by Ben Spatz
Being aware of money is very different from being addicted to money. There is this thing that happens in capitalism where money gets reified as a quintessential good, in other words people forget that money is only good for giving away. I need to unbrainwash myself of that.
My real problem with Mark Taylor's speech was that he accepted the cultural logic of capitalism which says that money is the essential factor underlying all relations. He said that he can't take scholars seriously when they bash businessmen (sic), because businessmen and the stock market are what supports the universities that pay the scholars their salaries. What he did NOT say is that you can't take businessmen seriously when they say that the arts and humanities are luxuries and not useful or necessary, because artists and scholars are the ones who craft the mythologies and aesthetic systems by which the businessmen live their lives.
What Taylor said assumed that the true relation between artists and
businessmen is based on their fiscal relationship. This is bullshit. The TRUE
relationship goes both ways. We do NOT have to accept that money is the
essential factor underlying everything, and that art can only exist if it
produces money. ART DOES NOT HAVE TO MAKE MONEY. It only has to make money if we
completely accept the cultural logic of capitalism. I think that would be a
stupid, stupid thing to do and it would lead to a lot of misery. We must resist.