I wasn’t going to write about the Olympic opening travesty, even though I consider it an attack on art itself. It’s crass and tasteless, but it’s also to be expected. I also don’t agree with those who state that we should be completely silent on the subject.
“Why give them the attention they crave?” they say.
Well, I’m not unsympathetic to that sentiment. When a fat, has-been of a singer decided to prance about on stage in some fake Satanic song, I shrugged my shoulders and laughed. Of course he would do such a thing, he is star was waning and he was all out of ideas. Mockery is the appropriate response to such a spectacle.
I’ve become numb to such spectacles because I’m a child of my times. I remember Marilyn Manson. I also remember that Marilyn Manson was a normie compared to a lot of stuff that didn’t show up on MTV.
But I can’t stay silent on this.
This travesty was not only an attack on God and culture, but a mockery of one of the most beautiful pieces of art every conceived.
I didn’t think anything could affect me so deeply, but this outrage is the last nail in the coffin. I cannot be silent anymore. How could they publicly shame such a beautiful piece of work in such a public way? How could they allow such a travesty? This is no mere advertisement, this a ceremony that is supposed to reflect the norms of the hosting culture. This attack on art itself wounded me to the bone.
It’s also not been the first time. Years ago, there was an add which featured homosexual men in various S&M outfits. There have been various cartoon adaptations, etc. Jesus is mocked all the time.
For the last fifty years, western culture has been about tearing down the past. It’s been about subversion and rebellion. The old must give way to the new. In the art world, this attitude has expressed itself in the fight against outside interference. The entire twentieth century was an artistic crusade against outside standards dictating what was in good taste. Artists who bucked the “Karens” of art, whether that is the church, Art Colleges, or even the population at large, were widely celebrated. They were seen as visionaries, mavericks, and buccaneers.
Art would be better for it, they said. But they were wrong and the Karens were right.
When subversion became the norm, cultural entropy took over. Not obvious at first, but during the final stages, as it is now, it’s undeniable. As consequence, artistic achievement became inferior in every way.
I don’t thing human nature is capable of governing itself. I don’t think art without limits - outside limits - can exist. Though artists have bristled at this, and sometimes rebelled, time and again the standards have proved necessary. Indeed without any standards to rebel against, modern artists are lost, unable to actually create. For the art of rebellion is simply one of reaction. To react is not to create.
There is no modern-day equivalence to Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper, nor do I suspect there ever will be, as long as culture decides that rebellion is the highest form of virtue.