Art and Humanities: A Degrading Condition - Essay Example

Art and Humanities: A Degrading Condition In this world full of complexities, there are several things that mustnot be lost. I do believe that an education that benefits humanity is the most important thing after all since education is something that cannot be taken away or robbed from an individual. The arts and humanities are vital and relevant for every human in this world. Throughout this study of the course, I have felt a strong and deep connection to the arts. They are meaningful and creative; imaginative and astounding. The art that I have appreciated the most is the Divine Comedy of Dante that I have searched thoroughly as well. This is of Italian origin and speaks about the intricacies that surround the human condition (Petsko 2). These works of the Italians tell something about their culture. They value relations between the human and the society with them. Together with it, there is an association of different cultures all packed in to the Divine comedy; something to be regarded as a hybrid that becomes a new level of critical analysis for the society (Papastergiadis 40). Cultures are diverse and they are very colourful since it speaks about identity of every individual. However, one thing to consider in modern world now, especially in America is that arts start to become a burden and its relevance is deteriorating in the context of the modern American society since universities now starts to do cost cutting on the arts and humanities (Petsko 1). This is now a sad situation that I really abhor. The world now becomes a business place and through globalization, America starts to be so hegemonic and homogeneous (Steger 82). This made art a commodity only for entertainment and art as an education becomes a burden (Petsko 1). America now starts to be so insensitive about the importance of arts and humanities for the development of an individual. The ruling elite have started to impose their wants and greediness at the cost of people’s welfare, which later on, disvalues democracy (Nussbaum 6). With this condition, democracy, as of the moment is already deteriorating. The freedom of an individual is suppressed; an individual is exploited due to the strong imposition of globalization and the ruling elite towards the society. Different priorities happen. Welfare over profit becomes the mode of most societies nowadays (Petsko 1). Cost cutting occurs and the irrelevant ones affected especially the arts. However, the American society now, due to globalization, has become so unappreciative of the arts and undermining its value (Nussbaum 8). Curriculums are changed to be so responsive to the profit driven world that constantly robs the people of the society their right to a decent living (Petsko 1 and Steger 75). Given this case, why did the Americans start to shun out other cultures and view them as not that relevant to the conditions of America now? Globalization is the answer. Globalization starts to exert a hegemonic in all forms especially culture especially in terms of the popular (Steger 81). Even if we say that culture is something intrinsic and relevant to one particular group or society, they have been undermines by these hegemonies. Hybrid then becomes a form of resistance (Papastergiadis 49). This becomes a strong that can at least sustain the field of arts and humanities in other countries present in the world though I always put into consideration that even if this resistance is indeed plausible, it still cannot exert a very strong condition for it to prevent the diminishing value that the arts and humanities, ultimately culture in its totality, cannot be regarded as strong enough. In the present wave of occurrence, I somehow detest the political moves of the America in the global arena since they are regarded to be one of the strongest forces that uphold globalization. This something that I do not really like at all because globalization then becomes a tool for America to be undemocratic and inconsiderate of other cultures which could be a reflection of an ironic situation. The irony I am referring to here is the assertion of America about democracy but they have fully lived out the principles and practices that are vital to it. Respect is crucial for democracy and the condition now shows that democracy deteriorates because the foundation in the arts and humanities that propagated this idea becomes an absurd thing to be dealt with in the current situation of the society (Nussbaum 10). Probably, the stereotypes of America about other cultures is that they are not fit to the American society that could probably be the reason why they have implemented actions in lined with globalization in a harsh manner so that they can emphasize their supremacy at the cost of undermining democracy. This is just an opinion about the matter but this really affects me so much that why do we have to remove arts and humanities that can give us a good deal to understand other cultures and prevent harsh practices like racism. I am assuming that such kind of move is an act of racism itself that is based upon cultures. Even if these cultures are relatively different, there are still values that I think spans across all cultures. Abolishing the other culture-related courses in the paradigm of education is an act of hatred. This hatred then becomes a violation to the respect being promulgated by democracy (Nussbaum 6). This is something that I cannot tolerate now in the world. Abuses occur on the workforce; overworked, underpaid, exploited. Education becomes a commodity. Critics of government are executed. These things happen throughout the world that believes in democracy yet democracy now is just an ideal that is constantly violated and underestimated. The business world has done this. Elite capitalist have amassed the wealth of the world at the cost of harsh laborious conditions. Globalization is a trend that cannot be battled in my opinion. People find it hard to reason out since they have focused too much on business and have forgotten that the arts and humanities could at least provide with critical thinking that is necessary in the world now to prevent these problems present in the world whether it be on a small scale or on a large scale (Nussbaum 7). Government could then at least do something about this. However, their policies are not meant to be protective but abusive and exploitive of humans; the people whom the government must serve and advance the interest and welfare of the people under its jurisdiction for the common good (Henry 381). The worst part is the government