Pamela Geller, American Thinker: Fight for Art! Music! Love!

It's why I do what I do ...............all the way.

Here's an excerpt from my latest at the Thinker

Fight for Art, Music, Love!

"Art is a selective re-creation of reality according to an artist's metaphysical value-judgments. An artist recreates those aspects of reality which represent his fundamental view of man's nature."

The fundamental view of man's nature reflected in American films of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s was noble, just, and courageous. Gone with the Wind was made was 1939. ‘39 was the apex, the zenith, of the golden age of Hollywood. The thirties, forties, and fifties boast a treasure trove of classic, brilliant film masterpieces, but ‘39 was unmatched. Movie historians and cinemaphiles alike agree that 1939 was the greatest year in film history. Consider the exceptional Dark Victory, Ninotchka, Rules of the Game, The Wizard of Oz, The Young Mr. Lincoln, Love Affair, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Juarez, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, Destry Rides Again, Gunga Din, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Of Mice and Men, Stagecoach, The Women, Wuthering Heights, and Gone With the Wind -- all made that year.

When America was America, films like these were made in large quantities. Rita Hayworth, Humphrey Bogart, Cagney, Ingrid Bergman, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Cyd Charisse, Ava Gardner, Sophia Loren, Deborah Kerr, Cary Grant, Robert Mitchum, Paul Muni, John Garfield, Hedy Lamar, Gene Tierney, Taylor, Burton, Vivien Leigh, Laughton, James Mason, Marlene Dietrich -- I derive succor from these people the way the folks on the Left pop meds.

This is why I do what I do. Islamic law forbids representational art. It forbids music. With its laws allowing polygamy and wife-beating, it forbids love. And these are the kinds of laws they are trying to bring in to Europe and America today, right under our noses.

And so that is why I fight: for art, music, and love.

Read it all.

Comments

[armaros]

This is a great piece about what Pamela refers to in comparing today's cinema to "yesteryears"

Though the article talks mostly about British Television content failing to depict reality with such naked contempt that it turns into outright slander of bigotry, the references to Hollywood are still apt and the warning is implied that the US is also on its way to self hate in its appeasement of Islam and a culture where villains must be depicted as "us" vs "them".

http://www.standpointmag.co.uk/node/2533/full

[Sarastro]

Pamela, you are so right. Mohammed hated music and at the sound of a flute or a voice singing, would cover his ears. There is no music in a mosque, Osama bin Laden allowed no music in his house in Saudi Arabia and all music in Afghanistan, even folk songs, were forbidden, to create a "pure" Islam. Mohammed also hated poets and had a famous one whipped for writing about Aisha's little affair with another man --- The Shiites believe she was untrue but the Sunnis are sure there was nothing to this story. Mohammed at first was furious [Caesar's wife must be above suspicion] but he took her back. He also hated sculptures, no reproduction was allowed to be made of any living thing [only Allah was allowed to make living things]
so if the Taliban have their way, the Taj Mahal will have to be destroyed because it has flowers chiseled into its walls [strictly forbidden] and besides it is a building erected to glorify a woman very much loved by her husband --- it is not Islamic to dedicate memorials to women, and it is not Islamic to love women and show it. The statues of Buddha had to be blown up, first of all because they were made in human form, and secondly they arose out of a religion that was not Isalm, and of course, as everybody knows, Islam is the only valid religion.

[Sarastro]

Then of course the pyramids would have to be blown up, as they represent a religion other than Islam, and the Gothic cathedrals and all churches, Hindu and Shinto temples and all the temples in China, and the holy places of the Australian aborigines, and Greek temples and statues --- everything not Islamic must disappear from the earth.
The great German philosopher and poet Johann von Goethe said:
"Whoever does not love music does not deserve to be called a human being;
whoever only loves it, is only half a human being; but whoever makes music is a whole human being." So, Mohammed does not deserve to be called a human being.

[Sarastro]

The ancient Egyptians and Moslems both have an obsession with death and think about what they'll do after they're dead. Moslems don't enjoy life and hate and kill those who do [think of the holidayers on Bali]. But the Greeks turned their full face to the joy of life. The Greeks were the first people in the world to play, and they played on a grand scale. All over Greece there were games and athletic contests of every description: horse races, boat races, foot races, torch races; contests in music, in dancing, games where men leaped in and out of flying chariots. We have sculptures of the discus thrower, the charioteer, the wrestling boys, the dancing flute players. Then there were the great games, the Olympics --- there were four that came at prescribed times, and they were so important that a truce of God was called allowing all of Greece to attend without fear. Triumphant generals would cede pride of place to an Olympic victor. To rejoice in life, to find the world beautiful and delightful to live in was a hallmark of the Greek spirit.
Comedy was a Greek invention, extolling the mad, rollicking, irresponsible fun, the verve and vitality and exhuberance of the Greeks, overflowing with the energy of life. So, in Egypt there was a tomb, in Greece there was a theater. This is the counter-pendulum to the death wish of modern day Moslem fanatics, who believe the fairy-story that in the next world they will have stupendous sex-orgies in paradise as an award for killing a lot of innocent people in this world.
In strict Moslem familis, a woman is not allowed to laugh --- to laugh is not Islamic. Neither is a woman in a strict Moslem family allowed to sing a song or write a poem because then she would be revealing her thoughts and emotions, and only her husband is allowed to know her thoughts and emotions --- ti reveal them to anyone else is considered infidelity and she can be killed. A case in point: In the Afghan town of Herat, a highly praised poetess named nadia Anjuman published a collection of her poems called "Dark Red Flower". Her husband then beat her to death, in spite of the fact that they had a six-month old daughter. A UN spokesman said the death of Nadia Anjuman was indeed tragic and a great loss to Afghanistan. I suppose her husband was jealous because he couldn't write a poem and her fame in literarty circles made him feel unimportant. And the man must always be more important than the woman. I doubt he was punished, they will say he did what he had to do to protect his honor.

