The ‘Right’ To Be Creative
Many of us are still reflecting on all that we saw and heard at CPAC earlier this month. Those of us who are not CPAC virgins were struck by how different it was this year compared to our previous experience with the conservative movement’s annual shindig.
It was certainly a rally of the active conservatives. However those in bloom were not the stereotypical conservatives, but a newer and hipper breed. The social conservatives were very much on the back foot, and the fiscal conservatives — with varying degrees of libertarian leanings — were in the ascendancy. It’s possible that my views were skewed by spending a great deal of time with the Pajamas Media/PJTV and Competitive Enterprise Institute/Bureaucrash hordes, but I don’t think so. I think that limited government, low tax, and ‘get the hell out of my life’ conservatives were very much in the majority at this event.
One thing that came up quite often in chatting with people outside my two “comfort” groups was the movement’s dearth of musicians and writers, best crystallized after a fellow attendee described me as a “Ted Nugent conservative.” In fact, at one reception I was asked point blank why the movement did not have many people from the entertainment world in its number. This was at least better put than the usual “all creative types are leftists” rants, which I hear often. The answer — if you ask anyone outside the country/gospel music scene — is quite simple: it’s a matter of professional survival. There are many “closet” conservatives in the music business and even in Hollywood who don’t dare out themselves for fear of curtailing their careers.
It’s simply about whether your political beliefs are worth more than your livelihood. And it’s not just the case in the performing arts. Publishing companies all over the world are full of “liberal arts” graduates who more often than not steer to the far left. Getting anything not “right-on” past them is damn near impossible, unless you are religious and wear it on your sleeve.
So how do we solve this problem and make it financially acceptable for those on the right to be “out” in their professions? At the risk of sounding sycophantic, a case could be made that the Pajamas Media project is the right way to go. The right needs to stop whining and start its own publishing houses, record companies, and movie studios. The left helps its own all the time, so why don’t we?
Ditto, ditto, ditto! It’s also good business. Right-themed arts — or just arts not tainted with liberal messaging — have a ready and hungry audience. It’s time for a conservative renaissance.
Maybe we’re just cheap. I haven’t spent money direclty on anything from Hollywood for at least 10 years, although I have bought some independent (and non-statist) films, like “Indoctrinate U.” Music is tougher, harder to find, and I’m old enough not to care now. Reading material, however, is plentiful. With businesses like Lulu.com and iUniverse.com, authors have no shortage of outlets.
This article is absolutely correct. I’m in the creative side of the movie business, and I don’t dare open my mouth. At best, I allow colleagues to believe I am a free-thinker (which I am), but never a flat-out conservative (which I also happen to be).
It’s so bad, I’m even careful about my identity when posting on conservative websites.
As generally everyone in the movie business is “freelance,” it only takes a small shift for one to be shut out.
Well, articles like this one help just by shedding light on the problem. And websites like Andrew Breitbart’s “Big Hollywood” are giving creative conservatives a place to gather and find support. That’s a great start. But I would throw in a word of caution. This mantra of “limited government, low taxes, and get the hell out of my way,” while sound in theory, makes those who profess it sound shallow, selfish, and amoral. Somehow, we’ve got to find a way to explain, in fairly simple terms, WHY that approach is GOOD FOR EVERYBODY in the entire country… not just for the wealthy. We need to be about liberty, not just license. Otherwise, we just come across as heartless hedonists. We need to find a way to explain why the conservative approach is, in the long run, the more compassionate approach. Everyone reading this article already understands that, but most folks in the entertainment biz think with their hearts, not their heads.
Have conservatives ceded the arts to liberals, or was this territory taken from us? I can’t get to the solution to this predicament until I can figure that much out.
I am a writer in the NYC art world, the home of the most extreme loony know-nothing Left imaginable. Passport checks are performed at every dinner party: “So what do you think of Obama?” “So what do you think of global warming?”
There are no gray answers, no possibility of dialog, there are correct answers and unenlightened ones. Relativity does not exist in the NYC art world. Creativity is quashed and conformity demanded.
TO: All
RE: Heh
They’re just gutless latter-day kulaks. Just like those in Russia during the Russian Civil War after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917.
Too busy trying to make and living and/or too scared to resist.
Well….
….they learned THEIR lesson, the hard way within Stalin’s ‘re-education’ camps of the early 1930s. 1.3 million sent off to be ‘re-educated’. Like Pol Pot’s ‘re-education’ in the Killing Fields of Cambodia.
And to think that Ayers, Obama’s polisci mentor, was talking about doing the same here…..
Regards,
Chuck(le)
[A (gutless) conservative is one who is too cowardly to fight and too fat to run.]
Here’s a thought. Why do right-wing media shows, radio and tv, use rocks songs penned by artists who will have nothing to do with conservative politics? Liberal artists are constantly filing cease and desist orders against Republicans, but I’ve yet to hear a liberal appropriate a Montgomery Gentry song.
Tell me that Republicans don’t believe these songs make them appear like hep cats. Tell me they don’t believe it will fool the kids into liking their shows or views. Republicans can’t possibly be that stupid, can they? If Republicans crave good, wholesome content, why does porn consumption go up in direct correlation to conservative populations? (Utah is the highest!) And why doesn’t Eric Cantor use a hank Williams Jr song instead of AC/DC? And how many good movies, I mean really rich, textured stories or amazing thriller action flicks have been produced in the last 10 years? (Other than that masterpiece, An American Carol, which earned 1/3 of what Religulous earned per screen.)
