socialism so smart -- sometimes

Socialists are generally well-meaning folks who seem to assume they know what’s best for everyone, and when it comes to public health and transportation, schools and state parks, we can all appreciate their efforts, but the free market is the realm of individual choice and expression, and socialists shouldn’t meddle. They don’t know everything. 

‘Cuba implementing law to restrict artists gradually’ from lex HL, dec 9

The law won’t stop anyone from painting, but it will restrict the work from being shown in public, even in private homes, and intends to fine and imprison artists if they try to sell their work without prior approval by a panel of ‘supervising inspectors.’ This is one terrible situation, an example of a state attempting mind-control by trying to limit and coerce artistic expression. One sentence toward the end of the article reveals a bias shared by ministers of culture everywhere. ‘Minister of Culture, Alpidio Alonso Grau defended the breadth of artistic expression in Cuba, which he said is “scarcely found where the market is the censor.” ‘

It’s such an odd phrase, ‘where the market is the censor,’ and I’m not sure what it means. It reveals a distrust of common people, a paternalistic disregard for what people attest they want by giving up something, even financially sacrificing, just to own it. Really? So, just who the fuck are you, mister minister of culture? Do you think you know best what should go up on the wall in Cuban homes? Do you imagine you are so wise as to know who the worthy artists are, and which ones should be ignored? Well, in case you ever want to defect, you can find a comfortable roost at the NEA, a gigantic national bureaucracy devoted to just that, choosing art for Americans. They think like you do.

Selling art is an anathema to the culture drones who assess and grade our art, and they cringe at the notion of popularity, especially among the common folk who happen to support their swell activities. While they live on public money, and even distribute it, they’re not keen on public tastes, preferring more progressive, conceptual forms of art, one assumes hoping to avoid public scrutiny, public awareness, and public concern. They should all defect to Cuba.

The market can sort art out without their help. Not only will the market sort it all out, it will make the art better, continuously, as a growing sophistication meets a more rewarded, more dedicated creativity emerging from studios, almost anywhere the rent is cheap. Socialists rise up, help us with health care and infrastructure, but don’t get carried away. Don’t suppose you can choose art for anyone, that’s personal, a matter of individual expression, and within the realm of the ‘free market,‘ and is, in fact, why it’s called ‘free.’