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Art, Liberty, and Justice
Posted on April 20, 2006 08:24 AM | Permalink
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Comments
Neill,
I think that is a genius addition. Seems that Bush wants it to read "...one nation under God, indivisible, with War and Walmart for all."
Shawn
I happen to know the previous commenter and to like and respect him a great deal (and I'm not a Bush supporter either), but I can't let this go without saying I think Mr. Roan's post today is more than just a thumbing of the nose at our government.
I think this post is about our responsibility as artists and arts supporters to deploy the arts as a critical tool for maintaining free society. The responsibility of the artist is to remind us of our humanity and to remind us WHY liberty and justice are fundamental to life.
The art world is just as responsible as government for ensuring that art is for all... perhaps more so. It's much easier to revile the Philistines in government who dismiss the importance of art than it is to remember our own responsibility to make art an indespensable part of the world. For me, today's post reminds me of the latter.
I agree entirely with Tim's comments. The proliferation of art in all its iterations is the responsibility of all. Rewriting the language that communicates a nation's attitude, policies, and ideology holds a lot of power for change. Unfortunately, the Bush "spin" on liberty and justice has been a subversion of the pledge of allegiance. That's why I agree with Neill that if Bush can use this statement to achieve his agenda, then the addition of "art" would also be a huge move forward. Great discussion!