I have known many an artist and "intellectual" in my day. I have come to the belief that there are few things as dangerous as an intellectual that isnt tempered with some street wisdom and common sense. A few examples come to mind regarding famous artist/ intellectuals..lets take peter Seeger. I like the old guy, met him once..He is a great spirited and talented person who has done a lot of good--He also loved Stalin and praised Stalin (something it took him until his 80's to figure out was stupid) Stalin was one of the most evil of humans to ever walk the earth. He was the lance armstrong of pure evil.. I had a close friend who worshiped castro. He had castro pictures all over his house. Castro would sooner throw an artist or filmaker (as my friend was) in a dark hole prison and let you rot there for life because he didnt like your poem. I cant wrap my head around worshipping such people..this isnt a right/ left issue..
It is a question of having the ability to think clearly and not live in delusion. I read an article this morning about a guy who went to cuba recently to help the jewish community using the internet and cell phones. Castro doesnt like cell phones or access to info. so he put the guy away for a long, long time for bringing a cell phone into his regime. The guys name was alan gross--google him. He is going straight to the Gulag, poor guys life is over. You dont even get a trial, you dont pass go in castro land (it aint candyland) Totalitarian regimes have no use for such trivial things as trials. I have a feeling this guy thought highly of Castro and the whole cuba thing or he would not have ventured there. If you go too far left or too far right the snake eventually bites its tail and socialism becomes facism and there is six of one and half dozen of another. I personally think there is often a freudian jungian complex underlying the painted fence of intellectualism that cripples a well intentioned horse. Maybe there is a need for a father figure, a need to be loved which is provided in the form of A dictator who provides "love" with a loving smile which is just a mask that hides a heartless regime. I cannot think of another way to understand these matters or for the total inability of some very smart people to even approach common sense. Even genius' can be very flawed in their thinking and the flaws are usually related to some freudian defect that blinds them to reality. I call it willful idiocy. Then again, I may be wrong.
