I was challenged in reading your article, and its portrayal of how these large events mirror personal encounters, and give us insight and empathy into a situation we must watch in horror, and feel urged to speak out against. I’m currently writing a book, a near-future science fiction novel, that has a section dealing with many sensitive issues, one of them Nazi Germany’s ‘Aktion T4’ program that accounted for around 300,000 killings of people with physical and mental disabilities, and was a program connected with the more publicly known treatment of Jews and Gypsies during the 2nd World War. From my specialties in psychology and computer science, and with a daughter with Down syndrome, I am pushing to address the ethics of how we respond to those who are different to us, even to AI and the applications of that technology. Ethnic cleansing by a ‘race’ that regards itself as superior or specially privileged is not new, nor is over yet, nor is defence against it over yet. And in discussing this I find myself turning to the very controversial debate on the Middle East’s understanding of race, and rights, and values.
The conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, on both sides, is one of many, many examples of humanity being inhumane. The German dream of reclaiming the Prussian Empire differs only in recency to the aims of that minority of Jews that hold to the Zionist dream. Arguably, Brexit was the product of predominantly older people imagining reclaiming the glory of the British Empire, that same empire that partitioned India and invented concentration camps. And as Britain defended itself by bombing Dresden’s largely civilian population in revenge for similar acts by Germany to send a message, we see again and again throughout history escalations in violent behaviour that is at heart simply and tragically the legitimisation of ethnic distinction and inhumanity.
So the aims and purposes of art, not the ‘art as an investment’, or the ‘art as wallpaper’ purposes, but like the statement so clearly made Helen Garrett in her paintings, written about by you so well recently, that humanity must dig deeper into and behind the superficial and expose the spiritual (meaning perhaps, the collective of intentional love that nurtures life) so that we can become fully human. Religion has failed - possibly even exacerbated these conflicts. But art, in all its forms, is speaking nonverbally and verbally to the heart of all matters, to the actual heart of what makes us love and care.
Yes, thank you...it doesn't have to be this way. People made it so and people can change it. Whilst we may feel relatively helpless in front of such huge tragedies as in Ukraine, Israel, Palestinian Gaza and the West Bank, along with the Congo, etc around the world, in combination with our loved ones, friends and neighbours and with our artists and intellectuals, we have numerous paths on the ground for local transformations, for fairness, opportunities and a better future.
It's important to understand where the hate and misery comes from, important to face the complexities of why our world is where it is and not to shy away from intellectual argument and to be a witness to the pain and horror. Ignoring it just keeps it coming. Even the smallest protest, or local community support or kindness joins the every growing protests, actions, projects, joining together that is going on globally but we have to understand why we are here....England has always hated intellectuals, and artists don't come far behind. There is a chance we can change and dig deeper into who we are and why we live in such a class ridden and unfair society. It doesn't have to be this way.
I was challenged in reading your article, and its portrayal of how these large events mirror personal encounters, and give us insight and empathy into a situation we must watch in horror, and feel urged to speak out against. I’m currently writing a book, a near-future science fiction novel, that has a section dealing with many sensitive issues, one of them Nazi Germany’s ‘Aktion T4’ program that accounted for around 300,000 killings of people with physical and mental disabilities, and was a program connected with the more publicly known treatment of Jews and Gypsies during the 2nd World War. From my specialties in psychology and computer science, and with a daughter with Down syndrome, I am pushing to address the ethics of how we respond to those who are different to us, even to AI and the applications of that technology. Ethnic cleansing by a ‘race’ that regards itself as superior or specially privileged is not new, nor is over yet, nor is defence against it over yet. And in discussing this I find myself turning to the very controversial debate on the Middle East’s understanding of race, and rights, and values.
The conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, on both sides, is one of many, many examples of humanity being inhumane. The German dream of reclaiming the Prussian Empire differs only in recency to the aims of that minority of Jews that hold to the Zionist dream. Arguably, Brexit was the product of predominantly older people imagining reclaiming the glory of the British Empire, that same empire that partitioned India and invented concentration camps. And as Britain defended itself by bombing Dresden’s largely civilian population in revenge for similar acts by Germany to send a message, we see again and again throughout history escalations in violent behaviour that is at heart simply and tragically the legitimisation of ethnic distinction and inhumanity.
So the aims and purposes of art, not the ‘art as an investment’, or the ‘art as wallpaper’ purposes, but like the statement so clearly made Helen Garrett in her paintings, written about by you so well recently, that humanity must dig deeper into and behind the superficial and expose the spiritual (meaning perhaps, the collective of intentional love that nurtures life) so that we can become fully human. Religion has failed - possibly even exacerbated these conflicts. But art, in all its forms, is speaking nonverbally and verbally to the heart of all matters, to the actual heart of what makes us love and care.
Yes, thank you...it doesn't have to be this way. People made it so and people can change it. Whilst we may feel relatively helpless in front of such huge tragedies as in Ukraine, Israel, Palestinian Gaza and the West Bank, along with the Congo, etc around the world, in combination with our loved ones, friends and neighbours and with our artists and intellectuals, we have numerous paths on the ground for local transformations, for fairness, opportunities and a better future.
It's important to understand where the hate and misery comes from, important to face the complexities of why our world is where it is and not to shy away from intellectual argument and to be a witness to the pain and horror. Ignoring it just keeps it coming. Even the smallest protest, or local community support or kindness joins the every growing protests, actions, projects, joining together that is going on globally but we have to understand why we are here....England has always hated intellectuals, and artists don't come far behind. There is a chance we can change and dig deeper into who we are and why we live in such a class ridden and unfair society. It doesn't have to be this way.