The degradation of Western civilization continues, and it could not be occurring at a worse time.  As we attempt to export freedom and liberty to a part of the world that has never experienced it, we are not doing a good job of demonstrating our ability to use the liberties and freedoms that we have.

One of the primary forces eroding this country’s moral framework is the world of “art” – although to call it that defames the legacy of Michelangelo and Monet.  Just a few short decades ago, what often qualifies as art today would have been found solely in the worlds of Hugh Hefner and Larry Flynt.

The most recent display of this sort of artwork is available for viewing through today, July 9, at New York’s Friedrich Petzel Gallery.  So-called artist Andrea Fraser has, according to Guy Trebay of the New York Times Magazine, built her entire career out of “skewering the foibles of the contemporary art world.”  Trebay’s choice of words is ironic since it is apparently Fraser, and not the art world, being skewered.  On display is a 60-minute video of Fraser having sex with a collector who paid $20,000 to “commission” the piece.  Despite the obvious overtones of prostitution, Fraser insists that it wasn’t.  “The collector didn’t pay for sex,” she insists.  “He pre-bought a tape and covered production costs.”  Twenty thousand worth of production costs for a bedroom and a simple video camera?

If it had any reputation worth salvaging, the art world would denounce this crackpot exhibitionist, but instead they welcome her by excusing her.  According to The Week magazine, Margaret Sundell of Time Out New York says “Fraser has long been interested in art-world power dynamics.”  Apparently, in the art circles, selling your body for sex is a study of the power dynamics of the art world.  One wonders how long before some Berkeley or other university professor defends their sexual conquest of students as part of some psychological study of the college world’s power dynamics.

Not that you and I are supposed to understand this refuse anyway.  Unlike the old days when artists actually had artistic capabilities, today’s artists insist that they are talented and we are supposed to appreciate and understand what they have put together.  If we aren’t capable of seeing the hidden and deeper sociological meanings of the piece, it is because we’re uncultured and foolish – not that the artist is untalented and incompetent.

This whole scandal is made worse by its support from you and I, the taxpayers.  It is this critical component of the art world that is partially responsible for the terrorist attacks and problems that we have today.  Without government support, these artists would not be able to survive on their extremely questionable talents, but would have to go and get an actual artistic education, or perhaps even a real job.

How does the art world cause terrorism?  It has been shown that many Muslim fanatics look at the United States as the Great Satan in part because of the blatant degradation that our society has suffered.  They fear this happening in their own society, and they are violently trying to stop it.  On this one, very small point I am in agreement with the terrorists: this assault on our culture is terrible and must be stopped.

Of course, these artists insist that they are using their freedom of expression to make their living, and to cut their funding or to shut them down would be to suppress their freedoms.  Interesting that this government-subsidized freedom is not applied to other rights, such as gun ownership.  There is no government subsidy to purchase firearms, yet the government is bullied into paying for artwork like fecal matter spread across canvases or someone’s jarred urine.  These degradations and pieces of garbage are then awarded and highlighted and broadcast to the Muslim world with the same esteem as actual masters of art who actually had talent that wasn’t made up by silly art critics.

The key aspect of the art world, and too much of the rest of our world, that is missing is moderation.  The freedoms granted by the Constitution were never designed to be used to the furthest, most extreme degree, but rather to be used with moderation and a sense of decency.  Just as it is foolish and pointless to amass a collection of guns simply because an amendment guarantees us that right, it is also foolish and pointless to express oneself beyond the bounds of decency and rationality simply because we can.

The Islamic religion holds moderation in high regard, even too high in many aspects of their lives.  Western civilization has gone to the opposite extreme: not enough moderation.  Neither extreme is beneficial to the society, and both are currently having a disastrous impact on the moral foundations of both cultures.  This dramatic contrast also lends itself to the conflict we currently have between the West and the Islamic world.

We are in a historic struggle to export freedom to the rest of the world and the terrorists fear it – not just because of their loss of power and their loss of esteem, but also in the loss of their culture’s artistic decency.  To be sure, blowing themselves up or killing hundreds of people is an indecent representation of their culture, but they are also trying to prevent our freedom of expression from being imported into their world and used to the extent that some of the fools in this country do.

It isn’t too late.  We can still stem the terrible tide of depravity which exists.  Sadly, though, we must do it soon or risk losing our moral foundation forever.  The Andrea Frasers of the world, and those who empower her so-called artistic vision, must be stopped.  They may scream about censorship and an abridgment of their rights, but it’s not.  It’s common sense.

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