Stuart Noble

Devo’s Premonition of Bush Foreign Policy

Whip It.

That’s the title to Devo’s best known track. Released in 1980, the video was one of those early MTV moments that forever left an impression on my barely still pre-digitized consciousness. After watching the video again, I couldn’t help thinking about the Bush Administration and its utterly pugilistic neoconservative foreign policy. When I did a little Wiking around I found the cover art to the Whip it single which I think confirms my suspicion. Oh, and does the cross-eyed Asian at 0:54 do a great impersonation of Michelle Malkin or what?

Jerry Casale, the basist for [Devo]lution sums it up in this interview.

Devolution happened. We don’t need to talk about anymore. It was an artsy joke and turned out to be true. Now we live in devolved world. Things we were talking about came and passed. We are in it now. We are fish in the water.

Lou Reed New York

In 1989 Lou Reed released what was probably his most critical political work with New York. One may call it a “concept” album, as each song reads like a chapter in a book. Reed tackles social issues from discrimination, environmental degradation, poverty, drug abuse, media manipulation, and domestic violence. Behind every song, the red thread that runs throughout the album is an unjust American economic system, perpetuated by elites and sustained by middle class apathy.

Protected: Abraham Lincoln’s Neocon Legacy

Police State 2.0

Naomi Klein’s most recent article, appearing in Rolling Stone.

Remember how we’ve always been told that free markets and free people go hand in hand? That was a lie. It turns out that the most efficient delivery system for capitalism is actually a communist-style police state, fortressed with American “homeland security” technologies, pumped up with “war on terror” rhetoric. And the global corporations currently earning superprofits from this social experiment are unlikely to be content if the lucrative new market remains confined to cities such as Shenzhen. Like everything else assembled in China with American parts, Police State 2.0 is ready for export to a neighborhood near you.

“Hummersaurus Wrecks”

Karen Fiorito
“Hummersaurus Wrecks”

Here’s what Karen Fiorito has to say about her art at her online portal, Lil’ Fury Industries. Read the rest of her statement at the link.

I make art to combat apathy, provoke consciousness and unite people around humanitarian or political issues. Art can play a subversive role in society, offering an alternative narrative to the dominant culture. Traditionally, visual artists, especially in the United States, have been taught that political themes will devalue their work. University programs have largely ignored the history of posters and murals in their curriculum and critics often dismiss political art as “bad” because it is “propaganda.” However one feels about the subject, the fact of the matter is this: Art is about life, and politics affects every aspect of life on this planet.

Follow the link to read the full article, “Hummersaurus Wrecks” at the Agonist.

Animals Save the Planet

This is just really cleaver. What I find most interesting is how this reflects the trend towards a majoritarian progressive world view. It’s not all about politics, and in deed, among the more powerful political tools progressives have at their disposal are found in areas of creative cultural production, which can help establish life-long “values” impressions. I’m heartened to see cultural production that has the potential to move core ideologies of the next generation towards a more sustainable framework.

Eventually I’ll get around to a project I’ve been wanting to start which would explore environmental activism through the lens of art and other forms of cultural production.