The destruction of statues and memorials by BLM/antifa protesters has bothered me, but I couldn't put my finger on why.
The statues being destroyed don't have much personal meaning for me. If it weren't for their destruction, I wouldn't likely even be aware of their existence.
And I certainly have no nostalgia for the Confederacy, slavery, or the murder and destruction of Native American tribes.
Then I remembered the Taliban destroying the Bamiyan Buddhas, and it clicked for me: the BLM/Antifa protesters are behaving like other totalitarian ideologies of the past: Communists, Nazis, medieval Muslims/Christians, etc.
[I write more about the Bamiyan statues here:
https://www.facebook.com/archerships/posts/10158839163990312
Be sure to check out @[570557689:2048:Richard Pocklington]'s fascinating comments about the destruction of other monuments by Muslims and Christians.]
Totalitarian ideologies don't tolerate any competing ideologies, and seek to destroy or remove any art that promotes competing ideologies, regardless of that art's historical or artistic merit.
Now, I'm aware that there is no single unified organization doing all the vandalizing.
However, just as white nationalists share an ideology--even though there are many disparate groups within the white nationalist movement--so too do most of the vandals.
For example, the BLM founders are self identified Marxists:
And I believe that many, if not most, of the vandals share a belief in some strain of Marxist socialism. (Though I cannot currently prove this hypothesis.)
And given the history of Marxist socialism in the 20th century, this fills me dread (see list appended below for brief list of Marxist atrocities).
I'm filled with dread because I want to live in a world where people are free to create and display art without fear that it will be destroyed because an angry mob took offense at the artist or their subject.
And I don't think that world is possible unless there is broad and deep social support for freedom of speech and property rights.
I find it frightening that the protesters feel so emboldened that they're willing to destroy someone else's art in broad daylight without apparent fear of consequence.
Even if the protesters were limiting themselves (which they are not) to destroying only statues built to honor evil or deeply flawed people of the past, who gave the BLM protesters the right to dictate to everyone else what art should survive to the future?
The Pyramids were built by slaves--should they be torn down? What about the Aztec pyramids, many of which were built by conquered slaves, and used for human sacrifice? What about monuments to FDR, LBJ, Cesar Chavez, and other "problematic" leaders of the left?
Do we want to open the box that turns over art preservation to fanatical mobs?
And what will they decide to attack next?
Churches?
People?
They've already looted and burned thousands of businesses across the US.
I fear that the more the they're appeased, the more they're allowed to destroy unopposed, the more emboldened they will be to spread their ideology (by force) through the rest of society.
Does that mean I support the views of the racists and slavers the Marxists want to destroy?
No, of course not.
But standing up for freedom of speech often means defending the right to express views that many find repugnant, such as blasphemers, atheists, communists, anarchists, Muslims, and Jews, to name a few.
Standing up for artistic freedom often means defending the right to create and display art that many find obscene, racist, blasphemous, and ugly.
Yet that I defend their rights does not mean that I agree with the artist's beliefs in whole or in part. (And, in fact, I vigorously disagree with some of them, as is the case for communists, Nazis, and Muslims.)
I oppose mobs destroying statues not because I support racist art, but because I don't want totalitarians _of any stripe_ to dictate to others the art they're allowed to display.
A brief, incomplete list of Marxist/communist atrocities:
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_during_the_Soviet_occupation_of_Poland
* https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/16/world/asia/xinjiang-china-forced-labor-camps-uighurs.html
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_killings_under_communist_regimes
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Christians_in_the_Soviet_Union
* https://www.trtworld.com/asia/13-things-to-know-about-religions-persecution-in-china-308451
Non-racist statues being destroyed/defaced by protesters:
* https://www.westernjournal.com/lincoln-freed-slaves-150-years-ago-now-protesters-defacing-statue-blm-graffiti
* https://www.inquirer.com/news/philadelphia-protests-matthias-baldwin-statue-abolitionist-twitter-photos-20200612.html
* https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2020/06/20/mayor-breed-destruction-statues-golden-gate-park-vandalism/
* https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/20/san-francisco-statues-ulysses-s-grant-junipero-serra-francis-scott-key
The statues being destroyed don't have much personal meaning for me. If it weren't for their destruction, I wouldn't likely even be aware of their existence.
