Checking in with the crackpot left

The sheer, unadulterated idiocy on display in this little gem of an interview approaches the sublime; in fact, I think this may be one instance in which the ridiculous -- in all its un-self-conscious glory -- becomes the sublime.

In the interview, Radiohead's Thom Yorke and beloved historian of the crackpot left, Howard Zinn, spout off in unintentionally ironic fashion about the favorite subject of pseudo-artists and pseudo-dissidents: the role of the artist in society. Let's maintain a prayerful silence now as we listen to some of their pronouncements:

Interviewer: Pablo Picasso once said: "Art is a lie that makes us realize the truth." How do you react to this quote as describing the role of artists to inspire change and show us what the world should be like?

Zinn: Well, in a certain sense when you describe what the world should be like, you're not telling the truth. You're not describing reality, but a fantasy. You're describing the future, something utopian, and something that's in the imagination. So in a certain sense, it's a lie that is extremely important in revealing the truth. It's not just a matter of artists talking about the future or what life can be like in the future, which constitutes a kind of lie. All fiction is a kind of lie; you're telling stories that are not true, but they somehow add up to a very important truth.

Yorke: Fox News is a lie. [laughs] Someone needs to tell the truth, but it shouldn't be my job. So I guess I'd be on the lying side. I think no artist can claim to have any access to the truth, or an authentic version of an event. But obviously they have slightly better means at their disposal because they have their art to energize whatever it is they're trying to write about. They have music.

-- Let's begin with the interviewer's question. Why not simply say, "Please explain the revolutionary power of art to the great unwashed." No, that would be too obvious. Or why not set that Picasso quotation next to Nietzsche's statement that "we have art in order not to perish of the truth"? That would be too, like, complicated . . . wouldn't want to confuse the issue, would we? I mean, after all, we're really just here to genuflect at the altar of artistic self-importance and smug historical ignorance, aren't we?

And then there's Zinn's response. Whatever does it mean? I suppose its substance doesn't really matter, anyway, since Zinn -- being Zinn -- is right in and of himself, and whatever pours from his lips should be gathered up and treasured by a grateful public. Perhaps Zinn means something like this: “Objectivity is impossible, and it is also undesirable. That is, if it were possible it would be undesirable, because if you have any kind of a social aim, if you think history should serve society in some way; should serve the progress of the human race; should serve justice in some way, then it requires that you make your selection on the basis of what you think will advance causes of humanity.” That quotation is another one of Zinn's pearls of wisdom, and it accords perfectly with his assertion that art is a lie which leads to a very important truth. Zinn's world, it appears, is one in which fiction and history blend together to advance the "causes of humanity." Anyone who -- mindful of the bloody ideologies of the bloodiest century in human history -- cautions that such a cavalier dismissal of objectivity usually serves the purposes of tyrants and the progress of totalitarianism and fascism will be denounced, I presume, as an enemy to the "progress of humanity."

Then there is Yorke's response. First, we have his assertion that Fox News is lie. Let's all gather 'round now, revolutionary folks, knees jerking in unison, and bask in the warmth of one of our most cherished, most hackneyed cliches. Ready everybody? Open skulls; remove brains; insert slogans: Fox News is a lie! Fake turkey! Bush lied, people died! Stolen election! Two legs bad, four legs good! All pigs are equal, but some pigs are more equal than others! If it doesn't fit, you must acquit! Say it, brother! Amen! Allelujah! Yorke is thankful to have his "art" to energize "whatever it is [he's] trying to write about," but if his music is as original as his political ideas, . . . well, I'm thankful I've never heard it.

What follows is a very short list of artists and intellectuals who tried -- to borrow Zinn's phrase -- to "advance the cause of humanity" in the twentieth century. It's not surprising that Zinn endorses a selective presentation of facts, given the tragic results of the revolutionary ideologies these artists espoused. Those who, like Zinn and Yorke, want to continue to elevate the artist's role in society, must hope that the record of what these "artists" supported disappears conveniently down the memory hole:

Ezra Pound, George Bernard Shaw, Pablo Neruda, Frida Kahlo, Jean-Paul Sartre, Martin Heidegger, Jean-Luc Goddard, Michel Foucault, Eric Hobsbawm, Andre Gide, Charlie Chaplin, W.E.B. Du Bois, Andre Gide, Pablo Picasso, P.G. Wodehouse, Salvador Dali, Paul de Man, Peter Ustinov, Harold Pinter, Paul Robeson, Aaron Copland, John Garfield, . . .

I'm going to cut this post short, because, frankly, the subject has begun to depress me. I don't know whether I'll have the fortitude to return to it later. C.S. Lewis abruptly concluded The Screwtape Letters because he couldn't bear to look into the abyss any longer. If I can never approach Lewis' artistry, I can at least stand shoulder to shoulder with him in disgust at the "devils" among us.