Here’s the undeniable fact, Hollywood will make whatever earns money. And even if that weren’t true, conservatives have a tone of money. What’s stopping you from taking over the entertainment industry with Kirk Cameron movies? Go ahead, make your movies. Nobody’s stopping you. Bill Maher did it with a $2.5 million budget. Then again, he’s really smart and creative and funny.
Hey, I think I may have stumbled onto something with that last line.
I don’t think a “conservative” record label is going to work any more than Christian rock works. Music, distinct from musicians, is ususally apolitical–especially, since you brought it up–jazz.
Books and movies, on the other hand delve directly into the realm of ideas. There very well may be an opportunity for a “PJ Press” to put literature containing conservative ideas on to America’s bookshelves or for “PJ Studios” to produce television and movies that not-yet-conservative Americans might watch.
Listen, art is the realm of the heart and reason is the realm of the mind. There’s no reason a person can’t have a finely developed sense of both. A person with conservative political values is quite capable of appreciating music, literature, or any other art form created by someone with more liberal political values. (It doesn’t have to be about “looking hep” to the kids!) The artist doesn’t HAVE to operate within the bounds of reason… but the politician MUST. Art is about appealing to human emotions. Politics is about finding solutions to the practical problems of living in a human society. I don’t WANT my artists preaching at me about their politics – whether those be liberal OR conservative. I just wanted them telling “the truth” as they see it, in a compelling way. On the flip side of that, I don’t look to my government leaders for guidance when I’m buying a CD or renting a movie. I am a liberally-educated person who loves all sorts of arts and entertainment. I also happen to be politically conservative. It’s not an oxymoron.
TO: Margaret Evans
RE: REALLY??!??!?!
Then please explain the “Piss Christ” to me. And, while you’re at it. Why did the government fund it?
Regards,
Chuck(le)
P.S. I won’t hold my breath on this one…..I don’t look good in ‘blue’. My color is ‘green’, as in OD…..
Stephen Baldwin is one ‘out of the closet’ Conservative…
Jon Voight is another, Ted Nugent yet another…and there are plenty more.
‘They’ exist… It’s just that the MSM ignores them when they speak on behalf of their own political views most of the time. When you have Liberals in charge of what you ‘get’ to see is it any wonder?
Margaret Evans — your take on art and reason seems a bit simplistic to me. Isn’t art an expression of values, and don’t values, which are essentially ideas, derive from reason? Is feeling mindless? Are compassion and appreciation felt without intellectual basis? It occurs to me that both art and politics require both emotion and reason, because both are uniquely human in nature and are integrated, not discrete.
I agree that there is worthwhile art created by genuine artists who differ in their opinions and worldview from my own. But without reason, how might that art be evaluated? If it’s strictly gut-level, then there is no objective criteria on which to base an opinion, and so Piss Christ can be celebrated as art. Values are on display, but values that belong in a toilet, and surely not worthy of embrace.
You seem to use politics as a synonym for government. They are not the same thing. Politics may have a place in art. Government doesn’t. By the same token, human sensitivity has a place in politics, by informing decisions within a context that remembers that governance and problem-solving are inextricably bound to people.
Perhaps this explains why I don’t watch all that much television, go to rock concerts, and the such. Listening to Bach or Sibelius being performed on CD is so much better than trying to get whatever the ‘new wave du jour’ is in music, even orchestral music. I did read a lot up to a few years ago, and it tended towards the self-reliant sort of fiction that still has a large home in it for conservatives, libertarians and those who think that individualism does have a place in the future: science fiction. The movie adaptations done by left leaning hollywood writers go from merely bad to horrifically awful, and rarely capture the essence of what is presented and, instead, go for mere form.
Of course SF has the problem of the future, now the bleak future, arriving far too quickly… still, authors of the past noted that similar would happen to us again and that keeping the eye on liberty and freedom to rebuild is the goal for a dream that never dims.
Movies with conservative slants do more business than any with far left ideals.
Taken is a prime example of giving a movie with clear conservative, take-no-prisoners, the bad guys aren’t white neo-cons did boffo box office for its size and budget. Movies like “Lions for Lambs”, “Rendition”, “Stop-Loss”, etc. don’t make a blip on the radar.
Hollywood will start to come around and realize that making movies that have core family-first values make more money than any “statement” movie. The Obama Presidency is going to to more for conservatives than Reagan did.
Welcome to the new conservative/libertarian revolution.
Hear hear. My husband and I are life-long professional artists. All the other pro artists we know are conservatives, but because we’re in the arts, people assume we must be liberals. The thing is, in order to be a successful, self-employed pro you need to be creative, talented, disciplined, hard-working, and economically aware – the complete opposite of the flaky, government-subsidized “artists” and art teachers who seem to set the groovy standard. As for Hollywood, I would venture a guess that the folks behind the cameras and behind the scenes are largely conservatives – even if it’s just because the liberal “stars” are such idiots.
I do not inhabit the art or media world, so what I have to say probably amounts to squat. But anyway, my two cents’ worth… I don’t think we need to establish our own ghettos of creativity, as in forming our own alternate companies that cater only to conservatives and their memes and motifs. That just falls into the same trap the other side indulges itself in. By all means I do think we should have media companies that will be fair to people and judge them only by the quality of their material, not by some politically correct criteria. It should be enough that we don’t filter people out because they are libs or Leftists. And most certainly those who do not toe the Leftist line are welcome in the new alternative media and arts world.
We have to be better than this “let’s exclude and blacklist the other” mentality.
15. Hollywood will start to come around and realize that making movies that have core family-first values make more money than any “statement” movie.
~~~~~
Hollywood only makes family-friendly movies because they make money to support their left-wing agendized garbage that they pat themselves on the backs over. they will continue to put forth the garbage becasue they must justify their ammoral lifestyles.
