We Really, Really Badly Want to Believe Things With Our Whole Brains.
Update: There are current events mentioned in here that are STILL changing, still being presented in wildly different ways, and we still don’t actually know what happened — and it seems doubtful we ever will. Heavy sigh.
This has been a weird week. I watched the Netflix series called Wild Wild Country, about the followers of the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. If you were around the West Coast of the US in the 1980s, you probably heard about this group. I just remembered there was this guy who brought followers from India to Oregon, built a town, rode around in lots of Rolls Royces, got really aggressive with everybody and then bailed.
From the first episode when they showed the followers all wearing the same color clothes, I was weirded out. That kind of conformity scares the heck out of me. I love sports and I have no problem donning a jersey for a favorite player or team. But, I don’t have to do that. I support the thing, and then I go back to whatever else I was doing. Wearing all the same clothes as a lifestyle, that’s just terrifying.
Simultaneously, the Jussie Smollett story was unfolding in the news. Not to be a butt, but as soon as I heard about his supposed assault, I said right out loud to my husband in the kitchen that it didn’t smell right. There was too much stagecraft to it. And I was sad, because I felt like the damage to real victims of race-based violence would be so very very big when the cover got blown.
But man, people went for it. There was so much press, and anger, and noise. People got really declarative about something they were sure had happened. And generalized it to big social issues and the whole thing. And so I thought, okay, well… maybe I’m wrong.
And then, it turned out it hadn’t happened.
I’m heavily pondering how badly we, all of us, want to believe things. And admonishing myself to look around and notice what I believe, especially stuff I believe without questioning. I guarantee I believe tons of stupid, wrong stuff that I haven’t even noticed. Ugh.
The arts suffer from a belief system that devalues them. There are so many weird beliefs wrapped up in there. That you are not supposed to get paid well to do something “fun” (it’s work!), that creative work isn’t a “real job” (hello, design, film, TV, architecture, etc. etc.), that things made by human hands aren’t as “good” as things made by machines (no uneven stitches on those jeans!), that aesthetics are “optional” even though people make major decisions based on them all day, every day. Man, I’m not even sure how some of that got in there. But it’s there, lurking around.
So, let’s fix that. I’m pretty sure based on what I’ve seen, oh, everywhere, that human people want space to enjoy and be in and they want music and art and unexpected things. I believe in market language this is called, “demand.”
I hope you’ll check out Bad Art Live, if you’re nearby Lafayette, California. It’s a start at being together in a room, reacting to art, and being different in our interpretations. And that being a good thing. Here’s the link to tickets.
Also hey, if you’re in Portland, check out my friend Bridgett’s art gallery, Sidestreet Arts. There’s some space for wonderful things made by groovy people. To put a positive cap on the whole Oregon thing.
I believe I shall now send this email.
May you find cash in one of your pockets, may you encounter a good dog, won’t you be my neighbor?
— Betsy
Betsy Streeter is an artist, cartoonist, and illustrator who writes and talks about art. Get the Bad Art newsletter here.
