I attended The Corcoran School of Art which is located catty-corner from the White House’s back yard. One evening in 1994, I was standing outside of the school smoking a cig, contemplating gloomy art things when a homeless woman came up to me to bum a smoke off of me. We talked and she mentioned that she was a life-long protester, she was living in Lafayette Park like others with serious causes. We talked Politics and she asked me, “Are you and artist?”
I hated that question at the time because it seemed to me that saying yes meant that you were good at art. I lacked the confidence to realize that the Corcoran would not have accepted my portfolio or me if they had not seen potential. “I don’t know, maybe?”
She went on to say, either you are or not and if so then it was my patriotic duty to watch over the US Constitution because it was artists who had written and artists who masterminded the essence of human freedom. She also went on to say that only artists could maintain the integrity of the Bill of Rights, because only artists could match the fervor of the Founding Fathers.
SO, this 10 minute conversation 24 years ago stuck with me and I draw on it whenever I hear ludicrous statements about musicians, such as Kanye(Ka? Ye?) and Taylor Swift, and actors like Alyssa Milano and Roseanne should just stick with their art. It is also common to hear that they have no right or relevance in expressing their political views. This is inherently and viciously wrong.
The artists I mentioned are American Citizens, of course they have every ‘right’ to express their view no matter how outlandish it happens to be. Arguing that would be like me saying to a coal miner(ancient form of employment in a nearly extinct industry) “Sir, you have no right to speak your mind and endorse a candidate because you are not qualified to have an opinion. Stick to coal mining.”
I would also say that as people of interest, they have voices that can reach a large population for better or worse. Yesterday, Taylor Swift encouraged her fans to register to vote, expressed her views, but mainly spoke of the importance of this civic responsibility. How many young fans do you think took her message to stride over night? Kayne West puts out crazy messages (based on intellect and social theorist Thomas Sowell) but it still draws attention to the importance of learning about the issues and history.
I do have to mention that James Woods, Ted Nugent and Steven Seagal make me vomit, however, in the big picture, they are counter-weights and that is important to the process of consensus and democracy. I wish that it were not true sometimes, but if we did not have a balance to maintain, we would be in jeopardy of authoritative rule as we are seeing with our current branches of government. This is where we must concede that Liberalism can be tipped too far to the left, which is as dangerous as tipping to the right.
I ask that we respect our differences, exhibit good examples of a healthy democracy by understanding the need to work for balance and not to even the score. This isn’t football folks, it’s our lives and our legacy. The Blue Tsunami should be looked at as a way to restore balance and therefore sanity.