To Chuck Pelto:
I said that a person with conservative values is CAPABLE of appreciating art made by someone with more liberal values. (Someone above had accused talk radio hosts of playing rock music just too appear cool for the kids… as if they were incapable of actually LIKING the music, so I was addressing that.) Here’s an example: I happen love Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run” album, even though I don’t like his politics. Does this mean I also love Piss Christ? Of course not. I find it offensive. My point was that my conservative politics do not govern my every choice when it comes to art. Often times, the values reflected in a work of art are merely HUMAN values… they transcend politics. I can watch a movie about a poor family and feel compassion for their suffering without sacrificing my belief that much of that suffering has been brought about by bad social policy. My whole point was that it’s not an either/or proposition… that I won’t boycott an artist who speaks to my heart just because I disagree with his politics.
To Cheeflo:
You are right when you say that both art and politics require compassion and reason. I was, indeed, oversimplifying above, and I stand corrected.
Chuck Pelto asks: ” . . . please explain the “Piss Christ” to me. And, while you’re at it. Why did the government fund it?”
I’m a conservative/independent and I teach art full-time at a small college. “Piss Chris” by Andres Serrano is one of many not very good photographs by a sensation-seeking headline-grabber with a camera. But for the record there is no “piss” in “Piss Christ.” The photograph is of a cheap plastic crucifix picked up out of the gutter at the vatican after an outdoor ritual, and it is toned with a yellow/orange tint. Serrano looked at it and named it based on the color. No jars of urine, no body waste touching the crucifix, etc. Supposedly the crucifix was one of a type that are handed out to believers, some of whom discard them after the service. Serrano admits to being Catholic himself, so with that information the work takes on a slightly different cast.
As to being “funded by the government,” the work itself was not funded by the government, but it did appear in an art show that was partially funded by government grants.
There are two lessons here. First, don’t believe the mainstream press about ANY artwork. Instead, go and find out about the thing yourself. The second lesson is that manipulators like Serrano are only visible to the degree we allow them. When we vote with our feet, or when we write our representatives we can make a difference.
Personally I don’t think the government should be in the business of funding artworks. I’m with Margaret Evans in that artists have to solve our problems by being better at art and less about politics.
Finally, I do agree with Dodge’s analysis of how arts professionals have to cover their conservativism or risk expulsion, especially in academia. I can’t count the number of “checks” I’ve had to “pass.” A recent gathering of heads of art departments started with “thank God we got our guy in,” with an eye to who was sufficiently hearty in their agreement.
We do need to retake the high ground, but we can’t force people to appreciate us. Like good conservatives, we have to earn it.
Margaret Evans @10
You are quite correct about how we must proceed. Conservative values and ideas have not been explained enough in terms of why they are better policy for the common good. I left Marxist thinking when I gradually became convinced that socialism is a failure and makes societies poorer, not better off. I was actually not motivated by selfish goals to become a kind of classical liberal (in the correct understanding of that description). I simply saw the alchemy of enlightened self-interest and the record of success it has in providing opportunity for all and greater prosperity for all.
One statement bothers me…”If Ted Nugent isn’t to your liking….” That’s the problem,i.e., we shouldn’t be criticising one another. Remember what Reagan said, and I’m paraphrasing…”We may not agree 100% of the time, but if we agree 70-80% of the time…you should vote for me.” Conservatives should not allow only those who agree on everything to call themselves a conservative. There are things happening socially that sadden me, but I support those conservatives who may be accepting of those things…because that is only a part of what conservatism is. It is time for us to work together, to be accepting of one another and to reach out as Reagan did.
This article explains exactly why liberals rule the media, arts, entertainment, literature, etc., and why conservatives are always left out and marginalized.
Conservatives view art as being in the realm of the intelligentsia and of the elite, and as we all know, the conservative movement’s culture war has been for the past 20 years deriding anything that it deems elitist, including educational institutions, non-profits and legal organizations that protect the freedom of speech that allows artists to express themselves freely. When a controversial piece of art is produced, who defends it? Liberals. Who whines that it ought to be censored? Conservatives. So in that sense, the conservatives movement made a conscious political choice to abandon art to the liberals, and is now paying for it.
Secondly, this view that there needs to be more “conservative art” really shows how little conservatives understand and appreciate art. Viewing art as a tug of war between ideological factions is tantamount to admitting that you simply can’t appreciate art on its own merits. Arguing that that there needs to be more conservative art is like arguing that there need to be more paintings created using the color blue.
The fact is that anyone can create art, but liberals are a much more represented in the art world because art as an institution is more important them, and therefore liberals get to set the tone.
When conservatives: a) Stop viewing artists and artistic institutions with contempt and b) stop viewing art as a political tool to gain power and start viewing it as an important means of expression and as necessary for survival of our democracy, maybe then they’ll be welcomed back into the art world. But as long as the conservative movement is run by banjo-strumming (hey, that’s art too) anti-intellectuals who are terrified of having their pure little minds jaded by controversial images, liberals will continue to rule the arts, and by extension, will continue to claim victories in the culture war.
I guess I’m an edgy punk, they ask me, I tell them.
Isn’t it an artist’s job in this unicorns-sh*t-rainbows society to say “screw you”?
Why is everyone being so softfooted about it?
If no liberals will hire you, that’s a good thing.
Too many times I’ve had that bunch wait til I’ve presented them with the bill, only to have them want to back out of payment, saying I should “think of the good it is doing”.
Liberals shop, but Republicans buy! Stating your politics will get rid of a lot of moochers, believe me.
