Dissing "Cancel Culture": Weimer slams "egocentric activist uproar"
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Warnings issued on the potential dangers of an 'eco-socialist activist mentality' - Weimer expresses opposition to the "culture of indignation rooted in eco-socialism"
Wolfram Weimer, a German Minister of State for Culture, has fiercely denounced meddling with artistic freedom. In a piece published in the "Süddeutsche Zeitung", Weimer lashes out at the intrusive ideologies pushing us into what he calls an oppressive "cancel culture." The latest example? A Venus statue being eliminated from a Berlin authority, thanks to accusations of sexism.
"It's not a stretch to call this a demonstration of cultural illiteracy," wrote Weimer. A simplistic view that female nudity equals sexism and should be expunged from public spaces seems reminiscent of France's Jacobin iconoclasm. "Its 21st-century counterpart, the social media mob, is now part of the radical feminist, postcolonial, eco-socialist egocentric activist uproar."
"Left-wing hyperbole"
Reports indicate that the bronze statue of Venus Medici was removed from Berlin's Federal Office for Central Services and Open Property (BADV). A tip-off from an equal opportunities officer at the authority sparked the removal, according to "Bild."
"Under the influence of left-wing hysteria, it seems that precautionary conformity and linguistic policing are the go-to strategies," wrote Weimer. "But right-wing and right-wing extremist cultural militancy isn't free of dogmatism either." He points to a Florida teacher fired for exhibiting Michelangelo's nude David to her students as an example.
"People are being treated as if they need a nanny"
"Both left-wing and right-wing fanatics don't trust the freedom of art or the discernment of the public to make their own decisions without constraints," the Minister of State for Culture wrote. Adding, "When the arts are given a sacred, revolutionary status, not only are artists silenced, but much more significantly, the audience is patronized."
Weimer's liberal stance emphasizes political intervention to uphold, not obstruct, artistic freedom. "It should be about expanding the boundaries of what can be said, examined, and represented, rather than narrowing them."
Weimer previously expressed concern about the risks of a global cultural war. Not just in neonationalist autocracies like China or Russia, but also in the West.
- Wolfram Weimer
- Egocentric activist uproar
- Berlin
- Intrusiveness
- SZ
- Wolfram Weimer, the German Minister of State for Culture, criticizes the "egocentric activist uproar" for its intrusiveness, citing the removal of Venus Medici statue in Berlin as an example, pointing out that such actions are reminiscent of France's Jacobin iconoclasm and are part of the radical feminist, postcolonial, eco-socialist activation.
- In the piece published in SZ, Wolfram Weimer expresses the concern that both left-wing and right-wing fanatics don't trust the freedom of art or the discernment of the public, arguing that they tend to silence artists and patronize the audience when the arts are given a sacred, revolutionary status, advocating instead for an expansion of what can be said, examined, and represented in the arts.
