way' rather than expect us to change into theirs.
It is kind of like inviting a visitor to your home and having them demand that you do things their way or leave your house...kind of weird I think.
Surely the reason they come in the first place is because our way is better/freer/more comfortable/ than theirs was!!! Otherwise why leave?

We have the power to vote out the idealogues who hate western culture and all that it stands for and who would wreck our way of life to fulfil some utopian dream. A dream that ultimately destroys the very people who lust after it and who will, in the process, do anything; manipulate, lie, cheat, steal and abuse, to achieve thier aims.

Use it!!!!!Kick out the Aussie destroyers.

 

Snobbery of the elite's

Comments by Rachel Healy, an investor in David Williamson's new play "Dons Party II" .

“I worked in subsidised theatre,” said Healy, former general manager of the avant garde Belvoir theatre. “I was part of that community of snobbery” . But not any more. At the Opera House she needed to find work that attracted a paying audience and soon learned: “It’s not just about you.”
But of course, if you are an insecure philistine posing as a sophisticated arts appreciator you won’t trust art that is entertaining, beautifully constructed, and coherent, as Williamson’s plays are. Poseurs prefer to consume obscure niche art – no matter how bad – for one reason: because it marks them as superior to the masses.

Having been a part of a 'community of snobbery' (visual arts) I agree that one can lose sight of the true purpose of art in the pursuit of 'meaningfulness'. The current obsession in art circles with political correctness and the lengths that the artistic czars will go to police the 'rebels' (generally those with traditional or conservative views) is scary.

I plead with all supporters of art to assist the true 'non-conformists' i.e. those who refuse to bow the knee to the politically correct.

Puke inducing

It makes me prone to vomit the way the main stream media presents such a biased view (in Australia invariably left-wing) on various issues, with the tax payer funded ABC the worst offender. I shouldn't be surprised however when one considers that the new post-modern paradigm teaches that there is no such thing as an objective truth and as a journalist to strive for the non existent makes little sense. Therefore if you are going to reflect a bias you might as well make it one that is consistent with what you believe should be the truth.

Thus we have a whole generation of political (and other) commentators who write about life as they would wish it to be (Utopian) rather than how it actually is. The disconnect between the MSM and ordinary people is huge, and this is reflected in the many polls which indicate that most people view journalists as less trustworthy than 2nd hand car salesmen.

Unfortunately the situation will not change until the educators of journalists begin to teach once more that the goal of good journalism is to reflect the facts rather than the hopes, desires and fantasies of the scribes under their tutelage. As it currently stands and given that Gramsci's disciples rule the educational roost, I hold little hope that such a miracle will occur.

So for the time being we of the broader public need to sharpen what Niel Postman called our 'crap detectors' and begin to reflect very seriously on what they read through the various media forms. In particular we need to become aware of the 'noble cause corruption' that makes little dictators out of very ordinary people whose opinions are often based on what they wish for rather than what they know to be factual.

Political treachery

It turns my stomach to witness our lying and deceitful prime minister saying, regarding AGW, that "the science is in" (considering the fact that 30,000 scientists have signed a petition reflecting an opposite opinion, plus the vast majority of Australians agree, in spite of the overwhelming propaganda for the warmist position). Her absolutist position is stated with such certainty even though she only met with her head of science on one occaision, yet she willfully commits the country to a punitive tax which has no influence or meaning at all. As one commentator has siad, wlecome to Bob Brown's new government.

She is even worse than Krudd because she makes no effort at disguising her lust for power and the fact that she will do or say anything to maintain it. These actions border on the psychopathic if you think about them.

Voters who vote for the ALP deserve what they get, unfortunately the rest of the country suffers along with the misguided minority.

Continuance

Apropos my previous blog I feel the need to publish this article in all its fullness because of its truth and importance.

Conservative argument is no match for liberal art

Conservatives may be resurgent in Washington, but they have abandoned the arts. Liberal dominance of culture is undermining America's foundational values. When’s the last time Hollywood made a movie that portrayed a corporation in positive terms?

By Sam Guzman / February 9, 2011

Colorado Springs, Colo.

I love music, good stories, and beautiful things. And so, I imagine, does everyone else. But I'm struck by the fact that the vast majority of musicians, moviemakers, novelists, and artists are liberals.

This could be because the artistic temperament is inclined to be radical, but it is more likely because conservatives have abandoned the arts. This abandonment has profound implications for American culture. It will intensify society's long-term liberal reflexes, making it harder to sustain the foundational values – like chastity, faith, and free enterprise – that make America both good and great.

I recently browsed several conservative news and commentary websites in search of an arts or culture section. It would have been easier to find a parking spot the day after Thanksgiving. Shortly thereafter, I went to the websites of several liberal publications, and they all had a section dedicated to the arts – poetry and all. Conservatives are better arguers, but liberals are better artists.

MTV and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra

I am not specifically referring to either fine art (if there remains such a thing) or popular art. It doesn't matter: Liberals control both. They have MTV, but they also have the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. They have Rolling Stone, but they also have The New Yorker. They have Hollywood, but they also have Cannes.

