HOME | DD

Description
So...normally I prefer to keep my political views out of my artwork and keep them to myself...or at least keep it a background element and not hit anyone over the head with them. I am also open to being wrong--you'll need a convincing argument and evidence to back it up. I don't respond to arguments based solely in moral or emotional terms. Partly because of just how horrifically polarized politics have become, and mostly because I want you, the audience, to come to your own conclusions about the work you're viewing. I'm not terribly concerned with offending anyone, mind you, just because it's so easy to do nowadays that it's more trouble than it's worth to try avoiding it. As Socrates once pointed out "A system of morality which is based on relative emotional values is a mere illusion, a thoroughly vulgar conception which has nothing sound in it and nothing true." By that alone, I have problems with both of the dominant parties in the American political landscape. So I've limited my political expressions to things that directly affect me as an artist. The SOPA/PIPA thing and censorship of art, for example. Weighing in on heavier issues with my abilities...well, that carries the risk of propagandizing, and that's to be avoided like the plague. I consider propaganda a perversion of art, so there you go.

The events of this last month though...warrant a response. And in truth, I couldn't focus on doing any of the more fun stuff I had planned until I did this. And...yeah, there's a rant coming.

What has appalled and infuriated me is the responses to Charlottesville and Boston. Charlottseville was bad enough all on it's own, but what I've been seeing is just as bad, if not worse since it's putting down fertilizer in a garden full of weeds. The results are not going to be pretty. From Colbert's ability to read between the lines magically evaporating, Romney's call for "more extreme action," and various other organizations and business focusing only on the racial bigotry that was on display...and no one in the mainstream, save our Twitter-obsessed president, has had the moral courage or intellectual honesty to call out the bigotry that exists on BOTH sides' ideological extremes, that confronted each other in Charlottesville. Honestly, when it's DONALD J. TRUMP being more balanced and factual than anyone else...we've got a problem. a Big One. Huge, in fact. It's tremendous, I'm telling you.

The guy's easy enough to mock, you know. You don't have to make shit up or twist anything he says to do it. He hands you the material on a golden platter (not silver, because it's...Trump).

And what happened when he did issue an inclusive statement? Everyone moved the goalposts so he couldn't "hit the mark" or be "presidential" and they could write another article--or tell a "joke"--to castigate him on "missing the mark." That should be absolutely abhorrent to anyone who calls themselves "reasonable."

And to make it worse, these people are completely and totally lacking in self-awareness. For example, a quote from writer Eleanor Penny in response to Noam Chomsky's recent comments--and gods, I /never/ thought I'd find myself in agreement with Chomsky on anything! Here's what she said: "Chomsky treats the battle against fascism as a battle for moral purity than can be won when the left remain respectful, polite, and deferent. But fascists have no interest in winning that battle. They don't care about respecting free speech or the right to a fair trial; they've openly declared their murderous intent towards people of colour (and other undesirables) and they'll pursue that goal by any means necessary. In this context, physical resistance is a duty, an act of self-defence, not an unsightly outpost of leftist moral decline."

I would argue that Chomsky said nothing about deference, but remaining civil--polite, if not necessarily respectful--and giving your opposition the opportunity to lay out their arguments for you to dismantle (if at all possible) without presuming yourself their moral superior. Which is a major problem in both parties. They both consider themselves morally superior to everyone else. I dunno, that sounds a little...what's the word? Starts with a "B" I think...

So, here's the thing. No, the racists in the alt-right aren't in a position of moral high ground. But neither is the antifa or any other leftist "protest" group, or anyone who supports them or merely ignores them. (....That's a lot of "ors" in one sentence. My English teachers would be disappointed...) They're bigots too. But for them, their version of "undesirables" has little to do with anyone who looks different. It's all about who thinks the "right" thing, does the "right" thing...whatever that is this week. Doesn't that sound authoritarian? What's a synonym for authoritarian, I wonder? Oh yeah...FASCIST. They, too, don't care about free speech. They're the ones who say "Free speech is hate speech," after all. You'd think that'd be self-explanatory, but nope. Apparently not. They, too, are not interested in fair trials, having stated in a recent CNN interview, among others, that they don't trust the government and aren't going to wait on the police or the courts to do their jobs....and in saying that, have declared their own murderous intent toward wrongthinkers and other undesirables "by any means necessary." Why else would they embrace the practice of doxing and think it justified when they do and "harassment" when it happens to them?! They regularly engage in violence against anyone they disagree with, and they've even got a group called By Any Means Necessary....which is described as a "left-wing militant group" that organizes their "protests!" Just look up any video about the "antifa movement " and watch how rapidly they get violent and destructive. This, THIS no one's going to call out?! We're just going to shrug and say "meh" about it?!?!