And I certainly have no nostalgia for the Confederacy, slavery, or the murder and destruction of Native American tribes.
Then I remembered the Taliban destroying the Bamiyan Buddhas, and it clicked for me: the BLM/Antifa protesters are behaving like other totalitarian ideologies of the past: Communists, Nazis, medieval Muslims/Christians, etc.
[I write more about the Bamiyan statues here:
https://www.facebook.com/archerships/posts/10158839163990312
Be sure to check out @[570557689:2048:Richard Pocklington]'s fascinating comments about the destruction of other monuments by Muslims and Christians.]
Totalitarian ideologies don't tolerate any competing ideologies, and seek to destroy or remove any art that promotes competing ideologies, regardless of that art's historical or artistic merit.
Now, I'm aware that there is no single unified organization doing all the vandalizing.
However, just as white nationalists share an ideology--even though there are many disparate groups within the white nationalist movement--so too do most of the vandals.
For example, the BLM founders are self identified Marxists:
▶ Watch on YouTube
And I believe that many, if not most, of the vandals share a belief in some strain of Marxist socialism. (Though I cannot currently prove this hypothesis.)
And given the history of Marxist socialism in the 20th century, this fills me dread (see list appended below for brief list of Marxist atrocities).
I'm filled with dread because I want to live in a world where people are free to create and display art without fear that it will be destroyed because an angry mob took offense at the artist or their subject.
And I don't think that world is possible unless there is broad and deep social support for freedom of speech and property rights.
I find it frightening that the protesters feel so emboldened that they're willing to destroy someone else's art in broad daylight without apparent fear of consequence.
Even if the protesters were limiting themselves (which they are not) to destroying only statues built to honor evil or deeply flawed people of the past, who gave the BLM protesters the right to dictate to everyone else what art should survive to the future?
The Pyramids were built by slaves--should they be torn down? What about the Aztec pyramids, many of which were built by conquered slaves, and used for human sacrifice? What about monuments to FDR, LBJ, Cesar Chavez, and other "problematic" leaders of the left?
Do we want to open the box that turns over art preservation to fanatical mobs?
And what will they decide to attack next?
Churches?
People?
They've already looted and burned thousands of businesses across the US.
I fear that the more the they're appeased, the more they're allowed to destroy unopposed, the more emboldened they will be to spread their ideology (by force) through the rest of society.
Does that mean I support the views of the racists and slavers the Marxists want to destroy?
No, of course not.
But standing up for freedom of speech often means defending the right to express views that many find repugnant, such as blasphemers, atheists, communists, anarchists, Muslims, and Jews, to name a few.
Standing up for artistic freedom often means defending the right to create and display art that many find obscene, racist, blasphemous, and ugly.
Yet that I defend their rights does not mean that I agree with the artist's beliefs in whole or in part. (And, in fact, I vigorously disagree with some of them, as is the case for communists, Nazis, and Muslims.)
I oppose mobs destroying statues not because I support racist art, but because I don't want totalitarians _of any stripe_ to dictate to others the art they're allowed to display.
A brief, incomplete list of Marxist/communist atrocities:
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_during_the_Soviet_occupation_of_Poland
* https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/16/world/asia/xinjiang-china-forced-labor-camps-uighurs.html
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_killings_under_communist_regimes
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Christians_in_the_Soviet_Union
* https://www.trtworld.com/asia/13-things-to-know-about-religions-persecution-in-china-308451
Non-racist statues being destroyed/defaced by protesters:
* https://www.westernjournal.com/lincoln-freed-slaves-150-years-ago-now-protesters-defacing-statue-blm-graffiti
* https://www.inquirer.com/news/philadelphia-protests-matthias-baldwin-statue-abolitionist-twitter-photos-20200612.html
* https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2020/06/20/mayor-breed-destruction-statues-golden-gate-park-vandalism/
* https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/20/san-francisco-statues-ulysses-s-grant-junipero-serra-francis-scott-key