Let's take the power away from the white men. That's fine. I'm all for equal distribution of power. But this discussion of race as a factor for artistic ability or judgment is downright offensive. Why is it okay to talk down about someone's race if they are white?
Perhaps I am mistaken, after all, all white men grew up unoppressed. They all have lived affluently since the beginning of recorded history. The serfs of Feudal Europe were really spoiled aristocrats, right? The Slavs and Polish that were denied rights and ultimately executed during the reign of the Nazis had it too easy, anyway.
To all of the white men in class. Did you all grow up rich and at the top of the world? Am I the only white man who grew up lower-middle class? Oh, my mistake. It's being Jewish isn't it, that's what makes it okay for me to be philosophical thinker.
My Judaism voids out my whiteness, I guess.
Didn't we spend a long time in class today discussing how dangerous it is to group people together based on race or ethnicity as adversaries? But I guess it's okay, because they're just white men. They've had their time.
I apologize for not bringing this up in class when it occurred, but I was so shocked that I may have said things that I didn't mean. I wanted time to collect my thoughts before I made a new argument.
If you have not read my previous post, "Old Dead White Men," then please do so before responding. It will add context.
This does not count for one of my weekly posts. I apologize for how inarticulate and, well rabid, this post was.
Monday, April 26, 2010
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I couldn't agree more that race is an irrelevant factor in the art world and only distracts people from the actually matter at hand... the art. Also just because history's highly acclaimed critics were rich old white men does not mean that they are the alpha and omega of the art world. They were and still are just critics and no one is forced to agree with them nor does anyone have to meet their standards.
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