Morrison, T (2015) No Place for Self-Pity, No Room for Fear
Source: https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/no-place-self-pity-no-room-fear/
Dictators and tyrants routinely begin their reigns and sustain their power with the deliberate and calculated destruction of art: the censorship and book-burning of unpoliced prose, the harassment and detention of painters, journalists, poets, playwrights, novelists, essayists.
Their plan is simple:
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Select a useful enemy—an "Other"—to convert rage into conflict, even war.
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Limit or erase the imagination that art provides, as well as the critical thinking of scholars and journalists.
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Distract with toys, dreams of loot, and themes of superior religion or defiant national pride that enshrine past hurts and humiliations.
This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.
I know the world is bruised and bleeding, and though it is important not to ignore its pain, it is also critical to refuse to succumb to its malevolence. Like failure, chaos contains information that can lead to knowledge—even wisdom. Like art.
See: Books aren’t just commodities; the profit motive is often in conflict with the aims of art