And more importantly, the left is not engaged in "physical resistance," nor are they fighting fascism. That would be true only if, and I cannot stress that enough, IF they were directly attacked. Instead, they have this nasty tendency toward being the aggressors. And they're the ones in positions of power. They've got the lobbyists, and thus the politicians, on their side and working for their benefit...not so much the KKK or Neo-Nazis, have you noticed? It's a little hard to take their claims of systemic bigotry when those groups are flat-out not represented anywhere that policy is decided. Which means that even by the left's own definition of bigotry (that it's prejudice + power to enforce it)...antifa are bigots! And that means they are engaged in an exercise of aggression aimed at subjugating anyone they don't like.

At it's most basic, we had two groups of authoritarians clash with each other over what to be authoritarian about...and we don't want to recognize one side for what they are. How stupid is that?! They've got a lot more in common than they have different. And we're ignoring one side as "moral" and condemning another as "immoral" when they're doing the EXACT. SAME. THINGS! That is reprehensible on every level imaginable. Albert Einstein once said "The world is a terrible place to live. Not because of the evil people in it, but because of those who did nothing about it." I find that one a more honest statement than the more commonly quoted Edmund Burke: "The only thing evil needs to thrive is for good men to do nothing." Well, guess what? There's evil on the left, too, and we can't afford to do nothing about it. We have to call it out with the same vehemence we call out the right's. As long as we fail to do so, the left will have as little claim to moral high ground as the right does.

And yet...our mainstream is going to do exactly that; nothing. In essence, they are bowing to the rule of the mob in the streets. Thing about mobs, though, is that they're only as smart as their stupidest member, and as peaceful as their most violent. I'd be willing to bet that we're going to see more Charlottesvilles as a result. There's no way we can't if this keeps up.

I need to hire an angry squirrel to rant this properly.... Okay, I'm done, more normal fun stuff next week.

Description
So...normally I prefer to keep my political views out of my artwork and keep them to myself...or at least keep it a background element and not hit anyone over the head with them. I am also open to being wrong--you'll need a convincing argument and evidence to back it up. I don't respond to arguments based solely in moral or emotional terms. Partly because of just how horrifically polarized politics have become, and mostly because I want you, the audience, to come to your own conclusions about the work you're viewing. I'm not terribly concerned with offending anyone, mind you, just because it's so easy to do nowadays that it's more trouble than it's worth to try avoiding it. As Socrates once pointed out "A system of morality which is based on relative emotional values is a mere illusion, a thoroughly vulgar conception which has nothing sound in it and nothing true." By that alone, I have problems with both of the dominant parties in the American political landscape. So I've limited my political expressions to things that directly affect me as an artist. The SOPA/PIPA thing and censorship of art, for example. Weighing in on heavier issues with my abilities...well, that carries the risk of propagandizing, and that's to be avoided like the plague. I consider propaganda a perversion of art, so there you go.

The events of this last month though...warrant a response. And in truth, I couldn't focus on doing any of the more fun stuff I had planned until I did this. And...yeah, there's a rant coming.

What has appalled and infuriated me is the responses to Charlottesville and Boston. Charlottseville was bad enough all on it's own, but what I've been seeing is just as bad, if not worse since it's putting down fertilizer in a garden full of weeds. The results are not going to be pretty. From Colbert's ability to read between the lines magically evaporating, Romney's call for "more extreme action," and various other organizations and business focusing only on the racial bigotry that was on display...and no one in the mainstream, save our Twitter-obsessed president, has had the moral courage or intellectual honesty to call out the bigotry that exists on BOTH sides' ideological extremes, that confronted each other in Charlottesville. Honestly, when it's DONALD J. TRUMP being more balanced and factual than anyone else...we've got a problem. a Big One. Huge, in fact. It's tremendous, I'm telling you.

The guy's easy enough to mock, you know. You don't have to make shit up or twist anything he says to do it. He hands you the material on a golden platter (not silver, because it's...Trump).

