Consider the gradual co-opting of religious capital by the world's power brokers:
'The religious doctrine of peace meets the power politics of state, the rules are bent for the 'just war,' and once the first few doses are administered the state becomes an addict that will tell any lie to get its narcotic. War is simply the means. The real narcotic is power. As Hungarian writer Gyögy Konrád said of the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1980s, "Men can invent few libidinous fantasies more enjoyable than those of world domination." The African-American poet Langston Hughes called the leading nations "the nymphomaniacs of power."'
Mark Kurlansky, Nonviolence
If artists and other thinkers are called to speak truth to power (and I think we are), just maybe it's the artists who have the most effective voice.
Bill Moyers' recent conversation with David Simon, creator of The Wire, a TV series about inner city Baltimore, includes this:
BILL MOYERS: Can fiction tell us something about inequality that journalism can't?
DAVID SIMON: I've wondered about that, because I did a lot of journalism. I did a lot of journalism I thought was pretty good. I was very careful as a reporter. And for me, I was trying to explain... how the drug war doesn't work. And I would write these very careful and very well-researched pieces. And they would go into the ether and be gone... And I would think, "Man, it's just such an uphill struggle to do this with facts." When you somehow tell a story with characters, people jump out of their seats.
Gandhi's truth telling was more than talk. It was satyagraha, which he described as follows:
'I have also called it love-force or soul-force. In the application of satyagraha, I discovered in the earliest stages that pursuit of truth did not admit of violence being inflicted on one’s opponent but that he must be weaned from error by patience and compassion. For what appears to be truth to the one may appear to be error to the other. And patience means self-suffering. So the doctrine came to mean vindication of truth, not by infliction of suffering on the opponent, but on oneself.'
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
Power-speak is everywhere. Even twelve-step programs talk of a higher power one-upping the demons of desire. And yet, what is power in our culture if not the demon of desire wed to the fantasy of domination? But twelve-steppers traditionally tell their stories, an ancient art form, to fuel the resistance.
As we gird our truthful loins with words of Gandhi and books of nonviolence, let Princess Leia's plea (and yes, she is a daughter of the Star Wars franchise) serve as benediction:
'Years ago, you served my father in the Clone Wars; now he begs you to help him in his struggle against the Empire. I regret that I am unable to present my father's request to you in person; but my ship has fallen under attack and I'm afraid my mission to bring you to Alderaan has failed. I've placed information vital to the survival of the rebellion into the memory systems of this R2 unit. My father will know how to retrieve it. You must see this droid safely delivered to him on Alderaan. This is our most desperate hour.
Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi; you're my only hope.'
*Thursday's hearing was the first court appearance for the men who were tracked down by French commandos... in waters off Somalia, the lawless epicenter of the flourishing pirate industry off the Horn of Africa.
Katharine Houreld, Associated Press
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Power
In our society, we are led to believe that telling the truth is honorable. That is not the truth!!
The people who are in power feel threatened by the truth. Why? Could it be that they see the truth as a threat to their power?
And what is power? The ultimate aphrodisiac. That power cal be applied to just about any situation in any occupation, including the art community, no matter how many, no matter how few.
Political and Cultural Power Used Against Artists
I have some thoughts about the positive and lasting power that artists themselves hold which I will post elsewhere, but your post, Peter has me thinking of examples of political and cultural suppression of artists.
The first that comes to mind is the execution of Victor Jara, a Chilean theater director and influential musician, who was murdered in the coup against Allende in the 70s.
One of the most obvious artistic clamp-downs were the 1950's Red Scare, blacklisting, and virtual disappearing of artists, writers, and musicians most notably in Hollywood and New York, but all across the country, erasing our cultural memory of some of our greatest artists. A good example was Paul Robeson, who would be remembered and revered today if he had not been "disappeared". His is a curious case, too, because he was one of the biggest stars in America, and overnight he became a nonentity, not mentioned, not remembered, as if he never existed.
My examples have been of right-wing political tyranny, but the left-wing is equally intolerant of critics. Think how many Soviet artists and writers were sent off to the Gulag, how many young East Germans were discouraged or suppressed because their art was not ultilitarian, was not supportive of the "people's republic" or 'democracy'." I find it ironically humorous that the CIA subsidized such artists as Jackson Pollock because it was known that the communist regimes could not abide such free Abstract Expressionism.
The power of tyrants and commissars is one thing, but the power of the mob is also a force. The mob is often directed or allowed to rampage (like a fire that is allowed to burn) by politicians who stand to benefit. The mob, though, like a fire, is hard to control, and can turn against almost anyone. I'm thinking of the organized smashing and burning of Beatle records by certain radio deejays after John Lennon said innocently that it was regretable that the Beatles were probably more popular than Jesus. In our own day, the Dixie Chicks whole career path changed after comments made from the stage critical of George W. Bush. These are trivial examples, compared to Jara, etc. However, John Lennon was ultimately killed because of his fame as an artist, and the "disappointment" he had engendered in one of his sickest fans.
Incurring the wrath of the city fathers and mothers is one of the risks (and ironically, often, rewards) of being an artist in society. The work of photographer Robert Maplethorpe became much more well-known after his work was villified by the Cincinnati guardians of the public morality. And the Catholic Legion of Decency, which rated all motion pictures as I was growing up, became a guideline for me as to which movies I REALLY wanted to see. As it turned out, the condemned films (which included everything written by Tennessee Williams) were almost always the very best flicks.
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Water Color Visions
Power Against Artist
Walt, Well said!
It doesn't matter if it's the left or the right when it's the extreme. Being radical in order to obtain power or to sustain the power that one has is not good. No matter if we're talking about the art world, journalism, ect.
Power
Power!
Anyone can have it
Economic Status matters not.
Using it wisely, does.