[Sarastro]

And our American film industry developed on its own, by some timid, curious geniuses discovering bit by bit how to do it. There was no government interference, strictly private enterprize. The directors at first were just called traffic directors, and then the personalities started to develop. Also Broadway and the great actors and playwrights. And the musicals --- that exclusive American invention. How very much the Jewish immigrants contributed to our Broadway accomplishment --- Kaufmann and Hart, and My Fair Lady --- the result of two Jewish geniuses collaborating with G. B. Shaw [it was said that it couldn't be done, but they did it and it has never been topped. And "Oklahoma" and "Showboat" and "Annie Get Your Gun", etcetera --- all American themes and no nudity. Now there's no genius and no substance but a lot of nudity. This is due to the Communist plan to ruin American decency. It used to be, when a boy wanted to ask a girl out, he would take her to the movies. Now the vulgar uncensored shocking stuff that's shown is embarassing and not entertaining --- the result of the Hollywood take-over by the destructive forces wanting to destroy the goodness and wholesomeness that is ridiculed by Alinsky and Ayers who make decent people think they are squares and it's much more chic and macho to deceive your wife --- everybody's doing it and if you ndon't, you're just not modern and with it. So, Pamela, bring on the old films, they're the best, they're an example of what people who are free and moral can accomplish without government meddling. That government governs best that governs least.

[Sarastro]

How could I have forgoten to mention "Kiss Me Kate"? Love that ol Willie Shakespeare.

[Timur]

Yes. Fight for all that is islam is NOT.
Right.
Truth.
Equality.
Justice.
Democracy.

But how much chance do we truly have as long as we have people in high places in government who take the oath:
"I do hereby, upon this Bible, and on the mysterious legend of the Koran, and its dedication to the Mohammedan faith, promise and swear and vow … that I will never reveal any secret part or portion whatsoever of the ceremonies … and now upon this sacred book, by the sincerity of a Moslem's oath I here register this irrevocable vow … in willful violation whereof may I incur the fearful penalty of having my eyeballs pierced to the center with a three-edged blade, my feet flayed and I be forced to walk the hot sands upon the sterile shores of the Red Sea until the flaming sun shall strike me with livid plague, and may Allah, the god of Arab, Moslem and Mohammedan, the god of our fathers, support me to the entire fulfillment of the same. Amen. Amen. Amen."
If anyone puts an oath to Freemasonry, Shriners, allah and Mohammed and the koran above God and country they should be hung by the neck until dead and then given a fair trial...

[Sarastro]

Pamela, you mentioned Marlene Dietrich, I have such a lovely story about her whic appeared in the magazine Denkendorfer Kreis fuer Christlich-Judische Begegnung:
In June 1960 Marlene popped up un an Israeli youth village, where a little boy asked "Who is this old woman"? Nearly all Israelis could have answered this question because Marlene was well known and extremely popular. In spite of dazzling offers by the propaganda minister Goebbels to make films in Germany, she preferred to remain in Hollywood. She first came back to Germany in 1944 to entertain the troops of George Patton's Third Army in spite of the danger of being captured by the Wehrmacht and murdered. For this reason she was thought of as an enemy in the BRD. Just before her trip to Israel Marlene visited West Germany and was slandered by the press and the public as a "traitor". That was enough for her to be greeted in Israel with honors.
Marlene had made a condition of her visit to Israel that she could sing for the soldiers and meet Moshe Dayan. She gave the profits from her first conceert to a Reha-center of the army, and that in the arabian press her films were boycotted raised her popularity even more.

[Sarastro]

The audience cried, cheered and loudly demanded for her to sing songs from the Weimar Republic. She was the first artist who sang in the German language on Israerli territory, at the wish of her fans, even the army's hit "Lili Marlene". Just previously songs by the Jewish composer Gustave Mahler were not allowed to be sung in German in Israel.
At her last concert, Dietrich sang a song in the Hebrew language and received a half-hour ovation. She said: "I wish I could belong to you and be able to live in this wonderful land".
Six years later, Marlene Dietrich visited Israel again. Once again she was greeted with open arms and treated almost as a state guest [Staatsgast].
The newspaper Ha'aretz printed her picture on one whole side, and Teddy Kolek, loed mayor of Jerusalem asked her fort an autograph for his son who was serving in a tank unit in the army. Of course Marlene complied.

She said that the most beautiful thing about Israel was the eyes of the children. "I have been to many countries, but I never saw such beautiful children's eyes".

[Buster]

Wow, it's hard to follow Sarastro (and I mean that in the best way possible, Sarastro)

Pamela, I just wanted to say that I would NEVER have made that 'connection' even though I already had all the 'knowledge'.

That was a very well written article ... Could be an 'award winner'. My only problem was that you didn't work Obama into it ... lol.

Keep doing what you're doing Lady.

[Buster]

Back when Amerika was America ... that is SO true.

If 1939 was America's apex, then people who were in their teens on up at that point in time, were members of what I have always referred to as "The Greatest Generation".

My father was of that generation. He served in the Pacific during WWII.

I was born in 1949, but my father instilled in me duty to country ... heck, even the public schools back then did the same. We prayed in school, said yes ma'am/ no ma'am ... the whole nine yards.

Then, in the mid sixties ... it started going down hill. America started changing.

That's when the socialists really started to make significant inroads into our Public and Educational Institutions.

So, I guess it's MY generation that let America down. We let down our guard ... we weren't vigilant!!!

But I solemnly pledge right now ... to do whatever is within my means and abilities to prevent them from finishing their 'plan'.

More later ...