Why is the jazz community mostly aligned with the democratic party?

Coda · October-25th-2004, 01:12 PM

It's clear to me that most of the folks in the arts lean to the left. It's been this way ever since I can remember. Is there a reason why this is the case?

Please, don't hit me up with get Bush out, that is not the topic. Please?

shrugs · October-25th-2004, 01:26 PM

I don't really consider myself a democrat but I am not aligned with the Republican party because:
I am pro-choice(can't get pregnant as a man so who the fuck am I to tell a woman what she can or cannot do with her body).
I don't fall prey to the fear the 'pubs are putting into the non-thinking general population.
Reagan was fucking evil!
Lot's of republicans I know seem to have issues with diversity.
Bombing other countries so we can put fear into the rest of the world isn't exactly what I call nice.
Is the death penalty rehabilitating?
Who the fuck are we to decide who can marry each other?
And what about that crazy freaking 90's talk about how the woman's right movement destroyed marriages and lead to an increase in the divorce rate?

more to follow

Squaredancecalling Steve · October-25th-2004, 01:34 PM

Norman O Brown writes that "Art seduces us into the struggle against repression."

Ionesco writes: "An avant-garde man is like an enemy inside a city he is bent on destroying, against which he rebels; for like any system of government, an established form of expression is also a form of oppression."

So -- to the extent that the Democratic party is the party of change and liberation compared to the Republican (and that's debatable, of course) -- it seems to me a more natural natural fit for an artist.

clinthopson · October-25th-2004, 01:36 PM

Because the folks in the jazz community are smarter than the unwashed masses.

RBS · October-25th-2004, 01:37 PM

Art, creativity, open-mindedness, flexibility seem to be pretty anathema to the current Republican party's values and practices. They are rigid, inflexible, too certain of everything and dogmatic.

lynn · October-25th-2004, 01:55 PM

Being artistic requires a certain level of sensitivity and connectivity to a broad spectrum within ones environment.

The upside to this alllows the artist to communicate with their art. The downside is being subjected to all the negative input and it being amplified beyond what most of the population has become desensitized too.

Artists are the canaries in the coal mines.

tippy · October-25th-2004, 01:58 PM

Progressive productive vision versus reproduction of a past which reflects the interests of a select few to the hindrance of the community as a whole. Improvisation v. conservation.

stonemonkts · October-25th-2004, 01:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tippy

Progressive productive vision versus reproduction of a past which reflects the interests of a select few to the hindrance of the community as a whole. Improvisation v. conservation.

Can't you guys have ONE thread without references to Wynton Marsalis???

SHEESH

Coda · October-25th-2004, 02:01 PM

Of the four posts, I think SquareDancingSteve comes closest to expressing the why. I'm a bit confused with the liberation comment. Can you expand?

RBS - do you feel the same way looking back on all the past Republicans? You did say just the current admin (which I asked not be a part of this discussion) so I could interpret this as you don't have a clue why artists lean to the left. OK.

Shrugs - your response seems personal. I'm looking for a general overall reason.

Clint - Please refrain from posting in this topic, I don't want this to be about the current admin.

Sergio Zamora · October-25th-2004, 02:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coda

It's clear to me that most of the folks in the arts lean to the left. It's been this way ever since I can remember. Is there a reason why this is the case?

Your thread title is "Why is the jazz community mostly aligned with the democratic party?"

Maybe this may seem irrelevant to most, but these are two different questions. I am most definitely not 'aligned' or in any way support the democratic party. In fact, I think the best thing it could do is end itself.

shrugs · October-25th-2004, 02:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coda

Of the four posts, I think SquareDancingSteve comes closest to expressing the why. I'm a bit confused with the liberation comment. Can you expand?

RBS - do you feel the same way looking back on all the past Republicans? You did say just the current admin (which I asked not be a part of this discussion) so I could interpret this as you don't have a clue why artists lean to the left. OK.

Shrugs - your response seems personal. I'm looking for a general overall reason.

Clint - Please refrain from posting in this topic, I don't want this to be about the current admin.

Wouldn't any reason have at least an ounce of personal feeling in it?
Next time explain yourself more clearly.

lynn · October-25th-2004, 02:17 PM

Let me rephrase my comments.

If you have to ask you will never get it.

Coda · October-25th-2004, 02:22 PM

My apologies if I wasn't clear. I do realize that I have a challenge writing coherently. I also should have used the term liberal instead of referencing the democratic party.

I really liked what Lynn had to say - I can relate to how desensitized most of society is and how artists view the world differently. I think there is a lot of truth to this statement.

Tippy - I don't understand. Seriously.

shrugs · October-25th-2004, 02:23 PM

Isn't Alvin Fielder a Republican?

His drumming is some of my favorite that I have heard in a live setting.

