tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13305228.post116058089618592125..comments2023-11-02T11:32:38.324+00:00Comments on The Joy of Curmudgeonry: The Hubris of Liberal PhilistinismDeogolwulfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02197539477668018797noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13305228.post-1161715004655075822006-10-24T19:36:00.000+01:002006-10-24T19:36:00.000+01:00especially as I was able quite easily to say somet...<EM>especially as I was able quite easily to say something in reply that they found very offensive indeed</EM><BR/><BR/>Come on then, let's hear it.Larry Teabaghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08283701267147459665noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13305228.post-1160741370985286722006-10-13T13:09:00.000+01:002006-10-13T13:09:00.000+01:00Nevertheless, Cirdan, I have been giving some thou...Nevertheless, Cirdan, I have been giving some thought to that last line. Its whole point was to highlight the humbug (and dumb complacency) of persons such as Zoe Williams, who claim to be never (or very rarely) offended by art, and yet were such persons to be confronted by art that they find intolerant or racist, I have little doubt that they would be offended. <BR/><BR/>At university, I had several friends of this ilk who boasted to me that they were incapable of being offended, and this struck me as hubristic, especially as I was able quite easily to say something in reply that they found very offensive indeed. They had no problem offending anybody else - and extending their "open-mindedness" to things that were designed to offend the sensibilities of others - but their own sensibilities they considered sacred. <BR/><BR/>Still, I shouldn't be playing this kind of game, and I have come to think that the last line is gratuitous after all - simply meaning that it is unnecessary to make the point in so artless and crude a manner. I shall therefore remove it.Deogolwulfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02197539477668018797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13305228.post-1160667403374496532006-10-12T16:36:00.000+01:002006-10-12T16:36:00.000+01:00"From which it doesn’t follow that the reason for ..."From which it doesn’t follow that the reason for the liberal refusal to be offended by art is indifference to it."<BR/><BR/>Indeed it doesn't, but by those liberal philistines that are indifferent to it, offence will not be taken, by which they then might take the opportunity to appear open-minded or magnanimous or full of liberal principle, when really they just couldn't give a damn. That is what the post is about. <BR/><BR/>"Your cloven hoof is showing."<BR/><BR/>You're rather missing the point, don't you think?Deogolwulfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02197539477668018797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13305228.post-1160665774362345292006-10-12T16:09:00.000+01:002006-10-12T16:09:00.000+01:00Naturally one is never offended by those things to...<EM>Naturally one is never offended by those things to which one is indifferent</EM><BR/><BR/>From which it doesn’t follow that <EM>the reason</EM> for the liberal refusal to be offended by art is indifference to it. Poets are liars, as Plato says; grown-ups know that it is best to maintain a critical distance from art as art.<BR/><BR/><EM>Indeed, I shall go so far as to say that offending a liberal is as easy as falling off a wog.</EM><BR/><BR/>Your cloven hoof is showing.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13305228.post-1160601163934782242006-10-11T22:12:00.000+01:002006-10-11T22:12:00.000+01:00"I would dare say, though, that should a leftist p..."I would dare say, though, that should a leftist philistine find art that actually supports, say, such "Nazi" aspects like traditional values and confidence in one's culture, they'd be quite offended."<BR/><BR/>Precisely.Deogolwulfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02197539477668018797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13305228.post-1160588684337752052006-10-11T18:44:00.000+01:002006-10-11T18:44:00.000+01:00Wasn't art criticism in the heyday of good art pre...Wasn't art criticism in the heyday of good art precisely about good and bad rather than the "everything goes" attitude one finds?<BR/><BR/>I would dare say, though, that should a leftist philistine find art that actually supports, say, such "Nazi" aspects like traditional values and confidence in one's culture, they'd be quite offended.<BR/><BR/>But you are right: their superiority, which in fact is but indifference, is quite grating and idiotic.<BR/><BR/>Your last sentence: Good one. Had to look a word up, but quite witty.Muslihoonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14849398517235135273noreply@blogger.com