Am I going to hell for laughing at this?

[Conservationist]

Why were so many prominent modernist writers and philosophers attracted to fascist or authoritarian regimes in the first half of the twentieth century? A list of those who were not—Samuel Beckett, James Joyce, Thomas Mann, and Robert Musil—pales in comparison to a list of those who were—Ezra Pound, William Butler Yeats, T. S. Eliot, Wyndham Lewis, Knut Hamsun, Paul de Man, Louis-Ferdinand Céline, Filippo Marinetti, Martin Heidegger, Robert Brasillach, and a host of others. Add to the latter the name of Gertrude Stein, one of the most avant-garde of modernist writers in the English language, who was also—it turns out—a committed supporter of Philippe Pétain, head of state of the pro-Nazi collaborationist Vichy regime in France during the Second World War.

Gertrude Stein, a Vichy supporter?  For most people, including those filling the rooms of several recent major museum exhibits on Stein, this news might come as a surprise. A Jewish-American experimental writer, friend of Picasso and muse to Hemingway, Gertrude Stein seems to embody high modernism in its most creative and progressive form. Her patronage of modernism’s giants—Cézanne, Picasso, and Matisse—made her a radical in her day. Her playful and innovative writing seems to anticipate much of postmodern thought. Her open, unapologetic, same-sex partnership with Alice B. Toklas belongs more to the liberal world of 2012 than to 1912. And yet throughout her life Stein hewed to the political right, even signing up to be a propagandist for an authoritarian, Nazi-dominated political regime.

http://www.neh.gov/humanities/2012/marchapril/feature/the-strange-politics-gertrude-stein

Artists like order, too.

[crow]

There is this concept called "A Happy Medium".
It's called that because it makes you happy.
Take an aircraft. Knock off its left wing. It corkscrews left, into the ground.
Take an aircraft. Knock off its right wing. It corkscrews right, into the ground.
Take an aircraft. Don't knock either wing off. Happy happy happy.
Crows know stuff like this.

[Conservationist]

Can't buy into it. Moderates result in inevitable devolution to a mean. You either keep the aircraft pointed in a clear direction, or it tends toward entropy and pulls a Payne Stewart on ya.

[analrapist]

OK so we have the wings of the plane, and keeping it in the clear direction. But waht about the right direction? I don't care which side you're on so long as you are practical. Unfortunately all left wing plans are good in theory but fail in the real world.

[Cargést]

Why the fuck are you guys flying, anyway?  It's much nicer on the ground.

[crow]

Only a human would say a thing like that.

[Cargést]

No, I'm pretty sure most land-based animals would say something like that.

If they could speak.

Which, as far as we know, they can't.

So it stands to reason that only a human would say anything at all.

: )

[crow]

Clearly, my hominid friend, you  are not versed in the language of the unspoken word.
Frogs, for example, do nothing but chatter, at volume, among themselves.

[tardocaust]

"I'm sick of the Left and the Right," he complained, reflecting the anti-system vote that has played a massive part in this campaign.

"I have a €1million of debt to pay back and only earn €1,000 a month," he said, echoing the number one priority of the French, making ends meet in rural and industrial areas where jobs are increasingly scarce.

Then came the National Front line. "I want more work for the French and not for foreigners. We're sick of working hard while other people get the same amount for just sitting at home."

When asked whether there were any foreigners in these parts, he said no.

"Its a very calm, beautiful little village. But in the nearby cities, foreigners provoke us and we don't feel at home anymore."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/9222305/French-election-Brachay-the-village-that-holds-the-clues-to-Marine-Le-Pens-success.html

[Dylar]

Why were so many prominent modernist writers and philosophers attracted to fascist or authoritarian regimes in the first half of the twentieth century? A list of those who were not—Samuel Beckett, James Joyce, Thomas Mann, and Robert Musil—pales in comparison to a list of those who were—Ezra Pound, William Butler Yeats, T. S. Eliot, Wyndham Lewis, Knut Hamsun, Paul de Man, Louis-Ferdinand Céline, Filippo Marinetti, Martin Heidegger, Robert Brasillach, and a host of others. Add to the latter the name of Gertrude Stein, one of the most avant-garde of modernist writers in the English language, who was also—it turns out—a committed supporter of Philippe Pétain, head of state of the pro-Nazi collaborationist Vichy regime in France during the Second World War.

Gertrude Stein, a Vichy supporter?  For most people, including those filling the rooms of several recent major museum exhibits on Stein, this news might come as a surprise. A Jewish-American experimental writer, friend of Picasso and muse to Hemingway, Gertrude Stein seems to embody high modernism in its most creative and progressive form. Her patronage of modernism’s giants—Cézanne, Picasso, and Matisse—made her a radical in her day. Her playful and innovative writing seems to anticipate much of postmodern thought. Her open, unapologetic, same-sex partnership with Alice B. Toklas belongs more to the liberal world of 2012 than to 1912. And yet throughout her life Stein hewed to the political right, even signing up to be a propagandist for an authoritarian, Nazi-dominated political regime.

http://www.neh.gov/humanities/2012/marchapril/feature/the-strange-politics-gertrude-stein

Artists like order, too.

Artists also like grand, simple ideas, tragic flaws and folks who are experts at the manipulation of symbols.  Hitler was an artist.  Mussolini was a professional writer.  It's no great shock that they new how to appeal to their own.

[crow]

Good point. I have a seriously diminishing opinion of artists, lately.
Maybe that's because the art they produce is of such a generally low quality.
Years ago, there were leper colonies, for example.
But that was so 1800s. Now we are modern: we have artists colonies, instead.

[Dylar]

Good point. I have a seriously diminishing opinion of artists, lately.
Maybe that's because the art they produce is of such a generally low quality.
Years ago, there were leper colonies, for example.
But that was so 1800s. Now we are modern: we have artists colonies, instead.

I think you could, at the very least, argue that our society socially overvalues artists to the detriment of Art.

It's the downside, you might say, to our Romantic inheritance.

[crow]

If we didn't treat artists like Gods, it might help.
Most of the historically great artists were starving losers.
I think that's what made them great.

[lost_wanderer]

Artists are often the "extreme" representant of their epoch, the mirror of the aspiration of its people. It's no wonder that when a society is in decadence, it's happening also to the artists.

[Everdarkgreen]

I think you could, at the very least, argue that our society socially overvalues artists to the detriment of Art.

Unless you mean our society overvalues "artists" rather than those who create what would traditionally have been referred to as art (ie. pre-1900's), then I don't quite see how we overvalue artists. But even then, how do we overvalue what is seen as a status associated with being a loser?