Coda · October-25th-2004, 02:24 PM

MOSTLY shrugs. Not completely.

Lynn, I was with you until your last post.

Groovehigh · October-25th-2004, 02:26 PM

I don't think that the jazz community is mostly aligned with the democratic party.
Most in the community are voting democrats, because it is closer to them as the republican party.
You state two different questions - leaning to the "left" and align with the democratic party.

Jazz is progressive ( after all..),improvisational, complex, flexibel, tolerant and not "black & white". Also it's an art form which was also created as revolutionary force by a minority who fought for their right.
It's complex. And it is not as easy to tell what is "wrong" and "right" within the music as, say in classical music.
Often Republicans love to see "wrong and right", "black and white", "yes and no". Simple minded - which Jazz is not.

Darryl G. Thomas · October-25th-2004, 02:28 PM

Who's said the jazz "community" is mostly aligned with the Democrats? Has anyone taken a poll? It's clear that the majority of posters here lean towards the left. But we're just a small part of the community. It may be that some of the more conservative posters are afraid to make their views known or JC coud just be an anomaly.

Sergio Zamora · October-25th-2004, 02:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coda

I also should have used the term liberal instead of referencing the democratic party.

See, even liberal isn't equivalent to left and I wouldn't call myself a liberal. But your question was of the jazz community in general, and I suppose the majority would consider themselves liberals.

Groovehigh · October-25th-2004, 02:34 PM

left.......liberal........right

Groovehigh · October-25th-2004, 02:35 PM

how can you be a jazz musician and be narrow minded?

jesus marion joseph · October-25th-2004, 02:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Groovehigh

how can you be a jazz musician and be narrow minded?

At the risk of being kicked off of this thread, I would suggest that you could ask WM that question.

Squaredancecalling Steve · October-25th-2004, 03:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coda

I'm a bit confused with the liberation comment. Can you expand?

Even more than a natural alliance between artists and the left, I think there is a natural antipathy between artists and conservatives. The status quo itself -- political, cultural, social, economic -- is oppressive, and those who seek to maintain and strengthen it are the natural enemies of liberation. It's the particular gift of some artists to illuminate what is invisible to others, and that is always a threat to undermine the existing structures.

Coda · October-25th-2004, 03:06 PM

Come on guys, you're all mincing words. Left, liberal, democratic, progressive - these terms all carry similar connotations.

AAJ has a thread asking who will win the election, last time I looked it was showing 80% for Kerry. Organissimo is full of like minded individuals too.

You can look outside of jazz but within the artistic community and find much the same - photographers, painters, poets - in general (note I did not say entirely) hold the same views.

If you were to review the posts and posters in this forum you'll find a much higher percentage of people responding negatively to anything even remotely associated with the vast right consipiracy.

Darryl G. Thomas · October-25th-2004, 03:53 PM

Coda,

That's because the "vast right-wing conspiracy's" been very successful. Which perty has control of all three branches of government?

Maybe there's a difference between the way "leftist" brains and "rightist" brains work?

If you believe the stereotypes, the leftist brain is more appreciative of "nuance". If so, will that allow you to think outside of the box, to appreciate a music like jazz which isn't played much on TV and radio and has to be searched out instead of being offered easily by todays culture? A form of art that is not "normal" by today's standards? You may have to be a non-comformist to dig jazz.

The problem with my last sentence is that I think the modern conservative movement is non-conformist in itself. They're certainly offering radical changes in the way we use military force or view the welfare state. So they are going against the staus quo in many areas of America life.

mke · October-25th-2004, 04:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coda

Come on guys, you're all mincing words. Left, liberal, democratic, progressive - these terms all carry similar connotations.

Not at all. In Europe, a liberal is a right-winger and the Left includes Communist Parties.

Coda · October-25th-2004, 04:04 PM

I read somewhere that folks who are good in music are also good in math. Are you sure that music comes from the left side of the brain?

Mke - you obviously understood my question or you wouldn't have given that answer.

Do you all hate me because I'm not voting for Kerry? It sure comes across this way to me.

Chris D · October-25th-2004, 04:09 PM

Don't take disagreement for hatred.

Enforcer · October-25th-2004, 04:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris D

Don't take disagreement for hatred.

tippy · October-25th-2004, 04:17 PM

Coda, I don't hate you. I'm not getting that from others on the thread either. I think it's a good question and one's that left-leaners like.

I heard recently that the left-right brain theories were being debunked. (Not a put down, just wondered if anyone had anything recent to add.)

Coda, SQDC's last post got to the point I was trying to make earlier (in too few words).

Enforcer · October-25th-2004, 04:20 PM

Which side of our brain is linked to our genitals, anyway? That side of my brain seems to be pretty strong.