How many full artistic scholarships are given out by Notre Dame University every year? If one were to compare the economic spin-off from the arts to sports in New York City I bet you'd find that New York could survive the loss of its professional sports teams a lot easier than the loss of its professional arts institutes.
It has been said that in times of oppression that the first thing closed are the theatres, and after that the intellectuals are rounded up. The governments who are oppressive are afraid of venues and people who are capable of expressing thoughts that challenge the status quo.
In the nineteenth century, riots used to break out at operas because they were the first theatre that included common people as more than just comic relief or secondary characters. The Barber of Seville was considered incendiary because it showed the mistreatment of a regular person by the aristocracy. It was feared it would give people ideas above their station.
Nowadays governments do not move overtly against the arts or intellect; instead they plant the seeds of disquiet against them through their attitudes and snide remarks. How many times have you heard a pro-government voice make snide remarks about eggheads? They play on people's schoolground prejudice against the smart kid, and do their best to make them seem different and therefore dismissible.
In their ideal form, the arts should hold a mirror up to society to allow us to take a good look at ourselves. They encourage you to think and form your own opinion. In this day and age, can you think of anything that would frighten governments that are so concerned with spin-doctoring more than people who are prepared to form their own opinions?
Artistic expression and creativity have been a natural means for humans to express their awe and wonder at the world around them since we first climbed up onto two legs. Look at the cave paintings and pictographs that have been found throughout the world for proof of that.
Without creativity and intellect, our development would have stagnated countless generations ago, yet in North America we are conditioned from an early age to look upon both those traits with suspicion. I don't think there's some government plot that created those feelings; they have been ingrained for far too long for the current crop of politicians on either side of the border to take the blame for this attitude. However, that does not mean they won't perpetuate those feelings, and take full advantage of them to fulfill their agendas.
Article comments
1 - John Spivey
Well gypsyman, we share some same experiences. Went to school and one day they told me I was smart and really I was just me being me. Suddenly I was different and on the outside for simply exploring the gift I was given. Tough stuff. Thanks for the post.
2 - Baronius
This reminds me of an incident on Malcolm in the Middle, just after Malcolm's IQ test comes back 165. His mom is telling him that there won't be any social difficulties if he stays nonchalant about it. Cut to his teacher telling the class that, "Malcolm is different. In his brain."
I disagree with one thing you said. The Protestant work ethic isn't the problem; if anything, the opposite is true. There's a laziness ethic in school. Anyone who shows an interest or makes an effort is shunned. The brainy kid tries everything to look uninterested. As bad as it is to be smart, it's even worse if people think you've studied.
I remember the oddest thing in school. Everyone walking into a test saying, "I know I'm going to fail this. I didn't study. I haven't learned a thing in this class." It's bragging about lack of accomplishment, and nerd that I was, I never understood it.
Everyone looked down on the artsy-types because you guys were wierd. But maybe also because you cared about something, and made an effort. No, wait, I'm wrong. You guys were just wierd. Heh.
3 - Steve
When hearing people's stories about themselves, I am often reminded of something called the "Four Color Personality Test".
'Gold' are folks who are into 'traditional' values, who are big on law and order in society, marriage, etc. These make up about 50% of the population.
'Blue' are what you might call 'touchy, feely' types, very much people persons, who love to be in unity with others, and who generally like to avoid conflict if at all possible. They make up about 10% of the population.
'Green' are folks who tend to be very analytical, often into science, and who tend to view themselves (or are considered by others) as intellectuals, and outside the mainstream of society. They also make up 10% of the population.
'Orange' folks tend to be the most creative, who are into making music, art, etc. They make up about 30% of the population, though they also make up a majority of the prison population apparently. They tend to dislike/distrust boundaries, hence their interest in art, which has few, if any, boundaries, though if that dislike of boundaries occurs in other areas, it can cause them to be 'trouble makers' or 'class clowns' as they are often called in their younger years.
I've found the above distinctions helpful in figuring out where people come from. I'm a Gold, with a bit of a Green streak, by the way. Don't know you well enough to know if you are an Orange with a strong Green streak or vice versa, but either way, it would be easy to see you feeling 'different' from most other folks as those two groups only make up 40% of the population combined.
4 - Elvira Black
Very interesting piece, gypsyman. I can relate to your experiences on many levels, though in slightly different ways, as I’ve also recounted on BC.
Until I got to junior high, I was considered an oddball by my classmates--and of course I had the same ones for six years, so the teasing never stopped. Though I was always the "best reader in the class," I seemed to have some sort of attention deficit disorder.
With few friends and no brothers and sisters, I wound up on my own a lot--reading of course, as well as listening to music and watching TV. It was a painful, lonely childhood, but it paid off in the end because I learned to think for myself. What I lost in social self-confidence I gained in confidence in my own opinions and ways of looking at things.
Careers in the arts can indeed be an oxymoron. The field is vastly competitive with a limited number of openings, and very few make big money at it even if they stick with it. No one asks for more painters or writers--those who choose to pursue it do so totally of their own volition. But if we did not have these brave and gifted individualists, the world would be a grey and dull place indeed.
5 - chantal stone
at least here, gypsyman, those of us who fall into the category you described can feel like we're among our own. even through the corridors of cyberspace...we creative types seem to gravitate to one another.
Steve....i'm a definite 'orange', destined, it seems, to work part-time at a restaurant while boldly pursuing my art on the side. i just thank God for my 'gold' husband, who's willing to support my endeavors.
6 - Paula
My significant other and I are successful in the arts - nobody held our hands or encouraged us - it took 15 long years of hard work and growing stones to get where we are today.
People approach us at events and ask us how we did it, not because they're really interested in what we have to say, it's because they think that there was some voodoo involved, some cheat that they can capitalize on.
We didn't grow up with silver spoons in our mouths or have an arts patron to pamper our bottoms. The secret is that while others were sitting around swooning and saying woe is me and joining mutual backslapping societies we were freaking working! - Even when no one would pay us and everyone told us to go away.
No one asks lawyers or doctors what they're going to fall back on because such professions and avenues of study are like a vast network of train tracks - you get on one and your train doesn't go anywhere else unless you get off and change tracks.
There is no set track for succeeding in the arts and nor should there be because if everyone was supported to move through the same channels we might as well get out the cookie cutter and start working.
The school of hard knocks produces interesting and unique artists - as yuck as it sometimes is to have had to go through it.
7 - Steve
Good for you, Chantal.