And what happened when he did issue an inclusive statement? Everyone moved the goalposts so he couldn't "hit the mark" or be "presidential" and they could write another article--or tell a "joke"--to castigate him on "missing the mark." That should be absolutely abhorrent to anyone who calls themselves "reasonable."

And to make it worse, these people are completely and totally lacking in self-awareness. For example, a quote from writer Eleanor Penny in response to Noam Chomsky's recent comments--and gods, I /never/ thought I'd find myself in agreement with Chomsky on anything! Here's what she said: "Chomsky treats the battle against fascism as a battle for moral purity than can be won when the left remain respectful, polite, and deferent. But fascists have no interest in winning that battle. They don't care about respecting free speech or the right to a fair trial; they've openly declared their murderous intent towards people of colour (and other undesirables) and they'll pursue that goal by any means necessary. In this context, physical resistance is a duty, an act of self-defence, not an unsightly outpost of leftist moral decline."

I would argue that Chomsky said nothing about deference, but remaining civil--polite, if not necessarily respectful--and giving your opposition the opportunity to lay out their arguments for you to dismantle (if at all possible) without presuming yourself their moral superior. Which is a major problem in both parties. They both consider themselves morally superior to everyone else. I dunno, that sounds a little...what's the word? Starts with a "B" I think...

So, here's the thing. No, the racists in the alt-right aren't in a position of moral high ground. But neither is the antifa or any other leftist "protest" group, or anyone who supports them or merely ignores them. (....That's a lot of "ors" in one sentence. My English teachers would be disappointed...) They're bigots too. But for them, their version of "undesirables" has little to do with anyone who looks different. It's all about who thinks the "right" thing, does the "right" thing...whatever that is this week. Doesn't that sound authoritarian? What's a synonym for authoritarian, I wonder? Oh yeah...FASCIST. They, too, don't care about free speech. They're the ones who say "Free speech is hate speech," after all. You'd think that'd be self-explanatory, but nope. Apparently not. They, too, are not interested in fair trials, having stated in a recent CNN interview, among others, that they don't trust the government and aren't going to wait on the police or the courts to do their jobs....and in saying that, have declared their own murderous intent toward wrongthinkers and other undesirables "by any means necessary." Why else would they embrace the practice of doxing and think it justified when they do and "harassment" when it happens to them?! They regularly engage in violence against anyone they disagree with, and they've even got a group called By Any Means Necessary....which is described as a "left-wing militant group" that organizes their "protests!" Just look up any video about the "antifa movement " and watch how rapidly they get violent and destructive. This, THIS no one's going to call out?! We're just going to shrug and say "meh" about it?!?!

And more importantly, the left is not engaged in "physical resistance," nor are they fighting fascism. That would be true only if, and I cannot stress that enough, IF they were directly attacked. Instead, they have this nasty tendency toward being the aggressors. And they're the ones in positions of power. They've got the lobbyists, and thus the politicians, on their side and working for their benefit...not so much the KKK or Neo-Nazis, have you noticed? It's a little hard to take their claims of systemic bigotry when those groups are flat-out not represented anywhere that policy is decided. Which means that even by the left's own definition of bigotry (that it's prejudice + power to enforce it)...antifa are bigots! And that means they are engaged in an exercise of aggression aimed at subjugating anyone they don't like.

At it's most basic, we had two groups of authoritarians clash with each other over what to be authoritarian about...and we don't want to recognize one side for what they are. How stupid is that?! They've got a lot more in common than they have different. And we're ignoring one side as "moral" and condemning another as "immoral" when they're doing the EXACT. SAME. THINGS! That is reprehensible on every level imaginable. Albert Einstein once said "The world is a terrible place to live. Not because of the evil people in it, but because of those who did nothing about it." I find that one a more honest statement than the more commonly quoted Edmund Burke: "The only thing evil needs to thrive is for good men to do nothing." Well, guess what? There's evil on the left, too, and we can't afford to do nothing about it. We have to call it out with the same vehemence we call out the right's. As long as we fail to do so, the left will have as little claim to moral high ground as the right does.

And yet...our mainstream is going to do exactly that; nothing. In essence, they are bowing to the rule of the mob in the streets. Thing about mobs, though, is that they're only as smart as their stupidest member, and as peaceful as their most violent. I'd be willing to bet that we're going to see more Charlottesvilles as a result. There's no way we can't if this keeps up.

I need to hire an angry squirrel to rant this properly.... Okay, I'm done, more normal fun stuff next week.