An article in the N.Y. Times of Sept. 3 by Michelle Goldberg begins with a quote from literary critic Christian Lorentzen which reads: “Hollywood movies are boring. Television is boring. Pop music is boring. The art world is boring. Broadway is boring. Books from big publishing are boring.” It is a sentiment which Goldberg clearly shares. Headlined “The Book That Explains Our Cultural Stagnation,” her piece cites a “forthcoming” work by W. David Marx entitled “Status and Culture: How Our Desire for Social Rank Creates Taste, Identity, Art, Fashion, and Constant Change,” a title which pretty much explains its author’s thesis. Not surprisingly, Goldberg, a devout Leftist, ascribes this superficial obsession with status and wealth to Capitalism and the Political Right, suggesting in her second paragraph that after “the black hole of the Donald Trump presidency,” she had hoped for some sort of cultural resurgence. That resurgence has of course not occurred but Goldberg’s ensuing discussion of Marx’s book ironically suggests the stagnation she regrets is in fact a product of the “progressive” world-view she so staunchly supports.
Marx cites the works of avant-garde composer John Cage whom he sees “as a crucial figure in the development of postmodern art.” His 1964 piece “Atlas Eclipticalis” is a collection of mere random, discordant noises. His earlier “4’33” entails 4 minutes and 33 seconds of silence, Cage contending the circumambient noises heard therein constituted music no less than any traditional composition. While his works were greeted with scorn in many circles, they ultimately, according to Marx, accrued a certain amount of cachet amongst the general public. Rather than deriding this attraction as the result of people’s superficial urge to gain status by being seen as “avant-garde,” Marx deemed it valuable in that it might open their “minds to radical propositions of what art can be and how we should perceive it.”
But what is the radical proposition implicit in Cage’s works and ultimately in Postmodernism itself? Why it is the notion that all of Western Man’s assumptions, not only about Music, Art and Literature, but about his fundamental Nature as an Intelligent Being with a seeming affinity for both Truth and Beauty, are mere “cultural constructs.” It is a term that has become a cliche in contemporary academia. It implies one who prefers the music of Mozart to that of Jay-Z or 50 Cent has succumbed to cultural bias and is probably a racist. It implies one who prefers a work by Van Gogh to a steaming pile of dog shit is somehow unevolved. Such is the absurdity of contemporary “progressivism.”
John Cage, by the way, was inspired by Robert Rauschenberg whose “white paintings” were canvases with no discernible forms or colors on them whatsoever. Bravo, Postmodernism!
While I absolutely share the concern of both Marx and Goldberg with the superficiality of contemporary Culture, I would suggest the Postmodernism they both seem to revere lies at the very heart of this issue. Just as Marx [Karl, not David] defined us as animals locked in a never ending battle for survival, so Postmodernism reduces the formerly cherished Cultural Norms of the West to mere weapons in that battle. Marxism and Postmodernism are inextricably linked and inherently nihilistic, each tending to impugn all Cultural articulations as devoid of any enduring, moral, intellectual or aesthetic value.
While there will always be millions utterly uninterested in what used to be considered Man’s higher intellectual aspirations, what Goldberg refers to as America’s “cultural stagnation” is clearly related to the widespread abandonment by a significant percent of our academics and “intellectuals,” of the traditional values of Western Civilization. It may shock you to learn that with each passing year more American universities are removing the works of Shakespeare from their curricula. A 2015 article from the Chicago-Sun Times states succinctly: “William Shakespeare’s works are no longer required reading for English majors at most top universities….” The “rationale” behind this trend is both morally and intellectually repugnant. Writing over 400 years ago, Shakespeare had the audacity to accept the norms of his age. While his plays are rife with men and women of varying degrees of courage and integrity, characters whose very complexity is a challenge to stereotypes of any sort, he was not a revolutionary, did not overtly seek to topple the basic assumptions of the world in which he lived. He was not, that is to say, a 21st Century Postmodern. That he is being demonized by the contemporary Left for this apparent sin, is a perfect example of the narrow-mindedness and intellectual arrogance that permeates that sector.
America is not alone in its willingness to repudiate the cultural icons of the West. An Oct. 15 article in Canada’s National Post reveals that government funding of a long-running Shakespeare festival in New Zealand has been cancelled because many see the Bard as a symbol of British Imperialism. Leftists in that nation argue the country would be better off celebrating legends from its Maori past. Pardon my White supremacist bigotry, but is there any figure in the Maori past who comes within a million miles of the genius of William Shakespeare, a freak of nature whose verbal brilliance and dramatic depictions of the human condition are arguably unparalleled in all of literary history?
In reading Goldberg’s article I was reminded of Charles Pierce’s 2009 work “Idiot America: How Stupidity Became a Virtue in the Land of the Free.” Pierce is unapologetically “liberal,” suggesting the irrationality plaguing modern American political discourse is largely a product of the religious fundamentalist Right, a sector willing to deny the validity of Evolution itself in deference to its literal reading of the Bible. But while that sector obviously exists, it has little to do with the mainstream “conservatives” I have cited over the course of these blogs whose views are relentlessly rational, empirical and intelligent. The mainstream Left, on the other hand, is pervasively irrational [i.e., woke], its devotion to Inclusiveness being quite literally a form of fanatical, Religious Fundamentalism.
Hence a Civilization whose “educators” are willing to prioritize the hurt feelings of various minorities over the works of some of the most brilliant creative artists in all of history. Hence a regime so devoid of common sense that it will immediately demonize as a White Supremacist anyone who dares suggest, for example, that Western European Culture, for all of its flaws, has always been infinitely more “civilized” than that of the Maori or indeed any number of other Indigenous populations. Hence the death of the ontological notion, taken for granted by Socrates et al. 2500 years ago, that Man is an Intelligent Being obligated to behave as such by his very nature. You need only turn on your T.V. or read a newspaper or check out recent movie releases for evidence of our wonderful, “inclusively” inspired decline into intellectual and moral banality.
Pardon me. I need to run. Today’s lineup on the “Learning” Channel in my local cable package is truly inspiring: Dr. Pimple Popper, Say Yes to the Dress, My 600 Pound Life, Hoarding: Buried Alive, I Didn’t Know I was Pregnant, etc., etc……. Clearly, my concept of “learning” is now a thing of the past!