is the one who has undermined the values of the arts and humanities as well. As seen in the situation of certain universities nowadays, humanities are underfunded which could led to it abolition (Petsko 1). This is a very sad situation for me. If I really want to be educated, I want to be a holistic one despite of having an interest to a certain field. What is important is that all the capabilities and faculties of an individual be developed so that there will be more initiative to think critically upon the issues of our society. That is something that humanities and the arts can provide. If have not acquired certain knowledge about arts and humanities, there will definitely be chaos in my mind about how I will understand the people and the institutions around me. What could be possibly worst is that I might not fully understand them and provide humane sensibilities. The worst is that I might be insensitive and underestimate them since I do not have a strong understanding of them. Humanities and Arts provide a venue to understand people. That is something intrinsic about it. It cannot be found that much in other fields of study. Several artworks that I have found interesting are the renaissance art and the modern art together with pop culture. These artworks show how great the human mind is. This shows that every human has the capacity to think and change the manner of things. It can also modify the way how we must see the world. The world is a hodgepodge of cultures. They exist on their own accord and are very responsive to the conditions of humans who formulated such. The presence of arts and humanities allow humans to understand other cultures. Integration occurs and a hybrid of cultures arise, complementing and accommodating of other cultures since their contributions could be good for us to understand other cultures very well (Papastergiadis 49). Without this knowledge, I would have not been a sensitive person. I would most likely exist in a vacuum. Living only for myself and not for others; satisfying my desires through means that can be something harsh and insensitive. I would be exploitative of other people and would let them suffer just to satisfy my wants, desires and needs and would not be considerate of their feelings that are possibly the same to that of mine. If being unknowledgeable of the field of arts and humanities would result to disservice of human, I would rather kill myself. This could show that I am not that responsive enough to others’ sensibilities. I am not fulfilling my duty as a human person to let people know what is shared by each one of us. This maybe a harsh thing to do on my part but it something that I am willing to do as long as it advances the idea of the humanities and the arts being tools of inquiry, development, progression and prosperity. Maybe it is true that at some point in this time that the arts are indeed expensive. That only those who have the money can enjoy it. I beg to disagree. Everything about us is art. The concepts, notions, constructs, institutions and all others are product of human imagination; imagination that have transcended to reality. Democracy is something that the greeks have formulated through the development of Rhetoric during the classical era and that concept has travelled time, changing human lives, developing new kinds of thought, and has made human more human (Nussbaum 8). Democracy has been so influential that people have wanted the ideals that come with it. It is not just an ideal concept that maybe far-fetched from the reality but achieving it is possible as long humans are considerate about their activity. Democracy will indeed fail as long as turmoil exists in our society. This compels me to at least do a step to make the current world realize that the arts and humanities are the things that we cannot afford to lose but something that we should maintain so that we cannot forget who we are as humans; rational beings who have a very creative mind that constantly seeks development and satisfaction in a very collective manner. Cultural progress should go hand in hand with economic and political prosperity; not prioritizing one at the cost of the other (Steger 118). Globalization made this situation due to the change in economy. However, I think all of us should scrutinize carefully how things interact now. If Globalization is after exerting a global culture, oneness amidst diversity, then there should be inclusion; to accept other cultures that are valuable to humanity instead of eradicating other cultures and force their extinction which is then a manifestation of disrespect and a violation of democracy. I think that the above paragraph I have mentioned speaks about the irony of the current situation being controlled by business tycoons. The elites are promoting a culture while disvaluing other culture instead of promoting cultures hand in hand. In the end, arts and humanities, as fields of study teaches humans what it really means to be human. It is something that must be lived out and learned all throughout. The arts and humanities provides condition for us to be critical, observant and sharp about things going on and provide solutions to the problems that we have. Humanities and the arts portray these situations for better understanding. That is something that all of us should take note of and live out. We cannot be fully human without it and everything will fail in this world once we forget to appreciate the traditions that have developed thoroughly through time. Humanities and the Arts are responsive for our identity and personal character. They have given us ways to understand ourselves, the society, other people and the world. They have taught us of the real essence of what it means to be human and what it means to be noble beings that are sensitive and not harsh to others. I would like to end this with a question that sums up my idea: Would you prefer to be a very humane human sensitive and responsive or be a human without a heart and prefers material things in exchange of relevance being a human? WORKS CITED Henry, Nicholas. “Paradigms of Public Administration.” Public Administration Review. Vol. 35. No. 4. 1975. pp. 378 – 386. Nussbaum, Martha. Not For Profit. Princeton University Press. Papastergiadis, Nikos. “Hybridity and Ambivalence: Places and Flows in Contemporary Art and Culture.” Theory, Culture and Society. Nottingham Trent University Press. 2005. pp. 39 – 64. Petsko, Gregory. A Faustian Bargain. Genome Biology 2010. 11:138 Steger, Manfred. Globalization: A Very Short Intoduction. Oxford University Press: U.K. 2003. Read More