Comrades, Unite!

Yeah- right. Still, if you had been in on the conference call between Yosi Sargent, of the NEA (National Endowment for the Arts), and several artists, you might be excused for thinking you were in on some communist propaganda meeting, where artists were asked very specifically to produce art designed to further our Tsar’s Dictator’s, traitor’s, Supreme Leader’s Resident’s agenda. This is, to my mind, unbelievable- back before I got palsy, I had thought to go into fine arts, with an emphasis on commercial art, since my father was in advertising- I had an in, so to speak- well that was not to be, but along the way I became fast friends with many artists.

Most were liberal at the time, but they would not have even thought in their wildest nightmares of working with ANY administration- and back then it was the Carter administration that was in power (if that is the term you wish to use)- but back then, although most artists were liberal, they were more consistently anti- establishment than anything else.

No more- now there are a bunch of “artists” who are willing to sell out for sheer propaganda purposes, each hoping they will do as well as Shepard Fairey, the “artist” who made the “Hope” propaganda poster for the Resident’s campaign.

The problem, as Andrew Breitbart and his Big Hollywood.com has pointed out, is the collusion of the White House, and the NEA, which receives grant money, which it doles out to artists- that would be fine, but there is not supposed to be collusion with regard to a specific administration or that administration’s goals.

On August 10th, the National Endowment for the Arts, the White House Office of Public Engagement, and the Corporation for National and Community Service hosted a conference call with a handpicked arts group. This arts group played a key role in Obama’s arts effort during his election campaign, as declared by the organizers of the call, and many on the call played a role in the now famous ObamaHope poster.

bighollywood.breitbart.com

Yes, in an effort that rivals that of Josef Goebbels in Nazi Germany, or the ubiquitous posters of “Workers of Communist Russia”, the NEA sought to form a solid partnership with artists so they could get those fabulous Art Deco- type poster art for cheap- and have all that wonderfully positive spin that comes from the appearance that this was a spontaneous “burst” of creativity on the part of the artists, and brought on by adoration of our Supreme Leader, Messiah, Chosen One, traitorLittle Hitler, Resident.

“We’re going to need your help, and we’re going to come at you with some specific ‘asks’ here,” said Buffy Wicks, deputy director of the White House Office of Public Engagement. “But we know that you guys are ready for it and eager to participate, so one we want to thank you, and two, I hope you guys are ready.”

Wicks, who did not respond to requests for comment, was one of several officials on the call — along with then-NEA Director of Communications Yosi Sergant and Michael Skolnik, political director for hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons — seeking focused efforts by the artists in health care, energy and environment, education and community renewal.

Sergant, who was reassigned by the NEA last week, said on the call that the effort was the first of a “brand new conversation.” 

He told the artists, “Pick — I would encourage you to pick something, whether it’s health care, education, the environment, you know, there’s four key areas that the corporation has identified as the areas of service. My ask would be to apply artistic, you know, your artistic creative communities’ utilities and bring them to the table.”

foxnews.com

Yeahhhhhhhh, that’s the ticket, yeaaaa, pick something and let’s make us some propaganda! We will pay you to adore our Leader, traitor, Resident and his programs.

Can you say collusion? These brain- dead people in the WH staff have no morals, and no limits they will not cross in their efforts to advance their communistic agenda. What blows my mind is that there are artists who would actually go along with this- but I guess they want what they perceive as the short-cut to true fame. What a shame that principles are in such short supply.

According to the newly-released transcript, Skolnik told Courrielche and the other artists that he had “been asked by folks in the White House and folks in the NEA” to participate about a month prior to the call.

“You are the thought leaders,” Skolnik told the artists. “You are the ones that, if you create a piece of art or promote a piece of art or create a campaign for a company, and tell our country and our young people sort of what to do and what to be in to; and what’s cool and what’s not cool. And so I’m hoping that through this group and the goal of all this and the goal of this phone call, is through this group that we can create a stronger community amongst ourselves to get involved in things that we’re passionate about as we did during the campaign but continue to get involved in those things, to support some of the president’s initiatives, but also to do things that we are passionate about and to push the president and push his administration.”

foxnews.com

Wow- “thought leaders”- also known as propagandists, which is more correct, if less “tasteful”. But socialist progressives like to “re- invent” words to make them more palatable, not just for the poster art, but for the “unwashed masses” as well. The idea, of course, is to bend people’s minds in the direction the administration wants them to go- rather much like grooming Bonsai trees, without all that messy trimming. Imposing one’s will on a populace is not a new story- we just generally hope there’s less of that in America, but these days we are looking more and more Communist in our artwork and propaganda.

I can just imagine if George Bush and his staff had tried to do this, the charges of “blatant propaganda” and “mind control”, and I am sure a plethora of other charges would have been hurled at the administration by the outraged Left.

I just can’t believe that the left would think this was a good idea- it just makes them look like a political “Inspector Clouseau”, bumbling around in the most idiotic way.

Perhaps that’s just the way they roll.
Blake
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