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Stimulus/Response: Can satire really improve conditions in the politics or art education? At whose and what expense? And why?Editor's summary:
One of the questions that Dr. Kenneth Marantz of Ohio State University raised not long ago dealt with the notion of self critique within the Caucus as well as the field of art education? Of late, Dennis Fehr has raised the hackles of several members of the Caucus, the NAEA, and other art educators with his satirical critique of various activities and personalities within the field of art education. He pulls no stops in his description of "the way the world of art education is according to Dennis." Some of his Newsletter columns have been censored by NAEA's Director.
I am including some responses to Dennis Fehr's NAEA News Commentaries in the hope that you will examine "Why?" You will find Dennis' homepage holds censored and accepted commentary for the NAEA Newsletter for your perusal prior to your responses.
- Why do you react the way you do?
- How often do we examine our own viewpoints in relation to mainstream culture or group think?
- When do we leave critique and solicit rage?
- How much provocation is necessary, prior to rage, in order to alleviate apathy?
- Are the aftershocks of satire geared toward devisiveness or productivity?
- What is to be learned from all this?
Responses:
1) Loved the column! Love your wit. Don't agree with (one of the responses to your column).Still think Hatfield has no business editing the "NAEA News" (it should be an NAEA member, like all other NAEA periodicals)!! But, what to do????
2) I can't even remember the column in question. Rather than political incorrect I have become politically forgetful.
3) "(Y)our column struck me as brutally cynical, and as such, is much more suited for publication on your personal website and not in a nationally respected and multiculturally-distributed/cited art publication. You allude to the inclusivity of art from the social theory perspective, then proceed to stretch Christian allegory to an unnecessarily insulting level. I kind of expect scholars to be able to be politically incorrect without being so...mean? exclusive?
. . . . (Y)our column (seemed) to be hypocritical to me.
. . . . I think that a column in an all-level national art journal has a "pep talk" angle to it. Educate, goddess yes, but as a reader I expect a column to make it's point (in the brief format) but leave me wiser and...challenged? inspired? ...in some way. Maybe Mr. Hatfield <naea@dgs.dgsys.com> thinks along these lines.
4) YOUR VIEWPOINT GOES HERE!! Send to Caucus Coordinator <memme@ualberta.edu> or Newsletter editor <syokley@mtsu.edu>
Dennis' rebuttal:
. . . If I'd written a send-up of a Greek myth about Zeus, I suspect that (the writer) may not have taken offense. I'm tired of teachers who encourage impressionable students to accept as literally true such myths as those in Genesis. Our inability to laugh at such fables indicates that we too believe them. Such belief may help those whose lives would otherwise be directionless, and perhaps blind obedience to a deity's benevolent directives-'Love thy neighbor'-yields behavior more civil than that of a directionless life. However, such belief is fraught with problems--my need to point this out is what irks me. We're teachers--we're supposed to be past this. Anyway, such altruistic behavior is motivated, at least in part, by selfishness-'If Ilove my neighbors, my heavenly mansion will be the more beautiful.' Or, as I was taught in sunday school, for every dollar I place in the collection plate, I'll get 10 in heaven.
When we place belief in a deity above belief in ourselves, we replace our most important source of power with a lesser one. And for this belief to reach the point of worship, we must first accept a deity so anal retentive that it needs to be worshipped by beings as insignificant as we. Such insecurity flies in the face of the notion of omniscience and exposes our faith as mere arrogance.
Social theorist art teachers can help make a world in which we regard Biblical and other myths with healthy irreverence. Yahweh, Jesus, Zeus, Allah and the rest of the boys are timeworn recastings of a tiresome patriarchal mold. What better place to address these matters than in our profession's newspaper?
Our imperfection is not the issue. We can believe in our imperfect selves or in an imaginary superfriend. If we believe in a superfriend, a common next step is to embrace the comfortable notion that our friend has everything under control, to quote the bumper sticker. If one's faith is bumper-sticker thin, this does not mean 'The Truth is simple and plain,' as fundamentalists claim, but rather that we simply lack the tools to grasp life's layered complexities. . .
From dennis
The Caucus encourages freedom of speech!
!!Click here to tune in to The Rest of the Stories by Dennis!!
******MORE OPPORTUNITY FOR INVOLVEMENT*******
Hi, Everyone,
I just received this from Macarthur Goodwin (MAGOODWIN@aol.com), and found
very few social theorists among the addressees. This hands us an exceptional opportunity to shape our professional organization (with the added benefit of a national-level vita line).Best,
Dennis
_____________CALL FOR NOMINEES FOR THE NAEA CONVENTION PLANNING TASK FORCE
In pursuance of a motion approved by the NAEA Board of Directors to appoint a task force to study NAEA convention planning, I am making this final call for nominees to serve in this capacity. The Board recommended that at least three members of the committee be past NAEA Convention Program chairs. It is also important to have other voices represented on this task
force. Please email your recommendations to me ASAP.
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Request for Caucus Info for the NAEA Newsletter To have information published in the NAEA
Newsletter,
E-mail Dennis now with your NAEA News. We are one of NAEA's most active and vocal organizations, and the general membership deserves to be informed of our activities. Send your information to dennis.fehr@ttu.edu or School of Art, TTU, Box 42081, Lubbock, TX 79409-2081. |
Coordinator's Message, Mike Emme
NAEA News from the Caucus, Dennis Fehr
Journal of Social Theory in Art Education (JSTAE)
CSTAE Web site requests
Send Newsletter Electronic Submissions to: Shirley Hayes Yokley-Witzel
syokley@mtsu.edu
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