How art and writing can change the world
Creativity as resistance
Introduction
It’s been a shitty few weeks. First, I have to announce the death of my sweet cat Nemo. He was fifteen and wonderful and I miss him so much. It was extra hard to go into the American election without him. And we all know how that went. Fascism won. Hate won. I’m sick as I type this. (If you’re surprised I’m a leftist, you haven’t been paying attention. Feel free to flee.)
I just want you to know that here, in my space, love will always matter more. Trans lives matter. Black lives matter. Brown lives matter. Palestinian lives matter. Jewish lives matter. Queer lives matter. All the marginalized people matter. And you are safe with me. And there are lots of things we can do to fight back. I just want to talk about one.
Creativity as resistance
I’ve heard so many people recently say that they feel guilty for writing or painting. That they feel selfish for doing art when people are suffering.
to that, I say: Bullshit.
Art is one of the few things that fascism can’t take away from you. You shouldn’t feel guilty for doing something joyful in the face of overwhelming horror. Whether your creation creatures joy for someone, or whether it interfaces directly with authoritarianism, creativity is not a useless diversion.
Let’s take a look at the past
I’m not going to make this much of a history lesson, but I’ll look at a few examples.
There’s The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, by Frederick Douglass, a memoir that exposed the horrors of American chattel slavery to the public.
There’s Smoke Over Birkenau by Liana Millu, a first-hand account of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp during the Holocaust.
There are even preserved pieces of art from inside Holocaust concentration camps, art that was made quite literally beneath the shadow of Nazism.
There are also countless examples of popular anti-war protest songs: “Born in the USA” by Bruce Springsteen, “For What It’s Worth” by Buffalo Springfield, and whole albums like Rock Against Bush Vol. 1 and 2 with bands like Green Day and Lagwagon.1
The point is, people have been turning their pain into art for centuries. And they’ve been leaving it behind for us to take and bear witness.
Art is how we stay alive
Art is how we stay alive in the face of certain doom. It’s how we sublimate our rage. It can resist obviously, as a famous protest song, or it can resist quietly, as a moment of quiet joy experienced by a marginalized person whom the government wishes to exterminate.
So no, I don’t think it’s selfish or stupid to take time for art during the upcoming reign of fascism.
In fact, I think it’s absolutely necessary.
If you want a playlist of America-themed protest songs, check out my American the “Great” playlist here.