24. buckitz:
no the `job’ of the artist is not to say `screw you’
“The defining function of the artist is to cherish consciousness.”
-Max Eastman
“The goal of an artist is to create art.
What is art? Art is the product of ingenious human activity.
What is considered beautiful art or repulsive art? There is no such thing. Good art or bad art is relative. For instance, some people might say that a certain book is good, others might differ. For a few group, that certain book is beautiful, many others might think it isn’t.”
Didactic art and films, on the other hand, like the examples of h’wood bombs above are whats destructive and need to be reacted against by presenting values and situations that bring up the culture and celebrate the individual.
Fortunately, somewhere between chance and mystery lies imagination, the only thing that protects our freedom, despite the fact that people keep trying to reduce it or kill it off altogether.
—Luis Buñuel
In the spirit of bipartisanship, here is my own “modest proposal” regarding the arts.
On the one hand, liberals believe that the arts are important enough that they should be subsidized with federal tax dollars. On the other hand, conservatives notice that the US Constitution doesn’t actually make any provision for such funding.
I suggest that the National Endowment for the Arts be made a new division of the US Army. If you are an artist, and you want an income that does not depend on actually selling your art, you could join the Army. This would be a win-win for both sides. Conservatives would know that the art they are subsidizing is being produced under adult supervision, while liberals wouldn’t have to lie when they say “We support the troops.”
When a controversial piece of art is produced, who defends it? Liberals. Who whines that it ought to be censored? Conservatives.
Bzzzzt! Wrong! Thanks for playing.
See “hate speech” and “code words” for leftist cries for censorship.
And why doesn’t Eric Cantor use a hank Williams Jr song instead of AC/DC?
Why are you picking on AC/DC, they are not fervent lefties as far as I know. They are apolitical and just rock.
I understand your point. So often you hear conservatives/Republicans using music performed by someone who will take the money they get from royalties and give it to causes on the other side (as is their right)?
Then again when I point out how fervently activist left an artist used is I tend to get blank looks from whomever in behind using the track. Do a little research people.
Margaret, Fred, and several others: I somewhat disagree with you about not wanting to create a conservative “artistic ghetto”, as it were. First of all, there’s always the need for those of similar minds to find places to work together and support each other. Admittedly, its scope should eventually grow beyond any core group of insiders (otherwise it’s serving no purpose), but you’ve got to start somewhere.
However, a more important point: Much of what’s happened to the arts today is because of the Left’s fully embracing the Stalinist dictum that the only legitimate purpose of art is to advance the interests of the Party. According to this dictum, all works of art that fail to propagandize their political interests are burgeois and should be suppressed. This dictum has almost totally taken over the visual arts world; if you go to any exhibition of contemporary painters or sculptures you are almost certain to be assaulted with 100% left-wing politics, presented in as strident and bratty a style as possible. It has also taken over much of the film and television world; the practicers of these arts today view the role of their art as being not to enlighten, but to indoctorinate. This is what explains things like “Piss Christ” and “Stop-Loss”.
The purpose of a conservative arts outfit should be not necessarily be to apply partisan tests to its participants, but to create works of art that do not seek to propagandize. I claim that, because today’s Leftism is so full of self-contradictions and lies, any artist who truly seeks to enlighten (and entertain!) the audience will usually wind up expressing conservative values as a matter of course. Remember, conservatism isn’t simply a political movement; it’s a perscription for arriving at a set of values for how to live a moral life.
Cousin Dave,
Your observations about the politicization of art in a Stalinist vein are spot on. I was just anticipating how they would use one of Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals against us: find out where they violate their own principles and then nail them on it. So, we conservatives believe in freedom of expression and speech, and if we seemingly violate this principle of ours they’ll call us a bunch of hypocrites. Just sayin’…
I have no problem if the core people in publishing and art are conservatives, and set quality standards for the work with no political litmus tests. Screen out the crap and put forth quality work.
Cousin Dave, you raise an interesting proposition. If creating a “conservative ghetto” is the only way to ensure artistic endeavors that don’t seek to propagandize – that strive only to enlighten, entertain, and illuminate the human experience, free of political ideology – then I’m all for it. I just have my doubts that such a project would remain untainted by politics. But I like the way you think! For me, conservatism has always been about the pursuit of a moral life. Making “small government, low taxes, and leave us the hell alone” an end in itself just isn’t good enough. These must be the means to end, and that end can’t just be pleasure and money-making. That end should be a moral life, well-lived.
Here in California we have had a demnocratic controlled legislature for 50 years and our financial situation is the worst in the nation. The Hollywood mentality is that of little children that never learn no matter how much you try to educate them. It really is quite strange how creative people can be so impractical and even down right stupid when it comes to politics. It really is like a cult belief, no matter the evidence presented the devotees refuse to open their minds.
Being ‘creative’ has nothing to do with politics. I’m a singer/songwriter/poet/sculptor/watercolor artist/webmaster/chef and those things I do have NOTHING to do with my political leanings and everything to do with my innate nature that I was borne of.
BTW… Anyone want to help a fledgling author with her first thriller novel?
Welllllllll. Hey, now frownies. I just figured it couldn’t hurt to ask.
“The left helps it’s own why don’t we?”
I doubt you know much about the Video-Game industry (the most profitable industry in the world besides military). Well let me tell you. We are VERY VERY right.
As a gay man and a (OH MY GOD HERE IT COMES) muslim I find it hard to feel welcomed into events targeted to the right. Hell the local G.O.P. place thing (forgot the word, its a place in a strip mall were G.O.P. members can meet up) down 436 as expressed its feelings quite clear that I am simply unwelcome.
