Comparing party stances on the arts / The importance of having a detailed platform

Marcy,

  You make a fair point. However, I think there is something about the
nature of art, just as I think there is something about the nature of
humor, which inherently makes these things better weapons *against*
tyranny than *for* it. Art has its own imperatives -- truth, beauty,
sensitivity -- that are not necessarily going to overlap with the
agendas of tyrants, and any independent-mindedness is ultimately a
threat to tyranny. Even when tyrants use art for their own purposes,
and do so effectively, it may in the long run help expose their true
natures. We would not today be able to see the evil of Nazi Germany
in as stark relief as we do today were it not for Leni Riefenstahl.

  Of course the case for a detailed platform isn't just about art. We
should say more about all kinds of things.

Love & Liberty,
        ((( starchild )))

Well, Starchild, I don't know. Think of the propaganda movies of the
30's and 40's -- evil incarnate, even with Shirley Temple in them!
But, regardless, we can go ahead and use art as a vehicle for good
(absence of tyranny).

Marcy