[-empyre-] art and ethics

Sat Jan 23 09:43:42 EST 2010

Your point is well taken.  However, I find your statement somewhat  
opaque: "But the thing is, u hv to ask why a special amendment isn't  
required to guarantee the basic rights of regular Americans."

On Jan 22, 2010, at 1:58 PM, Jun-Ann Lehman wrote:

> Perhaps the reasons for introducing the 14th amendment were flawed.  
> Freed slaves shouldn't hv needed to be singled out as a separate  
> entity requiring basic rights if they had been regarded as a part of  
> the mainstream post -constitutional American population in the first  
> place.
>
> If the 14th amendment was challenged, it could solve a lot of  
> problems. The thing is, no one would dare because it guarantees  
> basic rights for freed slaves. But the thing is, u hv to ask why a  
> special amendment isn't required to guarantee the basic rights of  
> regular Americans. Freed slaves should hv been regarded as Americans  
> protected by the American constitution. Perhaps that's what the 14th  
> amendment should hv sought to achieve - the INCLUSION of freed  
> slaves, not their exclusion.
>
> jun-ann lehman___ junann at junann.com ___+61 410 506 559___
>
> On 23/01/2010, at 7:44, Gerry Coulter <gcoulter at ubishops.ca> wrote:
>
>> Not to worry Christiane -- Americans will continue to get the  
>> politicians they deserve (as do we all)
>>
>> best
>>
>> gerry
>> From: empyre-bounces at gamera.cofa.unsw.edu.au [empyre-bounces at gamera.cofa.unsw.edu.au 
>> ] On Behalf Of Christiane Robbins [cpr at mindspring.com]
>> Sent: January 22, 2010 12:20 PM
>> To: soft_skinned_space
>> Subject: Re: [-empyre-] art and ethics
>>
>> Actually, I find the unleashing of corporatist art to be among the  
>> very least of worries as a result of yesterday's ruling.
>>
>> I'm certain that others can offer a far more delineated and  
>> informed accounting.  However, in the interim, for those of you  
>> unfamiliar with this stunning ruling ( some are referring to it as  
>> a coup ) from January 21, the US Supreme Court basically has  
>> overtly transformed our democracy to that of an oligarchy - all  
>> under the aegis of the guaranteed right of free speech to all "  
>> individuals , " including "corporate personhood."
>>
>> Specifically, and in abbreviated form, the Fourteenth Amendment to  
>> the US Constitution was created at the conclusion of the Civil War  
>> granting basic rights to freed slaves.  Since that point in time it  
>> has often been utilized by attorneys representing corporate  
>> interests to extend additional rights to businesses far more  
>> frequently than to freed slaves. Prior to 1886, corporations were  
>> referred to in U.S. law as "artificial persons." However, in 1886,  
>> after a series of cases brought by lawyers representing the  
>> expanding railroad interests, the Supreme Court ruled that  
>> corporations were "persons" and entitled to the same rights granted  
>> to people under the Bill of Rights. Since this ruling, the States  
>> have lost the legal structures that allowed for people to control  
>> corporate behavior.  In other words, corporations came to acquire  
>> rights reserved for individual citizens.
>>
>> The US Supreme Court ruled yesterday that corporations (and unions,  
>> lest they not be counted!) now have no limits on their financing  
>> political campaigns to any political campaign or candidate.   
>> Connecting the dots is rather a simple task in this situation.  And  
>> this was all done to ensure free speech...
>>
>> I'm hoping that  others can parse this issue for a better  
>> understanding -
>>
>> Chris
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Jan 22, 2010, at 8:26 AM, Timothy Murray wrote:
>>
>>>> Nick, could you explain your reference to the recent Supreme Court
>>>> ruling to our -empyre- community, since a major proportion of our
>>>> -empyreans- live outside the US?  I'm also wondering why you think
>>>> that a ruling regarding political lobbying (if this is what you're
>>>> referencing) would unleash a genre of corporatist art.
>>>
>>> Thanks so much.
>>>
>>> Tim
>>>
>>>> international participants...but how to de-link these states seems
>>>> impenetrable - like the recent Supreme Court ruling that will
>>>> certainly unleash a whole new genre of freely circulating
>>>> corporatist art, no?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> nick
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> From: Johanna Drucker <drucker at gseis.ucla.edu>
>>>> To: jhaber at haberarts.com; soft_skinned_space <empyre at gamera.cofa.unsw.edu.au 
>>>> >
>>>> Sent: Mon, January 11, 2010 8:12:46 PM
>>>> Subject: Re: [-empyre-] empyre Digest, Vol 62, Issue 13
>>>>
>>>> John,
>>>>
>>>> Much different. I agree.
>>>>
>>>> I do want to make a space for art that is not tasked with being the
>>>> moral conscience of the culture too.
>>>>
>>>> Johanna
>>>>
>>>> On Jan 11, 2010, at 4:09 PM, John Haber wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> The analogy to rebranding is very interesting indeed, in an  
>>>>> excellent
>>>>> post.  Let me ask more about it, though.  Now, to me it's only an
>>>>> analogy, and of course whatever venting we may wish to have about
>>>>> torture and Israeli policy aren't instantly illuminating  
>>>>> regarding art
>>>>> except as a kind of red flag.  (Hey, there's injustice in the
>>>>> world, so
>>>>> don't let it happen in this realm.)  Indeed, it could actually
>>>>> disguise
>>>>> the problem, by suggesting distinct realms after all, which the  
>>>>> whole
>>>>> problematic of complicity in art is supposed to question.  Thus,  
>>>>> my
>>>>> question would be this:  if the political analogy is silence, then
>>>>> does
>>>>> that open possibilities for art, in which making visible is part  
>>>>> of
>>>>> the
>>>>> game?  Now, I realize that acknowledging something, as argued  
>>>>> well,
>>>>> doesn't make it go away.  But it's still different from silence.
>>>>>
>>>>> John
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> empyre forum
>>>>> < 
>>>>> mailto:empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au>empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
>>>>> <http://www.subtle.net/empyre>http://www.subtle.net/empyre
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> empyre forum
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>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> empyre forum
>>>> empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
>>>> http://www.subtle.net/empyre
>>>
>>>
>>> -- 
>>> Timothy Murray
>>> Director, Society for the Humanities
>>> http://www.arts.cornell.edu/sochum/
>>> Curator, The Rose Goldsen Archive of New Media Art, Cornell Library
>>> http://goldsen.library.cornell.edu
>>> Professor of Comparative Literature and English
>>> A. D. White House
>>> Cornell University
>>> Ithaca, New York 14853
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> empyre forum
>>> empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
>>> http://www.subtle.net/empyre
>>
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