tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4073789.post3982184759052859256..comments2024-02-23T20:05:42.671-06:00Comments on Eyeteeth: Incisive ideas: Justseed's Josh MacPhee on the dearth of rightwing graffitiUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4073789.post-91224938226816277832009-03-20T23:14:00.000-05:002009-03-20T23:14:00.000-05:00I'd guess the reasons for the absence of right win...I'd guess the reasons for the absence of right wing graff extend beyond the "liberal tradition of visual agit prop" to the structural nature of the medium itself, in relation to leftist and rightist ideologies.<BR/><BR/>Right wing is top-down, dig. It's focus is on values over ideas, heart over head. Governance *by* a few broad overarching principals -- The Fatherland, Love Yer Guns, No Taxes, Make Money. These values are broadcast from a few centralized authorities to the devoted masses. You respect the institution in right-wing thinking. You respect the pillars of society, the big, solid structures that are presented to you as the evidence of the justness of your cause. So naturally, you ain't gonna write all over the walls -- that's anathema to right wing. The walls are what you stand to defend against the godless, immoral graffiti writing hoards.<BR/><BR/>Left wing, meanwhile, is bottom up. The people direct the institutions. So naturally, one of the ways to inform the institutions of your discontent is to spell it out, in spray paint. <BR/><BR/>Of course, there's the negative tendency for rightwing powers to take on left-wing characteristics -- Bush mailing every American a $300 handout (cloaked in the language of a tax "rebate" check to make it politically palatable) -- or Stalinist Russia's oppressive hierarchy of de facto fascism. <BR/><BR/>But, at its core nature, Right is top-down, left is bottom-up. John Nance Garner's 1930's explanation of the difference between fascism and communism illustrates it best.<BR/><BR/>Fascism is where business improperly asserts itself over the sphere of government. Communism is where government improperly asserts itself over the sphere of business. That ain't an exact quote, so I didn't put it in quotes, but that's how JNG explained it, and I've always found it pretty illustrative.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com