As IF Times

Source: Robert De Niro Responds to Trump Win: I Feel Like I Did After 9/11

During elections and especially Presidential elections, candidates are under constant pressure to build arguments in favor of their worldviews.  The logic is that if they can make their case compellingly and with logic, people can be swayed to see things their way.

Turns out that this whole exercise in logic and civility is a complete waste of time.  From the crazed responses ( and there is no way to minimize this ) to the recent election, there is no amount of logic that can appease the nutters who are hard wired in their mental delusion.

From the drama queens such as DeNiro comparing it to 9-11,  and Cher heading to Jupiter to students huddled in mass cry-ins and having stress dogs to pet as well as using coloring books to cope, it looks like a neutron bomb of stupidity was released at some point affecting the cerebral cortex of select parts of the population.

This has been manifest by the hysterical wailing from most in the entertainment business and given voice by a complicit media.  It’s unclear why anyone would consider that the opinions of such intellectual heavyweights as Miley Cyrus and Wanda Sykes are any more important than the guy driving a tractor in Iowa.   The rejection of Trump by the glitterati is not really a rebuke of the man as much as it is a dismissal of the population that voted for him.  It is the height of condescension that was rightfully kicked over in the election like a flimsy sand castle.

A sense of self importance has been de rigeur for years in the entertainment business and is a rite of membership for the most part.  Luckily, regular folk can choose to ignore or discount their obtuse rants.  The unexpected and scary revelation is the frightening degree of extended adolescence among the college set; the pool of future decision makers.

They are taught and espouse a worldview which is clearly delusional and which professes rejection of hatred and ignorance, both straw men of their own imaginations.  When students are taught to think correctly rather than critically, the results will be, well, the snowflakes that are created daily.  It’s a fair guess that many privileged kids in school today live insulated lifestyles supported by parents that quite possibly represent the population they disdain.  If a school needs safe zones and rules against micro-aggressions, then the education is literally not worth the paper that the diploma is printed on. For those students, instead of a mortar board and certificate, perhaps they can be awarded a binky and safety pin upon graduation.

link What happened to Lady Gaga? | New York Post.

The reason that the product of many artists is so revered and timeless is because their works were often poignant reflections of the particular zeitgeist of their era.  Through their respective media, they brilliantly capture and convey their observations and perceptions.  It was the resonance with the audience that would determine the timelessness of their work.  The medium didn’t matter; painting, sculpture, literature or music.  While we know that many works of art were commissioned by patrons during their time, most ‘true’ art has no real correlation with financial value…at least not at the outset.  It’s a fair guess that nobody commissioned Pablo Picasso to create cubist paintings for financial gain.  In fact, when the patron first saw the result, he probably refused to pay.

With the passage of time, the appreciation of high artistic expression has been driven by those who have been  mysteriously appointed as arbiters of value.  Today, works of art are sold through Sotheby’s and Christie’s  for tens of millions of dollars or more because essentially, somebody convinced somebody else of their value.  Music of course is a general exception to this.  If it doesn’t catch on with the masses, its value is truly only esoteric.  Music isn’t better because it costs more.  As far as other forms of high artistic expression, the general public wouldn’t know a Cezanne from a Monet.  Or Walt Whitman from Walt Disney.  The masses are happy with their velvet Elvis’ and their paintings of bulldogs playing poker.

Interestingly, there is an attempt to transplant the high art model into the pop culture business. In the world of pop culture, what passes as artistic is usually overwhelmed by what is marketable and profitable.  No one went broke capitalizing on the very brief lives of teeny pop stars.  From the David Cassidys and Leif Garrets of yesterday to the Taylor Swifts and Justin Biebers of today, the teeny girl demographic will always be a dependable source of pop star mania.  Of course, in order to market the young phenoms, at the very least, they need to have some semblance of talent, however  limited that might be.  The fact is, much of the reason that pop stars become pop stars is because of promotion, not unlike the art auction racket.  Once they begin to market that boy band “A” is the flavor of the day, then the public believes it and the process becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.   If any art or talent is truly involved, it’s a happy coincidence.  Come to think of it, that’s how politics works.  Hmm.

In the case of Lady Gaga, her ascension to pop culture icon status is truly a mystery.  Bereft of any vocal or observable entertainment talent, her shtick seems to be dressing as if her outfits were picked by seeing eye dogs or designed by 3 year olds in art class.  Full credit to her team of promoters, over the past 3 years or so, she has managed to place herself front and center in the pop culture business.   This is exhibit “A” of what happens when entertainment is pursued as a marketing exercise rather than as artistic expression, (Exhibit B being Miley Cyrus).   It’s hard to imagine that years from now, people will listen to a classic Gaga track and then say “hey that’s good, play it again!”

So the question posed in the linked article is, what happened to Lady Gaga, as if some great talent has disappeared.   Nothing has happened to Lady Gaga.  It’s more likely the audience has moved on.  In the absence of talent, the shelf life of weird can only last so long.  Unlike in the high art world, it’s much harder to convince the plain folk that a sow’s ear is a silk purse.  Sometimes weird is just weird.