Re: Long: Art, life, history, morality and other dull topics

["Ronald W. Garrison" <rwgarr@intrex.net>]

Karen Newcombe wrote:

> >An even lesser known fact is that Lyman Frank Baum was a RACIST pig
> who
> >advocated MASS MURDER openly in his position as editor of that local
> >weekly.
> >
> >To briefly summarize (and you may be able to find these articles on
> >microfiche at you local library)-
> >
> >Frank Baum used his position as editor in South Dakota to advocate
> the
> >GENOCIDE of all remaining Native Americans.
>
> Peter,
>
> You raise fascinating and complicated questions:
>
> 1) Do we judge artwork on the basis of it's own merit as an object?
> Or on
> the merit of the life actions of the person who created it?
>
> 2) Do we judge the ignorant past with the wider knowledge of today?
> Or do
> we choose to consider the context of the times as an additional
> factor?
>
> 3) In this case, how is our work to be judged, and how are our lives
> to be
> judged?
>
> Taking Baum as a further example, one can say undeniably he was a
> racist
> and advocated the extinction of Native Americans. So did nearly every
> other
> newspaper editor in the U.S. And so did nearly every other "patriotic
> American" of the time -- the news and literature of the late 1800's,
> early
> 1900's is virulently opposed to the Native American peoples' continued
>
> existence.
>
> So is he a horrendous, murderous racist who also happened to write a
> children's book?  Or the brilliant author of a magnificent children's
> book
> who also happened to have ugly political beliefs?  Or is he just a
> man?
>
> Do we forgive our ancestors their racism because they were also
> ignorant?
> Or do we punish their lack of understanding and information?  And how
> do we
> do that?
>
> These are tough questions.  I don't have the answers.  No one does.
> They
> are part of our continuing dialogue as people.  The answers were very
> different a hundred years ago, five hundred years ago, and will be
> again in
> the future.
>
> I wonder if a hundred years from now WE won't all be seen as the worst
>
> generation that ever lived -- for our insistence on driving air,
> water,
> life and land destroying automobiles, for our selfish consumption of
> the
> majority of the world's resources, for pushing the entire world keep
> up
> with us and live by our destructive standards.
>

...I think we will be, indeed, judged harshly for this. But equally
harsh judgment will be held for those who turn a blind eye to the
future, who want to turn back the clock, who sit around and wring their
hands about how foolish the human race is, without being part of the
solution. Kirkpatrick Sale, Ted Kaczinski, Ivan Illich--are you
listening??

> Will our artwork be judged by this?
>
> Will readers of my poetry gain a deep appreciation of my work by
> having the
> knowledge that on Tuesday August 19, 1997 I had a tuna sandwich for
> lunch
> and a disagreement with my cat 99 about where the exact boundaries of
> inside and outside the litter box are?
>
> Do we ban our kids from listening to Kate because she smokes and we
> don't
> want them to smoke?  Does knowing Kate likes chocolate inform your
> experience of "Sat In Your Lap"?
>

Aw mannnn, is Kate *still* smoking? I'm gonna have to give that woman a
good talking to. Lung cancer & emphysema are not something I wish on
anyone--not on myself (I gave it up about 7-1/2 years ago), not on Kate,
certainly, not on my friends or family members--heck, not even on Jesse
Helms (who, like most drug pushers, probably doesn't even touch the
stuff.) Actually (a bit of a digression--but no apologies, for this is
important), I have a theory about smoking. I don't know if this is
scientific or not, but it makes sense to me: You know how they say that,
if you quit smoking, in about ten years the risk is down to that of
someone who never smoked? Well, I think that what really happens is
that, if you quit before you start getting too old, it's not that your
*individual* risk goes down--but that it never goes up, the way it would
if you kept smoking. To put it simply, as you get older, everything
dries up--so you lose the protection you had in your youth. So all you
who are in your thirties or early forties, and smoking--NOW IS THE TIME
to stop! I know this is off topic, but it's IMPORTANT. And Kate, if
you're listening, nothing would please me more than to spread around
just a little more of that meme that could *save your life*!

> Yeah, Eric Clapton probably slept around some and did some drugs.
> Well, so
> did I and so did the President and so did Jerry Garcia and so did the
> housewife across the street and so did an awful lot of people in the
> history of this old world.
>
> It doesn't change the fact that Layla still makes the heart sing.  The
>
> music has detached itself from Clapton's life and has a life of its
> own.
>
> But this sure makes for interesting stuff to think about, eh?
>
> Sorry for rambling.

...Well, it ought to be obvious that I can ramble with the best of them,
even you.

--Ron

>
>
> Karen  kln@staralliance.com



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