Links 8
William Deresiewic: “I have no doubt that narratives can change the world, in the concrete political sense, just not the ones produced by artists: not literary fiction, or serious drama, or art-house cinema, or opera or ballet or modern dance. The narratives that change the world are the ones that actually have some reach, some money and muscle behind them: the narratives of journalists and demagogues and propagandists. Rather than making delusional bids for political significance, artists might consider that their proper role—not even now but especially now—consists of being un-political, anti-political, trans-political. Of reminding us that there is something more than politics, this politics that has our spirits wrapped in chains. That there is a larger thing that politics is for: life, happiness, human flourishing.”
Freddie deBoer on Kanye West: “Many self-styled supporters of the mentally ill support the mentally ill only when it’s convenient, only when it’s easy. What a convenient way to imagine mental illness, that it never makes you sympathize with the unsympathetic! What a beautiful mental construct you’ve created, where you’re never forced into the uncomfortable position of feeling for someone you don’t want to feel for.”
