Beauty is a Path to Resistance: The Politics of Music and History

Notice: This post is overtly and blatantly political. It is only partly about my harmonium restoration. If you're living in the land of MAGA you may not want to read this. Then again, maybe you should. 

Those who are following my restoration of a late 1840's Alexandre harmonium, made in France, know that it has been a very involved process, with every tiny part disassembled, parts cleaned and replaced as necessary, in order to bring this rare instrument back to life. Here's the real reason I'm doing this. Two parts:

1) I have worked on restoration projects all of my life. When I was very young my father introduced me to the world of taking something that was broken and bringing it back to functional use. I've been doing it since with musical instruments, books, furniture, you name it. It's a rescue of things from the past that still have meaningful value. But here's what underlies this today:  I am sharing updates of my restoration project on Facebook, in reed organ groups and also my personal page, as a way of sharing the process that will bring this rare, glorious instrument to full functioning. Despite Meta's changes, Facebook is still a valuable forum. I do not plan to leave it, even with the changes, because I am in many interest groups that I value. And, I do not shy away from expressing my opinion on any given subject.

2) I am livid, angry beyond words, about what the Trump administration is doing to dismantle anything of value in our country. The tariffs on products from Canada, Mexico, and China, with threats of more to come, do more than harm our own economy. They damage our relationship with those countries. Trump's nationalistic, isolationist bent would have us withdraw from the world and let it fall to pieces. We need those relationships with other countries. What happens when down the road, we need the assistance of Mexico or Canada? Are they going to be as willing to respond? I need to keep busy with something meaningful as an outlet for my anger and frustration.

This particular activity is, for me, an act of defiance. I'm sure that Trump and his cronies expect us to be quiet little drones and allow them to bulldoze all that is beautiful and worthwhile in this country.

With any political change, my biggest question is always "who is going to be hurt?" What we're seeing is a regime that is bent on hurting lots of people, trampling over them in an attempt to codify white male rage.

 

 

Beauty is a path to resistance. I refuse to live my life devoid of beauty and singularity. We are ruled by a regime that wants to rob those of us who dare to be individuals of the things that give us joy. No, I don't expect that we will be forced to live in anonymous concrete apartment buildings such as might be seen in North Korea. But I do expect that every effort will be made to silence voices that want to offer an alternative to the dumbed down, anti-intellectual morass that keeps difficult people at bay. Uneducated, uninformed, factually illiterate people who get their news from far right media such as Fox News, Newsmax, and other outlets will be more obedient than people like me who refuse the Kool Aid. We have to work hard to preserve and promote beauty, beauty in art but also beauty in life. The range of ideas and people in this country is a thing of beauty. I don't understand it all, and never will. But that doesn't mean it can't exist. 

We are now ruled by a regime that sees greed as a positive value, and is working to reinforce the support of greed as a force for good--good for the greedy, that is. Of course, the smokescreen that half of this country has drunk the Kool Aid, fully expecting that their grocery prices will come down significantly and gas will be cheaper than ever. They were fooled. The changes made so far have brought about only turmoil. The recent freezing of government grants, even though it lasted only a couple of days, is hurting a lot of people. Half of the states in the country stopped payments related to medical and economic assistance. That is hurting people, but the people at the top are untouched and unconcerned. They don't care because they know they don't have to.

The cancellation of diversifying the federal work force, and the buyout offer, has traumatized them. Of course. That's the intent. They don't know what's going to happen day to day. If anything goes wrong, it's the fault of the DEI people. "DEI" here is code language for anyone who is not white, male, and has no disabilities. Perhaps the most chilling aspect of the current regime is the refusal to acknowledge the value of all people in this country, not just some.

A number of people have been avidly following my restoration of my harmonium, and I'm happy to oblige with regular updates and blog entries. It is a very small effort to counteract the ugliness that has our country in a tight, regressive, destructive grip.

My harmonium was built during a time of political turmoil in France. Louis Philippe, the "Citizen King," was still in power but would soon be toppled in the Revolutions of 1848 which swept across Europe and altered the geopolitical landscape. Somebody during that time had this instrument in their parlor and played music while the turmoil raged outside. It has survived the deterioration caused by age and the reversible damage done by a bumbling restorer 40 years ago. It will soon be an object of beauty again, not only to look at but to play. 

I refuse to give in. I will continue to read what I damned well please. My faith informs my ability to choose what I am going to believe. The advantage I have, though, is privilege. I am a retired, cisgender white man. I have much more privilege than many others. I will not face the discrimination that people of color will experience, however. I can use my privilege to raise up issues when I see them and will do so.

I refuse to give in.