• About Kathy Shaidle
  • Kathy Shaidle: Donate
  • Kathy Shaidle: Privacy policy

5 Feet of Fury

Kathy Shaidle's blog. Est. 2000

Rick McGinnis: “The last really great polemic on the state of modern art was probably ‘Why Beauty Matters’…”

February 27, 2018 By Kathy Shaidle

Rick McGinnis writes:

…an hour-long BBC program hosted by philosopher Roger Scruton almost a decade ago. He begins with a warning:

“I think we are losing beauty, and there is a danger that with it, we will lose the meaning of life.”

At any point between 1750 and 1930, Scruton asserts, an educated person would have told you that beauty was the point of art, a value as important as truth or goodness. That changed when originality – at all costs – superseded those values, depriving us of the relief from chaos and suffering that beauty in art provided.

Art became, in essence, whatever we said it was, and the ability to shock one of the few remaining yardsticks by which we measured its success. Artists stopped trying to communicate something universal and turned inward, creating work that looks to outsiders – the viewing public, really – like an “elaborately unfunny joke.”

“Discussions of the kind I have been having are dangerous,” says Scruton. “In our democratic culture people think it is threatening to judge another person’s taste.”

He made this statement almost a decade ago. As I write this, serious people, media personalities and politicians – not the same people, it goes without saying – talk about a “right” not to be offended, and art that aspires to the old standards of beauty, truth and goodness is considered retrograde, even kitsch.

Except “originality” has at this point all but vanished as well.

All “art” that I see (hear) now is a “commentary” about some earlier art, “meta” style.

More from my site

  • David Cole: The Death of the False FlagDavid Cole: The Death of the False Flag
  • Another segment on Arnie’s story re: The Queering of Black History Month (video)Another segment on Arnie’s story re: The Queering of Black History Month (video)
  • Canadian climate change critic gets ‘take down’ notice from IPCC lawyers at the UNCanadian climate change critic gets ‘take down’ notice from IPCC lawyers at the UN
  • Is Someone Racist? Helpful flowchart!Is Someone Racist? Helpful flowchart!

Filed Under: Kathy Shaidle

« “At my [black majority] high school, our head of security was a suave, middle-aged black gentleman who was packing…”
Camille Paglia on Movies, #MeToo and Modern Sexuality: “Endless, Bitter Rancor Lies Ahead” »
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Archives

Copyright © 2022 · Magazine Pro Theme On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in