Figure 1.--Mexico's Diego Riverra was one of the most powerful artits of the 20th century. This is the cental portion of the recreation of the the mural he painted in 1933 for Rockefeller Center in New York City. It was to be entitled 'Man at the Crossroads Looking with Hope and High Vision to the Choosing of a New and Better Future'. Riverra depicted a war-mongering, degerte capitlism to the left and and an ethical vigorous socialsm to the right. It is unquestionably a powerful work. The only problem was that it fundamentally false. It was as the soccialist totakitarians (Hitler and Stalin) that launched World War II as a joint enterprise and created poverty-ridden socities while it was the capitalit liberal denocracies that not only defended Western civilization but created free, prosperous economies. Click on the image for an enargement, but the left and right wings are not avialable. It should be recalled, for example, that at the time Riverra painted 'Man at the crossroads', Stalin had starved to death 6-10 million Ukranian peasants and had launched the Great Terror. Not only is none of this depicted by Riverra, but the impression on both sides is the polar opposite of reality. Click on the image to see an enlargement of the central pannel. Or cllick here to see the entire recreated work.

There is no doubt what the artistic community thinks out capitalism. This includes just about except as far as we can tell dance. We see this in art (graphic arts), painting), drama, literature, movies (film nd TV), and music (song). We are not entirely sure why this is. The omly think we can think of is thst the ideology of sociology is so much more appealing than thst of capitalism. How nice it would be if everyone had a nice home, all they wanted to eat, warm clothing, free effective medical care, a clean environment, access to quality education, and all the baubles of modern life that we have come to expect. And it is so easy to depict a greedy capitalist and grasping banker when children are hungary or unable to aford needed clothing. A popular target is a corporate executive responsible for pollution or corupt practices. The only problem with all of this is that capitalism works and socialsm has left an unambiguous record of abject failure. In short, capitalism creates wealth. Socialism destroys wealth. countries when people live in nice houses, wearing trendy clothing, eat the best (where obesity is the big problem), have the best health care, and live in the cleanest environmnts are not socialist countries, but countries with vibrant private sectors. And it is the countries with large, powerful banks that are rich and those without a modern banking system that are poor. And wholly ignored by the artitic community, the greatest enviromental nightmakes ever created are the work of socialst state corporatins and governmrnt policies, not the work of greedy capitalits. Despite the clear history of capitalist success and soicilist failure, the artistic community constantly depicts cpitalism in the bleakest possible terms. Because socialism has been such a failure, the artistic community has been somewht constrained in their depictions of socialism. Of course there is the depictions from Communidt countries like happy peasahts in the Soviet Union, produced while the NKVD was starving Ukranian peasants. While restrained by the failures of socialism, artists undo themselves in depicting the failure of capitalism and not uncommonly the non-existent sucesses of socialism. It should be recalled, for example, that at the time Riverra painted 'Man at the crossroads' here, Stalin had starved to death 6-10 million Ukranian peasants and had launched the Great Terror. None of this is depicted by Riverra.

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Created: 2:09 PM 12/16/2014
Last updated: 7:17 PM 12/17/2014