The Post-Partisan Emporium

  The Hidden Messages of the Power Elite’s Cultural Apparatus   Edward J. Curtin, Jr.     photo by Jeanne Lemlin By Edward J. Curtin, Jr. To be crucified is to suffer and die slowly and agonizingly.  It was a common form of execution in the ancient world.  It is generally associated with Rome’s killing of Jesus and carries profound symbolic spiritual meaning for Christians.  In its figurative sense, it refers to many types of suffering and death inflicted on the weak by the strong, such as the ongoing genocidal slaughter of Palestinians by the Israel government. Twenty or so years ago when the wearing of crosses by all types of people was the cultural rage, a woman I know said she was thinking of getting one.  When I asked her why, since she was Jewish, she said it was because she thought they were beautiful.  She seemed oblivious to the fact that to Christians they were gruesome but revelatory spiritual symbols, the equivalent of the electri...

Art Sickness Winston Smith Dear Mr Smith, This will be a short letter about the rise of modern and postmodern art, and what I see as the deliberate removal of beauty. It’s been on my mind, so here I go… It has been rather obvious to me that an attack on beauty and art has taken place, alongside the so called ‘death of God’, in Europe since the 19th century. A quick survey of art over the past century shows there has been no pause in this accelerating and corrosive attack. Although I have already touched on the role of art (and its importance) in a previous letter, what I have not touched on is the perceived offensive nature of what I would consider good art. What I mean is there is something fundamentally ‘good’ about certain works of art in my opinion. Powerful artwork has remained powerful because it holds and transmits universal truths between itself and the observer. Whether it be telling a story or simply displaying beauty, works of art which are  true  are confronting in...