Liberals understand that rooted deep in the human soul is a love of beauty, a fascination with story, and an intangible sensitivity to the singing of songs. That's why liberals have sought to control not only the Senate, but the symphony, the storybook, and the silver screen. Reason is a blunt instrument. It can smash with all the force of a hammer, but it is art that subtly serenades and seduces. When the conservative forms a coalition, the liberal forms a chorale, and it is the liberal who wins.

The liberal dominance of the arts is all the more influential because society is increasingly illiterate. By illiterate, I don't mean unintelligent. Rather, images and sounds are becoming the most common, and therefore the most powerful, mediums of communication. This is especially true among the younger generations, who are streamed a filtered reality via YouTube and iTunes. Society is thinking in pictures and in songs, and liberals are making them.

How do you compete with 'Avatar'?

There is no better example of art's persuasive power than the epic blockbuster "Avatar." Happily, most people will never read Al Gore's "Earth in the Balance," but millions have been deeply affected by this movie that shows a world of lush green beauty destroyed by the evil forces of capitalism. And in 3-D to boot. Now that is persuasive.

"Avatar" is, quite simply, stunningly executed environmentalist and New Age propaganda. The military, corporations – indeed, humans themselves – are depicted with one-dimensional scorn, while tree-worshiping pantheist aliens are held up as models of virtue and humanity. It's a theme Hollywood has used in countless films like "Dances with Wolves" and "Star Wars." When's the last time you saw a movie that, unlike "Michael Clayton," depicted a business positively, or acknowledged the progress capitalism brings?

All art, especially entertainment, is informed by ideas – it is never neutral. Art wraps ideas in a soul-­stirring coat. It is so powerful because it takes an abstraction, an idea, a philosophy, and sends it smashing through the heart like a bullet.

Conservatives must produce art

Reason and rational argument will remain essential in the war of ideas. But if we conservatives are to succeed in our effort to uphold indispensable values like faith, freedom, and family, we must not only argue, but we must produce passionate and informed art. If we do not reclaim and redeem the arts, we will not ultimately reclaim or redeem anything. Simply, we will lose. We can continue to build our towering fortresses of impeccable logic and fierce rhetoric, but alone they will collapse like the proud and solid walls of Jericho – not under an assault but a song.

Sam Guzman is an essayist, columnist, and poet. He works as a grant writer for a nonprofit organization.

Truth at Last

I have discovered a blog that uncovers the dirty little secret about the Art world. It is, contrary to its trumpeted 'radicalism' one of the most constrained and politically correct environments on the planet. And heaven help those who stand outside of its proscribed correctness.
The blogs latest offering makes a good point re: those who have a more traditional approach, as I do, we end up abandoning the pain of the artists life to start looking for a 'real job' and everyone suffers as a result.
I would echo Matt's call to conservative minded people and company's to support those who refuse to buckle under because the arts are a very necessary and an important field of conflict in the culture war.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Why conservatives shouldn't abandon the arts

There's no doubt that there's a lot of seething hostility towards conservative artists, and this is why so many of them buckle under the pressure and create only safe, green, right-on artworks, or run away screaming and get real jobs.

But it's not just the PC brigade that's to blame for this sad situation. As this pithy column by Sam Guzman argues, many conservative institutions, organizations and publications have pretty much abandoned the arts. This is a real shame, because art can be an extremely powerful and persuasive way of making an ideological point.

Toughts on the new dark age

Everywhere I read about how we are evolving as a species, how our culture evolves, our language evolves, how everything we do evolves...it has become the synonym for change, for adjustment for the ever upward and onward movement of the species towards a better and brighter future.

However, when one sees the actual evidence that is ‘fleshed out’ in this world we see our cultures, our art, our manners, our civilisation heading in a different direction. We see what an astute blogger notes as: “The only notable developments I’ve seen over the last couple of decades are an increasing tendency in the Western democracies towards bureaucracy as the operative form of government and a greater tendency to follow charismatic chiefs, the societal modality that John W. Campbell characterized as “barbarism”.”

Many insightful observers hold the view that we are headed into a new ‘dark ages’, I concur. During the first dark ages the flame of civilization was kept alive in monasteries and Christian communities, will it be so with the new dark ages? I would like to believe that this will in fact be the case but I have some profound doubts that it will.

I have been encouraged by some developments that have occurred recently within the churches regarding the arts, philosophy and culture in general, but I wonder if we have the will and ability to maintain the impetus, if recent history is any example I think we will find that our attention span is very secular. A brief overview of the church reveals how we are in truth a collective of the most foolish of human beings and our tendency is to build our little fiefdoms rather than the Kingdom.  

We are as influenced (perhaps more than we like to admit) by the worldviews of this fallen world as are the unbelievers (think: tolerance, PC, multiculturalism etc), and our conversations are liberally sprinkled with the detritus of the zeitgeist as are many of our educational environments. We embrace the newly ‘converted’ (particularly the skilled and talented) without understanding that many need time to unlearn what the ‘world’ has indoctrinated them with, thus we set ourselves up for syncretisation.

We feel the need to keep pace with new technologies without examining the unintended consequences of such actions. We live as if the ‘new’ is always preferable to the old…thus this essay returns to its  beginning.  Thinking out loud!