Remember when being called a 'philistine' was not a compliment?

My apple dictionary on my computer defines 'philistine' as: "a person who is hostile or indifferent to culture and the arts, or who has no understanding of them." And, when typed into the thesaurus, my computer provides the hilariously poignant example sentence: "My only mistake was thinking I could share something culturally uplifting with you philistines!" 

More and more I find myself surrounded by peers, persons, and policy-makers who not only refuse to engage with arts, culture, and intellectual pursuits, but actively deplore them! I'm constantly berated with statements like: "Could you say that in plain English please?" or "I can never understand your high-foluted concepts" or better yet "You're an artist? Man, I wish I could make a job out of my hobby!"/ "When are you planning to get a real job?"

Now, don't get me wrong, I am inclined to agree with George Orwell when he suggests that if something can be said simply, than it should. However, we have access to a multitude of words precisely because they all have subtly different meanings and connotations. 

For example, if one of my earlier sentence with more rudimentary words, it might read as follows: 

'More and more I find myself surrounded by people who don't want to take part in arts, culture, and learning. In fact, they don't even like those things!'  

Sure, it works, but it lacks the elegance and acerbic sting of the cadence in 'deplore', to point out but one example. 

And yes, it is true, I love my job. But being an artist and a scholar does not mean I should be living in a museum basement quarantined amongst oil paintings and sculptures and all the other things our institutions don't understand or know how to engage with.  

More importantly, the hubris that comes with ignorance is not to be taken lightly. It can be dangerous, especially when it seeps in to politics and gets hidden behind phrases like 'just a regular joe' and 'one of the people'. I don't want 'regular joe' running a country! I want the most intelligent, most well-travelled and well-read, sensitive person that has the courage to take on the job and the willingness and capacity to consider multiple perspectives! The world is not divided between 'smart' people and 'regular' people. It is divided between those who engage and those who insulate. 

This is a long rant and an even longer debate, I know, and so I pause here. I'm sure I will return to this topic in future posts, but, for now, this will have to do. 

xx