SapereAude Posted March 3, 2011 Report Share Posted March 3, 2011 http://www.newcriterion.com/posts.cfm/Conservative-artist-boxed-out-at-Pratt-6478 At Pratt Institute a graduating student has been told his projects will not be displayed along with those of his peers because of the objectionable policitical content. The content of some of his works? Questioning the global warming agenda, mocking "sustainability", pointing out progressives' racism. I'll defer judgement on the quality of the works as that is in this case beside the point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanaka Posted March 3, 2011 Report Share Posted March 3, 2011 (edited) If someone presented a similar piece of art, directed at my beliefs, while at a school I ran, that would definitely make me angry. The notion that I would actually sponsor an exposition with a childish collage mocking Ayn Rand, or any other great thinker or any great idea, in the name of being tolerant towards diverse points of view, is unconscionable to me. If I blame the people at Pratt for anything, I blame them for being Liberals (to whatever extent they're Liberals, I haven't met any of them). But, since that's not at issue here, I definitely don't blame them for not wanting to help this guy insult them and their guests with an infantile stunt. If they did, I wouldn't stop pointing and laughing at how stupid that would be. Edited March 3, 2011 by Tanaka SapereAude 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aequalsa Posted March 3, 2011 Report Share Posted March 3, 2011 , I definitely don't blame them for not wanting to help this guy insult them and their guests with an infantile stunt. The context here, which you may have missed, is that liberalism has, as a core part of its philosophy, the notion of tolerance. That differing ideas, backgrounds, genitalia, and pigmentation ought to be accepted and tolerated. It's a farce of course because they typically, as this story illustrates, do not accept differences in ideology. Their belief in tolerance is really only skin deep. To compare it to yourself on an apples to apples basis, it might be more like having an Objectivist school run like a cult which required everyone to sacrifice everything they owned for the good of the school administrator. It delegitimatizes them as an example of their philosophy and to a lesser extent, delegitimizes the philosopy itself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanaka Posted March 3, 2011 Report Share Posted March 3, 2011 The context here, which you may have missed, is that liberalism has, as a core part of its philosophy, the notion of tolerance. That differing ideas, backgrounds, genitalia, and pigmentation ought to be accepted and tolerated. It's a farce of course because they typically, as this story illustrates, do not accept differences in ideology. Their belief in tolerance is really only skin deep. To compare it to yourself on an apples to apples basis, it might be more like having an Objectivist school run like a cult which required everyone to sacrifice everything they owned for the good of the school administrator. It delegitimatizes them as an example of their philosophy and to a lesser extent, delegitimizes the philosopy itself. The fundamental source of that contradiction is altruism, not merely Liberal politics. Just as I'm not going to go around blaming Christians for not fully sacrificing themselves as per their religion, I'm not going to do it to Liberals. I'm going to hold them both to my standards, not theirs, and identify their faults accordingly. That's why the only fault I see in this case is the ideology, not the behavior that contradicts it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SapereAude Posted March 4, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 4, 2011 If someone presented a similar piece of art, directed at my beliefs, while at a school I ran, that would definitely make me angry. The notion that I would actually sponsor an exposition with a childish collage mocking Ayn Rand, or any other great thinker or any great idea, in the name of being tolerant towards diverse points of view, is unconscionable to me. If I blame the people at Pratt for anything, I blame them for being Liberals (to whatever extent they're Liberals, I haven't met any of them). But, since that's not at issue here, I definitely don't blame them for not wanting to help this guy insult them and their guests with an infantile stunt. If they did, I wouldn't stop pointing and laughing at how stupid that would be. If you read the article more thoroughly you will see where the flaws in your post exist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eiuol Posted March 9, 2011 Report Share Posted March 9, 2011 If someone presented a similar piece of art, directed at my beliefs, while at a school I ran, that would definitely make me angry. You'd have a point I think if Pratt advertised itself as a liberal school with all the standard liberal points and beliefs. Its purpose has nothing to do with anything political, especially because it's a design school. Nothing about Pratt would indicate "liberal" except for the example in the article. If anything, it was the student's peers that prevented the piece from being shown, not school administration. I would say that a school like Pratt should only encourage thoughtful and effective approach to design regardless of content. A childish collage mocking Ayn Rand probably would not even qualify as effective. If a certain viewpoint is to go with that, school administration should make that known. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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