Art, Truth, and Politics

Guardian:

“Hope is passive,” Moore said about [his new Trump documentary]. “Hope gives you permission to let someone else do the work. Hope leads people to believe that tax returns, or a pee tape, or the FBI or an adult film star will save the country. Hope, and the passivity that comes with it, is what helped get us here to begin with. It’s the lazy way out. We don’t need hope. We need action.”

Passive faith in some sort of just teleology seems very much part of the fabric of American society, displayed both by those with a belief that some diety will right all wrongs and those who see themselves as humanists while retaining a similar faith in some universal truth force. Wrenching Americans away from video screens and into a struggle for political power will involve redefining selves as something other than passive consumers of mass media.

Winter Palace

Cruiser Aurora

The theater is across the street from my hotel. Driving in I thought it was some sort of abandoned industrial complex. It is immense, fantastical. Today it’s quite dilapidated, but it’s easy to see how 30 or 40 years ago it was really cool. It would absolutely fit right into many a science fiction film.

It’s very much still in use – I peeked in the windows and read the notices. Season starts September 22. Tiles are actively falling from 10 meters up the walls and towers (watch your head).

“South Carolina college students remind me of middle-aged Russians” was essentially the take of my server, who is getting her Masters in Government and had been an exchange student in the US for six months. This was not a sentiment I had ever heard before, and yet made perfect sense.

Church of the Ascension

Tsar’s Palace