Well after a boring month or two, I decided to get off my keister and get out of the house. (that and I ran out of TV shows to download) So, one Sunday, at church, my friend KC invites me to the “grand opening” of the new… how can I explain this in fewer than 1000 words… artist loft cultural complex… that he recently started managing. Sounds cool… he mentions a computer training lab (which immediately sold me) and a theater. He does mention that there are going to be lots of people there… but I think I glossed over this detail in my mind.So tonight (Friday night) was the night. I left my shallow, yuppie, condo-dwelling, home in the ever-so fake-n-bake Eastside neighborhood of Kirkland to West Seattle. For those of you not familiar with Seattle and the Eastside… there is fairly clear delineation of culture. Seattle (aka the “Westside” of Lake Washington) is made of liberal elitists or the "I want to pay more taxes because I am weathy and not a minority so I feel bad" crowd. More on these folks later. Bellevue and the “Eastside” of Lake Washington is your typical moderate to conservative elitists, or the "I inherited my wealth and company but I am sure if people work hard enough they can be rich too" crowd. And here I am, more of a libertarian, minus the pro-drug stance with a dash of Constitutionalist. So back to the Libs.
Libs LOVE the kind of event I am about to describe to you. It makes them so giddy and smug that it borderlines on President Clinton interviewing new interns. So what we have is a bunch of kids and washed out art teachers living in a gorgeous old school building. All the classrooms have been converted into studio spaces with kitchens and bathrooms. Actually… if I thought I could be neat enough and not turn into a human gerbil, I would consider living in such a space (if the rent was cheap) But, according to our local government, not even the birdseed I make is low enough for housing assistance. The theater is amazing, the old school gym/cafeteria retrofitted with seating and state-of-the-art stage. KC and Becca’s apartment is the coolest I saw all night, because it’s arty but accessible. The main problem with the evening is that there are so many people there that you can’t really stand and look at the art, the building, or anything cool. If you try to take pictures, you just get the back of some guy’s head OR the "artist" will accuse you of trying to duplicate their "art" digitally. You think that if someone wanted to take a photograph to remember something that struck them as interesting it would be a complement. I guess my short hair, clean shaven; freshly bathed appearance belied my true nature as an evil capitalist
I’ll admit… in every viewing of “art” I see some pieces that I consider really talented and compelling. Unfortunately, it’s like 1 in every 10,000 pieces. Usually, I think of how much money they blow on pot instead of nice materials and tools for their medium. I’m also thinking how they would scream bloody murder and possibly assault me if knew my voting record and faith in God. Truly, the art scene to me is like being a cat at Westminister. This community wouldn’t respect my opinions. That’s why I’m writing this now. Because I respect their right to make whatever piece of junk they want, and some self-righteous phony to buy it… it is the American way.
I wouldn’t hinder or dissuade them in anyway… it’s not my place, even if the piece offends my sensibilities, like overtly political or religious pieces. I will not participate in censorship or thought policing. However, would they respect me if they knew my feelings? Perhaps a small minority. Where I am from and where I grew up, if you like the free-market and complete freedom of expression, speech and religion, you are hated, persecuted, and alienated. I do not live in America; I live in the Soviet Union of the West Coast.
I find it sad that those who espouse freedom and find the world’s current condition of wars, death and mayhem appalling, stil won’t accept those with different views. They won’t do a single thing except spout out talking points and make signs with sophomoric profanity at a duly elected leader of our country. All these people do is make sure that no one around them can challenge their faith in their politic, in their righteous assumptions. I’ll be the first to admit, I hardly know or understand anything, but I’m willing to listen to reason.
I’m not really in a funny mood tonight. I felt repressed and alone… so I turn to here to express my feelings. I challenge you, dear reader; make sure that you never trample on someone’s right to disagree with you. Their speech is protected, your sensibilities are not.