As a member of the Video-Game Industry people in the right who I forget to tell that I am a gay muslim express their feelings that I am unwelcome, as the Video-Game Industry is supposed to be very left leaning.
Well its not. Actually almost everyone I worked with on Grand Theft Auto: China Town Wars for the DS were socially and fiscally conservative. Every time a new bailout appeared, the sexy Nancy Pelosi flapped her gator jaw and.or Anderson Cooper tried to save the world in his sexy t-shirts two sizes to two shorts work stopped and bitching ensued.
I also am a college student. When other republicans ask what degree I’m in and say Interactive Media Design, Production and Publishing at one of the top 5 colleges in the world for fine art AND modern media (www.fullsail.com) their heads explode inside, so I say art. Once again they feel as if I am an evil demon from hell who is going to force their children in front of an x-box for hours (when in all honesty that is probably their idea of parenting). It is interesting how all the students getting into Video Games sit in the corner in the front (hey we feel like outsiders but we will be damned before we give up the optimum seats for maximum board seeing)
I am also ostracized within the industry I work in (Video Games) because 85% of my team (yes my team, my name is at the TOP of the credits) was in the military and members of the G.O.P. and when they first arrived at my office they felt that they needed to be better than me because I am gay and have never been in the military. After the 4th vet (god bless his service but I will be damned before I put up with their attitude remember I’m the boss) go their sh*t canned because of their d*ck waving they got in line. Now when THEY tell people at a GOP convention that they make video-games they are treated like demons who want to lock children in a room watching the 5 second sex scene in Mass-Effect all day long.
They no longer attend G.O.P. events because of this.
So Mr. Andrew Ian Dodge the reason no conservative artists, writers creative people of any sort (say video games are art and you will NOT get a job anywhere) is because we simply feel unwelcome.
PJ Media is a rarity in the conservative party of America where they don’t bash muslims, gays or artists and I sincerely applaud they way you fight for change in the republican party while not giving up on the beliefs that made it. Until drastic change on what CAN be a social and/or fiscal conservative changes (note: note the word CAN and not IT IS TO) we will continued to be outsiders of the republican party.
Not welcome to you’re gatherings, suffering you’re crappy “It’s artsy so its bad for the children who shouldn’t be seeing/using it because it’s labeled a game even though it is made for adults who for some never explained reason can’t play games anymore” attitude and generally being annoyed at articles like this when people like Bill O’DriedVagina over a game for adults and Greta Van WTFhappenedtoherfaceSustrich are allowed to blatantly say what ever the f-bomb they want (w/o research or reference) about us and have it mirrored by the rest of the party.
Now I come on here from time to time and say stupid things like “f-Israel” and generally just being a douche pissing people off. With all the BS I put up with best get my frustrations out anonymously (yes fake name and e-mail set up with fake info) rather punching Gretta Van WTFhappenedtoherfaceSustrich in her dirty untouched vagina because she heard somewhere from someone who read on the internet that Mass-Effect had horrible horrible child porn and decided to call my work (I did the rigging for that scene) a horrible affront to all decency and we should go to jail for being so malignant or some-such nonsense.
I AM considering making an account of PopModai for video game reviews, advisories and rants from a conservative in the entertainment business however I hear the latest angry rantings from Rush Limbah (I like him most of the time) about how my work and I have a personal hand in the decay of America and it’s values and I decide to hold off recording play sessions and organizing my writings for another day.
From “Christopher Smith”
An American that vehemently advocates conservative values and responsible spending that just so happens to be a gay muslim that makes video-games and wants join the military before I hit the age limit but can’t because my uncle (who was in the military) told the recruiter I was gay.
AKA.
That guy gay guy who will probably die lonely for dissenting against the hive mind of gay culture, killed 3000+ people on September 11th 2001 thats single handedly making our kids fat, lazy little bastards who attack their mothers with delicious meat filled tortillas because mommy finally decided to unplug the X-box after letting her kid become a spoiled little brat, yes I got e-mails blaming me for that.
(this kid should be arrested for taco abuse http://www.gamerstyle.com/kid-attacks-mom-with-taco-in-xbox-360-dispute)
The leftist liberal slant is so overwhelmingly dominant in the world of art and entertainment that occurrences of non-leftist culture shine like precious diamonds. I’m thinking of, for instance, King of the Hill.
I always get a feeling of sunshine in my stomach upon watching an episode of that show because it’s so damn nice. No PC preaching and very often the non-PC side of the coin is represented. Hank’s down to earth family values are frequently criticized and ridiculed by others but they always prevail in the end.
I particularly liked the episode in which John Redcorn, the Native American, gave everyone a dose of white guilt for what happened to his people before being brought back down to earth with the realization that his tribe practiced cannibalism. You just wouldn’t see that kind of balance tackled in other shows.
Conservatives are left trying to tell the same age-old human truths and to restate in new ways that which has lost its force. That is, from a conservative perspective, most of the heavy lifting is done and the creative part is to apply those truths to the current day.
Liberals, on the other hand, have an easier job: Make it new, make it fashionable, be slightly ahead of the curve. It’s fairly easy to produce creative and fashionable new ways to challenge those age-old truths.
Start by supporting the ones you do know and help them with their careers. The left has managed to do so. Why oh why can’t we?
Conservatism is all about self reliance and personal responsibility. It would be hypocritical for wealthy conservatives to nurture conservative talent. Conservatives believe that one succeeds on their own merits.
If conservatives started their own movie studios and record labels exclusively for conservatives and excluded liberals then that would contradict the conservative ideal of freedom of expression.
If conservatives started their own movie studios and record labels exclusively for conservatives and excluded liberals then that would contradict the conservative ideal of freedom of expression.
