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PaperclipPerfector  1yr ago (text post)   31726 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of July 24, 2023

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Specifically when they say "democratic", one should of course not interpret that to mean "what the people want". Whether something is democratic needs to be judged by the properly educated few. "Democratic" here refers to the post-WWII first world system as opposed to fascism and Nazism. "Without nostalgia" means rejection of national romanticism which is seen to have led to Nazism and fascism.

How do you know that?

While I don't disagree that there are people who have in the past (and likely in the present) see it as their duty to override democratic consensus in the cultural sphere, I don't think their use of the word "democratic" is a reflection of that. I think they are more referring to the idea that architecture is a diverse field, so "everyone" is getting a vote.

I think this reserved unremarkable architecture is supposed to be a sort of repentance, a civilizational fasting on beauty. That humanity doesn't deserve that sort of stuff, since it emboldens them too much in their pride. Flaming those grandiose passions is seen as too dangerous, again since it has correlated with the Nazi and fascist regimes. Too much focus on what's beautiful seems like a slippery slope towards then also trying to decide which humans are worthy/beautiful enough to allow to exist, and to eugenics and so on.

They do not hate beauty, they want to force people to be awake. To jar the senses and force people out of a perceived dream. That dream is national pride and everything associated with it.

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