“Why are all of the artists on the left?” This myopic obse…

Do we actually think the most gifted actors, musicians, and artists are highly literate in political theory? Are they dedicating time to dissecting the precepts of leftist philosophy, intentionally cultivating a revolutionary worldview?

Of course not. If you have the temperament to be a genuinely creative person, you more than likely have laser-focused on your goal, dedicating yourself to the execution of your artistic vision. This is an exhaustive process that requires the full commitment of your being.

This is a good thing - it’s what we want and expect of our artists. They should dance between the practical, the possible, and the seemingly impossible.

I don’t want to live in a world where an anomalous wellspring of creative potential also has to occupy his time guaranteeing he is up to date on the intricacies of some political issue du jour.

Many do not understand that artistic creation is a balance of conscious fundamentals (practice at craft), and unconscious inspiration. The artistic process is more akin to the “flow state” of an athlete than it is to a lofty, highly intellectual exercise.

There are very few temperamental/cognitive outliers who can achieve conscious, intellectual mastery while also reaching the highest echelons of this “flow” state, approaching the divine.

For nearly all *real* artists, the latter consumes the totality of your being and does not leave room for much else, especially the soap-opera squabbles of political theater.

Point being, most people who become noteworthy in their field of creative endeavor do so because they spent their time and passion on little else.

So how do you navigate the political world, when required to do so? You outsource your positions to the sense-making apparatus, the institutions which propagate and hone the messaging.

When your institutions are entirely in lock-step with a revolutionary, utopian narrative, be it through a “long march,” negative feedback loop, or any number of other nefarious incursions, the uniformity is seemingly impenetrable.

Additionally, the obliging deference is no longer secondary to the person’s work. It’s become a core component of assessing the artist in their totality (think “the black square”).

These factors combined mean that what appears to be an organic consensus is rather multiple vectors of coercion, impressed upon people who would be better off not being asked.

People see this unnatural unanimity, and they confuse the convenience of artists outsourcing their opinions with the *intent* of their artistic work to begin with.

They hear some jumbled collection of platitudes, and assume that the person must have imbued all of their work with this shambled sentiment.

This is why the creative counter-measures often fall short, or appear cynical and forced. Do you think your average musician intends to be the “woke artist,” and creates their music accordingly?

More often, they made their music, and picked up the security blanket of wokeness along the way. They have no problem professing fealty, but they also didn’t spend much time thinking about it.

When Daily Wire decides they want to make “conservative movies,” or some “anti-woke rapper” releases a song, they are misattributing the fealty pledge with an ulterior intent. They have it all backwards.

So what *is* a potential solution? Parallel institutions? Keeping your head down for a reverse Long March? A return to patronage? Something like what is suggested below perhaps: https://t.co/4POhhoqI7f

The problem with right-wing art as envisioned by the IM-1776 crowd is that it\u2019s explicitly political art made by people who are barely conservative when what we actually need is apolitical art made by people who are openly right-wing extremists
— Future Moldovan Citizen (@MainstreamViews) June 13, 2022

A simple, actionable one to start could be this - if you make art, reassert the value in just shutting the fuck up. I don’t want artists to make me feel good about my political camp. I want artists to not give a shit about my political camp, or any political camp for that matter.

I have more thoughts and examples I could expound on, but for now I will leave it at this. Part of reclaiming the spirit of creativity is simply doing it because your compulsion is to create things, not to score points in some inventory of political artists.

“Why are all of the artists on the left?”

This myopic observation is a source of misunderstanding and shortsighted resignation for many on the right, both regarding the nature of creativity itself and a path forward for creating a new canon.

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“Why are all of the artists on the left?”This myopic observation is a source of misunderstanding and shortsighted resignation for many on the right, both regarding the nature of creativity itself and a path forward for creating a new canon.

More from All

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“Why are all of the artists on the left?”

This myopic observation is a source of misunderstanding and shortsighted resignation for many on the right, both regarding the nature of creativity itself and a path forward for creating a new canon.