Actually no it doesn’t in fact. If they don’t admit up front then yes you have a point. There is nothing wrong with having a set of goals and requirements for publication or production.
You attitude is actually typical of many on the right and dooms many creative types to either not doing what they are talented to do (or starve) or having to keep their ideals secret. In an ideal world getting signed, produced or published would be down to merit, but these days it clearly isn’t.
People with you type of attitude have no right to whine about “popular culture” and why there are no conservatives involved.
CS: I am interested in what you say about the game industry because my experiences with it in the UK is that its quite left. (Though that may change now that socialist politicians have decided the industry is there as a scape-goat for the nation’s ills.
Some great observations in this thread.
In her wonderful book, “Walking on Water,” Madeleine L’Engle offers that art makes “cosmos out of chaos.” (If I remember correctly, she was quoting Leonard Bernstein.) Her point: art makes sense of the stuff of life – it doesn’t simply hold a mirror up to it.
Much of today’s “art” is little more than a reflection of the ugliness and pain of life, making no attempt to offer insight or understanding. If conservatives (and I am one) want to support the arts, we should begin by supporting artists that create work that helps us make sense of life – its joys and its sorrows. To do that means we must open our wallets.
We should be careful not to underestimate the influence money has on popular/commercial art forms (pop music, movies, TV, etc.) There is an enormous amount of “art” produced with the sole purpose of making a whole lotta money. If the product (“art”) made a big profit, it is deemed “good.”
And BTW – a lot of what we are referring to as “art” here in this thread really is as much “craft” as it is art. It is a creative commercial product, designed to make money, as apart from art for art’s sake. A fine distinction, perhaps.
33. Delia: . . . “I’m a singer/songwriter/poet/sculptor/watercolor artist/webmaster/chef and those things . . . BTW… Anyone want to help a fledgling author with her first thriller novel?”
You mean help you write it? I’m crestfallen that such a prolific and diverse artist should have any difficulty courting the publishing community. I have friends in that business, perhaps if you post a few paragraphs to offer a sense of your thriller-ness I can introduce you to an agent.
Let me guess, a bored and lonely housewife in a fizzled marriage and nursing a failed business feels that life has passed her by. Regretful, angry, and on the back side of 50, she buys a ticket on a tramp steamer to Rangoon. On board she meets a hog farmer named Chuck in similar circumstances who just happens to have a laptop with a satellite card. Together they embark on an adventure of political intrigue and hijinks courtesy of the Internets. Yo know what, I think I can sell that. Whip up a few graphs, D, while you’re whipping up a florentine tort. I’ll check back later to see if you’re taking advantage of your right to be creative.
““Right” doesn’t mean no imagination or creative talent. What it does mean is that as things currently stand, those creative types will be ostracized by publishing houses, Hollywood, and other creative careers. So stop bemoaning the fact that there are not more creative types who are keen to be seen as conservatives. Start by supporting the ones you do know and help them with their careers. The left has managed to do so. Why oh why can’t we?”
We can. The major problem here isn’t a lack of ability; persons on the conservative side of the spectrum command at least as many resources as those on the Left. Nor is it a lack of talent; there are plenty of consrvative-leaning practitioners in every expressive field. The problem is that a publisher, or record house, or art gallery, or what-have-you that identifies itself (or is identified by others) as conservative will have a very tough time selling its wares.
First, the general public dislikes politically-oriented art. Successful left-leaning writers and movie makers don’t push their political views overtly; they use their choices of plot and setting to imply them. Successful left-leaning musicians concentrate on giving the audience what it wants — mostly sex — and using other outlets to express themselves politically. So a conservative artistic institution would have to encourage art that’s similarly subtle about its orientation. Given that all artistic expression is about the evocation of emotion, that’s rather difficult for us.
Second, you be certain that the critical community would mount an unprecedented counteroffensive. The very best conservative artists would be pigeonholed in tight little categories, or smeared as ideologues simply interested in pushing their ideology. For example, the fiction world makes room for conservative sentiments in two genres: military technothrillers and science fiction. There are a number of very good writers in both those categories…but they’re marginalized by virtue of the categories themselves! Despite Tom Clancy’s enormous financial success, he can’t get serious attention for his sentiments, apart from persons who already share them. Despite Colonel Tom Kratman’s considerable gifts, he’s in the same situation.
Therefore, a firm that intends to promote the art of conservative-leaning artists would have to have deep pockets and a willingness to watch them drainved very low. It would have to live on hope that, given enough time and perseverance, it could crack through to a larger market that would sustain it financially and advance the penetration of conservative and/or libertarian thought.
So don’t bet your life savings on it.
I also liked to hear about the game industry, and have been aware of FullSail for a few years. It is a good program for those interested in graphic design, interactive design and the cutting edges of computer mediated design of all kinds. I could do without the ad hominems about the talking heads, though. And while I value our freedom to go where our hearts and minds lead us, gay and muslim does seem to be a particularly difficult road to walk.
I do think there is something in the conservative mindset that tends to distrust the unconventional, and in many ways the arts are very much about breaking free of convention.
There is a difference between conservative art and conservative artists. Conservative art tends to be predictable and boring. Art by conservatives is just as open to possibility as art by anyone else, however.
I disagree that art comes exclusively from the heart and that conservative politics comes from the mind. Those definitions are too constricted. I’m still a fan of the idea of compassionate conservativism despite what the Bush administration did to it.
