well... (Off-Topic)

by Kermit , Raleigh, NC, Friday, December 02, 2022, 16:42 (721 days ago) @ Cody Miller

Such presentism. If you're spinning what I said into good guys always win in real life, that was proved wrong long before 1977. If art can't inspire us to see the world more clearly, and can't inspire us to live an heroic life, what the fuck is it for?

Control.

The powers that be love art. It's a 'safe' way to sublimate revolutionary urges in a way that ends up being non threatening, and non effectual. Even more so if the artists themselves believe in the 'power' of art.

Wow. Either I’m completely misunderstanding you, or this is nonsense on stilts. How could it be wrong, on one hand, to believe that art is powerful, yet at the same time believe that somehow there’s these puppet masters somewhere that control artists, and use their art to control others.

Art can be powerful, which is why the system will always co-opt art for its own purposes. It is powerful for the system. Not for you.

Oooh, the all-powerful system! Why didn't you say so?

I think that's an overused word that people use to explain what they can't otherwise explain. It's a conversation ender. And so this conversation ends.