Protecting American Art from Americans

The following is an excerpt of an email sent from Will to the group on 14 November 2015.

National march in remembrance of Charlie Hebdo attack

I read the attacks as nihilistic, too. I don't see any virtue asserted—maybe just some happiness that people are dead.

Paris has a long history of letting American ideas that Americans can't handle percolate. When Screamin' Jay Hawkins put all that racist and xenophobic stuff into his art, he was exorcising it. To see him in the early 90's when campuses were moving in the PC direction that has led to a culture of censorship in the name of avoiding micro-agressions was very interesting. He showed everyone is buffoonish stereotypes and put everyone on the same field that way—it alienated the left and right equally. France gave him a place to work in a time when America wouldn't give him work. It did the same for the American ex-pat writers in the 20's, James Baldwin, the great jazz artists of the 50's and 60's, etc.

I'm not saying Screamin' Jay Hawkins is the height of Western Culture, but Paris is one of the great protectors of Western Art, and our art is one of the best things we have. I didn't actually hear about Charlie Hebdo until this morning, so I wasn't writing in response to their losses. Charlie Hebdo is/was an obnoxiously offensive magazine, but an argument could be made that it holds a space open for free speech by pushing it's boundaries. In general, I think Paris has been invaluable in helping protecting American art from Americans.

One of my big fears is not the loss of faith in God, but the loss of faith in people.