Mr. Dodge is still correct that while there are many conservatives in the creative professions, the main routes to success in those disciplines has been taken over by political progressives who are either unable or unwilling to separate one’s political views from one’s artistic production. This situation is evidence of a parochialism in the creative professions, a serious character flaw among its leadership, but the cures are worse than the disease. I say let Mel Gibson take a half billion dollars from his religious film and have hollywood keep their awards.
37. Hayek:
Conservatism is all about self reliance and personal responsibility. It would be
hypocritical for wealthy conservatives to nurture conservative talent.
Conservatives believe that one succeeds on their own merits.
This is actually disturbing to me. I don’t at all think conservatizism is or should be about a `you get yours I get mine’ type of approach. If somebody sees potential in developing or nuturing a thing, they should by all means invest in that thing. If somebody, say who controlls a publishing house or production company, would rather see or read things that they agree with, regardless of `market share/profit margin’ then they should nuture and develop that writing or media.
They say porn is a great return, I don’t know, but you don’t see conservatives investing in that because the ROI is high. Although I may be wrong. But what is hypocritical would be conservatives investing in porn or in some other `art’ that they are personally against but have high rates of return.
The Scarlet O’Hara era.
This is a pathetic idea. Ghettos are for losers. Better that people with sensible ideas compete in the whole market than let themselves be marginalised by signing up with an agency that is known as the ‘WorldNetDaily’ of creativity.
Maybe better to look at Ezra Levants target – ‘denormalisation’ of the crazily unjust. Build an ethic of intellectual fairness and quality work that competes with the ideological straightjacket-candidates, and better than the world’s respect, you will have your own.
Get Rich or Die Tryin’
The film by 50c.
Is there a liberal message inside? A community-organizer-will-help-you message? Don’t think so. This stuff is sort of obama-incompatible.
Wonder what kind of music is the result of obama age???
I always wondered for those who favored the “Piss Christ” art work would still be satisfied with it if you put an Lefty icon in it instead of the image of Jesus? Would the left be outraged perhaps if the icon would be Dr. Martin Luther King?. Somehow I think the left would say that is going way over the top. As long as its a right wing image then its portrayed merely as art.
I too am a writer (non-fiction books/articles, short stories, novels, songs)/singer/content provider/blogger etc. Basically I write all the bloody time.
I had a few agents in the UK, but they could not flog my libertarian leaning eurosceptic cyberpunk novels…) It seems that all the publishers in the UK were keen on the “European project” and didn’t want to see it trashed in any novel, sci-fi or not.
Just imagine if you were to try and sell a book set in a Obama-controlled US that was going to hell in a hand basket to a mainstream publisher.
I am about to start writing another novel sometime this spring…its going to be futurist, but nearer future this time.
Wonder what kind of music is the result of obama age???
A return to the mainstream of very angry metal.
Andrew, I would suggest a crazy approach to stopping liberals’ blatant discrimination against conservatives in Hollywood, the music and publication industries: emphasize that liberals are “discriminating” against conservatives for their beliefs and threaten a civil right investigation against any liberal-oriented employer in the said industries. It may not sounds practical but TRY!
No conservative should be discriminated for their political beliefs while in their professions in the entertainment or publishing business. Conservatives need to stand up and say, “ENOUGH OF THIS DISCRIMINATION!” to their liberal peers. They need to get out of the closet and stand up for their conservative beliefs openly. Conservatives have the right to be creative and participate in the entertainment, music and publishing industries without fear of being ostracized, shunned, rejected, harassed or ignored by their liberal/far left peers.
Turn the table on the liberals who so vaunted human and civil rights and expose them for their gross hypocrisy.
Yeah, best of luck with this endeavor.
You all seem to think that “Hollywood” decides projects based on political content. It’s a business like any other with profit as its focus. Here’s an idea, write something people actually want to read or watch.
Otherwise, let me call you a Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaambulance.
And BOBBY SHOUTING WITH THE ALL CAPS: I thought you were all liberty loving free-marketeers. These “liberal” industries have the right to hire or fire whomever they want, right?
You’re wrong, conservative do NOT have any rights related to employment in the entertainment industry. None whatsoever, its a private business operating freely.
Dave Barry said it best about how creative republicans are…”When I saw the Republican’s dancing at the convention, it looked like they were doing the Wac-A-Mole.”
While not artistic, you certainly make yourselves into great critics-probably because of your righteous attitudes, to observe and judge others, and to observe anything you can’t understand from your straight standard.
Were you deprived of playdo? Were you bottle fed instead of breast fed? Did you have a nanny instead of a mom? Military school? What-ever makes you guys not creative is a mystery….a fear of letting yourself go and be fun and fancy free? I guess you ought to try to be Peter Sellers for a day.
The fear of being judged?
“”"”50. Greg:
Yeah, best of luck with this endeavor.”"”"”"”
Some good points in your post, Greg. I’m with most of the posters here philosophically, and find the preponderance of goofy Hollywood lefties to be an irritant. I also don’t like what appears to be an ever cosier relationship between wealthy Hollywood and the Democratic party. Still, I know that overtly political Hollywood movies generally flop at American box offices (they do better overseas, where some of the losses are recouped). Also, network TV shows don’t always toe some kind of liberal/progressive line. Law & Order loves to skewer liberal judges in their portrayals, and a couple of the main characters took a jab at global warming a few episodes back. Abortions almost never happen on TV, except if mentioned after the fact — somehow there’s there’s always a resolution where the mother chooses life over termination. Darndest thing, that. “The Unit” is hardly “liberal” as that term has been misdefined in recent decades (David Mamet has written that he’s no longer a liberal). “NCIS” is a sleeper with huge popularity like “Baywatch” was way back. A show called “11th Hour” does some remarkably intelligent episodes on bioethics and related issues that are surprisingly balanced for a “liberal/left” medium.
