Observe the vicissitudes of culture in the arts.
Throughout the natural rise and decline of human affairs the derogation of artistic individualism is often the herald of stagnant and untenable attitudes, shallow or corrupt social mores and spurious celebrity.
In such conditions the dearth of interesting, viable perspectives is commonly obscured by a reversion to clamor, as if a need existed to "shock the system" or épater la bourgeois. Yet is is the arts that would benefit most from the eradication of failed ideas, particularly those expressed in conventional "nonconformity" --and not in terms of irrelevant, self-aggrandizing affectations, but in terms of purpose and creative vision.
The way of the artist is often selfless, and thus undiminished by the banality of evil.
In such conditions the dearth of interesting, viable perspectives is commonly obscured by a reversion to clamor, as if a need existed to "shock the system" or épater la bourgeois. Yet is is the arts that would benefit most from the eradication of failed ideas, particularly those expressed in conventional "nonconformity" --and not in terms of irrelevant, self-aggrandizing affectations, but in terms of purpose and creative vision.
The way of the artist is often selfless, and thus undiminished by the banality of evil.
