Folk and High Culture

This is a guest post by Svar

---

I’ve long since realized that the materialistic and reductionist views promoted by both factions of our political system have not only destroyed culture and art and replaced it with pop-”culture” and modern “art”, but they have ruined the genuine Christian faith by incorporating elements of garbage theology(liberal Evangelicism, Dispensationalism, Americanism) into the faith.

Here’s an email exchange between Will S. and I that touches upon this:

Svar:

http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/2011/02/09/moldova-a-neo-cold-war-battlefield/

The article isn’t as important as this excerpt: “The Soviet authorities were supportive of the development of a distinct Moldovan culture as a matter of state policy. The fruits were considerable, especially in the field of folk music and literature.”

Interesting how the Old Left actually supported culture, even as a bunch of atheists, unlike the New Left which seeks to destroy all culture. I personally think that the government supporting culture i.e. as in ACTUAL culture in both the folk and high forms is a tremendously good idea. Unfortunately, the shitty Amerikan government supports modern “art” like “Piss Christ”.

To think, the American government helping the people create it’s own unique form classical music or preserving it’s folk art or promoting literature like that of O. Henry, probably one of my favorite writers: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_Henry

Nowadays, unfortunately, everything is shit.

Will:

Alas…

Agreed about the Old Left: as regards folk music in America, for example, it was the Pete Seegers, the Guthries, and Bob Dylan, who, to their credit, back in the day, re-recorded old folk songs, and helped maintain their popularity. The Right doesn’t give a shit, or at least, it didn’t, until bluegrass became cool, once again.

Also, agreed about the desirability of governments supporting actual culture, as opposed to filth. I don’t hate the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation; it has done a lot of good for Canadian culture, helping promote Canadian culture, in its various forms, nor do I hate the various other Canadian agencies that have also done so. We’re a small country, of only 35 million or so, living next to a cultural giant of 300 million, whose influence is strong, and while I love American culture, I also love our own Canadian culture, and sadly, I know that all too many rank and file Canadians, if Canadian culture weren’t supported by the State, would ONLY consume American culture, which would be unfortunate. As it is, Canadian movies are notoriously unpopular amongst most Canadians – and sadly, neocon Canadians like Karhy Shaidle and Mark Steyn trash them, all the time. Yet these are OUR stories, and so long as they’re good and not leftist agitprop crap, even if a bit subversive and salty, as long as good story-telling, we Canadians NEED to support our own, too.

That said, I’m not opposed to lifting ‘Canadian content’ rules from radio and TV; but, I’d still keep other funding forms in place.

Svar:

I don’t understand why the Right doesn’t care, but then again the American Right is only focused on fellating Big Business and Capitalists, not promoting either culture or faith for themselves, but only as a means to a political end. Preserving, promoting, and developing folk and high art is a part of Conservatism. The paleocons over at Chronicles advocate this. I remember reading a comment by Thomas Fleming saying how Neo-Cons and Libertarians both hate beauty and goodness just as much as socialists do because they don’t believe that the Opera or the symphony have any right to survive because it can not be supported without taxpayer’s money, but shit like…. Tranny GaGa and Christina Aguilera have the right to survive because the Crowd loves that shit and are willing to pay their own money for it. Fuck that.

I’m opposed to Amerikanization. I hate how Amerika has destroyed regional folk cultures in America(like that of the Cajuns, Tejanos, and German Texans) and I hate how it’s doing it to that of other countries like your Canada. I hate how it shows no respect for either folk or high art. You know the band Rammstein? Well, the keyboardist has described Amerika as a “sick and decadent country with no culture”. This is coming from an atheist leftist who’s in a band that talks about BDSM. Says a lot, doesn’t it?

Will:

Oh yeah, love that Rammstein song! :)

“This is not a love song… I don’t sing my mother tongue…”

“nach Afrika kommt Santa Claus, und vor Paris steht Mickey Maus!”

You nailed it; the neocons only care about big business and its profits. Only the paleos get it…

And yeah, funny how even people like the Rammstein members can get it, in some regards at least…

Neither the Neo-”Con” Republicans or the leftist Democrats promote any type of conservatism and both look down upon or silence those that do i.e. paleocons. Stupid party and Evil party, indeed.