Over-the-top animations like “Family Guy” and its odious creator Seth McFarland (sp?)aren’t necessarily the rule. Political correctness (arguably a liberal/progressive byproduct) is skewered in shows like “Malcolm in the Middle,” “South Park,” and “King of he Hill.” Many values that conservatives claim a monopoly on are valued by politically liberal people. If “conservatives” want to have a bigger impact on the medium, they may try doing a better job of tapping into such universal sentiments.
There is plenty of good conservative art out there – it just isn’t living in the ‘government authorized’ ghetto.
What is controlled it not art – but the ‘art community’ ( which is a self-selecting minority within a minority of a minority). Give up subsidised work, and look at decent ‘commercial’ art ( 1000 times better then the ‘fine’ arts these days- and getting better my the moment) and you will find a far more diverse and reasonable bunch of artists.
53. AnnieB: . . . “There is plenty of good conservative art out there”
Examples please . . . unless of course you take at face value my claim that Mitt Romney wears magic underwear.
51 acj . . . right on the money . . . conservatives just aren’t creative, and they’re not funny. I think it frustrates them greatly, which explains the angry self-righteousness and the “I’m gonna get my gun and wave it in the air and that’ll make you notice”" kind of attitude. How may serial killers are Democrats – that’s an interesting question. How many mass murderers are liberals? I’m willing to bet that by at least 5 to 1 the maniacs are conservatives, you know, readers of O’Reilly books and Bernie Goldberg books and latent homosexual Ann Coulter onanists.
I think there are two strains to this discussion. The “nuttering” of talent and then once they are big enough. I am not calling for the right to “ghettoize” its talent through their whole career just help em’ get started in the entertainment business. This is something the left does very well in the creative industries and even politics.
It’s a cycle, it’s a circle of life. So, too, the creativeness of creative people. But don’t stop complaining. Your words might be a creative stimuli to a creative genius coming out of the many lives spared from abortion.
Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One have mercy on us and the whole world.
To Greg (no. 50), you do not seem to get it. It is not about employment or free-market opportunities, this is about conservatives being constantly stymied and hamstrung by Hollywood’s powerful liberals and being ridiculed or jeered by leftist celebrities in the business environment. I’m not talking about major stars and producers who are closet conservatives, but regular, hard-working people who are forced into the closet for being conservatives in the entertainment/publishing/music fields.
Have you watch “Law and Order” and its sister shows? Have you seen movies that attack or lampoon patriotic American values and peoples? Have you heard top-charted, best-selling music that frequently slam Christians, American values, and conservatives? Have you read books that slam capitalism, revise American history to left-slanted visions, and propagandize murderous thugs, dictators, and blame-American people in a positive light? They’re everywhere and the powerful liberal media are helping them manifesting the atmosphere of hating and despising the greatest country in the world.
It tells me that conservatives are a tiny minority in those fields and their voices are drowned out by discriminating jeers and sneers by their more influential and powerful liberal peers. This is not acceptable and the conservatives do not deserve this crap all the times!
When you bring up your conservative views to your liberal peers and contribute your ideas for a movie or an upcoming TV episode, chance is that yours get rejected and guffawed, no one wanted to work with you and you’ll be on a social blacklist so fast, those who have financial backings for your ideas might not wanted to do anything with you right away. I’ll call you a wambulance when you’re not able to work in the field you always wanted to do just because you’re a conservative.
Just wait for the Fairness Doctrine to come and conservatives would find themselves deeper into the closet than ever!
To Roderick (no 52): If “conservatives” want to have a bigger impact on the medium, they may try doing a better job of tapping into such universal sentiments.
I do not believe that conservatives should sell out their own principles and beliefs just to make a bigger impact (or bang) on “universal sentiments” in the creative and entertainment medium. I would prefer they stick to their guns and show what they are really made of without ever compromising or whoring out their own beliefs.
Show how conservative values make lives better. Create characters with stories that resonate with viewers and projects will sell. You’re up against belief rooted in emotion, not critical thinking. Tug on those heart strings.
Paul, almost every movie and pop music song churned out from Hollywood for decades are based on emotion and heart-stringing sentiments. See the latest article on a new movie about illegal immigration in PJM (that movie was made to force people to look at the illegal immigrants’ perspectives in order to support open border crap and override valid immigration laws in place). Conservatives almost have no say in those heart-stringing pile of craps that Hollywood keep churning out for the gullible public.
This is a really great discussion. I think that today there is much more opportunity for artists who happen to be conservative to get their work out there. There used to be a set system for musicians/singers to get their music out. That included a label, radio promo, tours. There were certain t.v. outlets that came in to play, i.e. MTV, VH1, before that was Midnight Special, Don Kirschners Rock Concert, etc. Everything’s changed. The house that hollywood built has got a crack in the foundation due to the alternate media. We have opportunities for exposure like never before. Technology and the internet has changed the landscape. It’s really just a matter of organizing and making it happen. One thing hasn’t changed, though. It’s got to be quality. You just can’t have people making something with conservative values and expect it to sell. It’s got to be something that can compete with what’s out there. It’s not the general public’s fault that they don’t buy our stuff. It’s our fault for not making them think they want it. The product, first and foremost, has to be of the quality that people will see it or hear it and feel like they have to have it. When I was young, I didn’t know Ted Nugent was a conservative, I just liked his music. That’s what we must do. To put a conservative label on everything, IMO. will automatically alienate us from those we hopefully seek to influence. Let the values shine through our work, but let the work shine first. The creme will rise to the top. Demand excellence and the rewards will follow. That’s my two cents.