...aesthetically, I mean*.
One of the original goals of Communism was to reduce art to the most common, base forms. You reduce the expectation of skill in an artist to the point that anyone can consider himself to be one, that's communistic. It brings down the high, and causes the low to believe they are equal to the high. In Communism, this is viewed as a positive good. In Capitalism, the best and brightest are rewarded. A system which values the individual over the collective will value art which displays a high degree of skill.
This makes communist-y people easy to please. Show them a picture that is composed and in focus and watch them fall over backwards. Take five minutes to make something of low quality, but spend five minutes to explain how very meaningful it is, and they love it. Having never been exposed to high art, and having no idea of the level of skill involved, a painting with near-photographic realistic detail does not impress today's government school graduate. P-diddy does impress with his N-tss N-tss N-tss.
The upshot of this is that someone with slightly above-average skill becomes a giant among men and a leader of his peers. Plus you can really knock peoples' socks off by doing the barely-higher-than-mediocre.
*now, politically pleasing them, that's also easy but it means you destroy your country . . .
One of the original goals of Communism was to reduce art to the most common, base forms. You reduce the expectation of skill in an artist to the point that anyone can consider himself to be one, that's communistic. It brings down the high, and causes the low to believe they are equal to the high. In Communism, this is viewed as a positive good. In Capitalism, the best and brightest are rewarded. A system which values the individual over the collective will value art which displays a high degree of skill.
This makes communist-y people easy to please. Show them a picture that is composed and in focus and watch them fall over backwards. Take five minutes to make something of low quality, but spend five minutes to explain how very meaningful it is, and they love it. Having never been exposed to high art, and having no idea of the level of skill involved, a painting with near-photographic realistic detail does not impress today's government school graduate. P-diddy does impress with his N-tss N-tss N-tss.
The upshot of this is that someone with slightly above-average skill becomes a giant among men and a leader of his peers. Plus you can really knock peoples' socks off by doing the barely-higher-than-mediocre.
*now, politically pleasing them, that's also easy but it means you destroy your country . . .
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