Rant #6: Museum of the Foolery

Every now and then, a liberal thinker gets a great idea. It's even more astonishing when they get the great idea first... But that's another discussion. What I am particularly thrilled about is that recently a museum was opened in the U.S. highlighting the cultural accomplishments and artistic expressions of those dispersed over the ages from the African Continent.

I'm about to go off on a rant...

I may draw the eyebrows of some of my more reserved friends, but I think this is something positive, if not abused in it's purpose by a left-leaning agenda. The Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) recently opened (unfortunately) in San Francisco, CA. It's located on Mission Street, an exciting and high-traffic avenue of San Francisco, easily accessed by the masses. (By the way, do not confuse my 'unfortunate' insert and my optimism... I think San Francisco is a beautiful and exciting city; it's just currently under foreign rule)


What I enjoy about this sort of institution is that it underscores several relevant principles for me:

• Tasteful art by anyone ought to be housed and appreciated by any and every one that has a common interest. (Emphasis on tasteful) I myself am an artist and support the establishment of artistic learning and expression in a very visible, publicly supported (I don't mean funded) fashion.
• The masses that were dispersed from the African Continent were truly "dispersed" (hence the term "Diaspora", and any idiomatic similarity to the description of Jewish persecution is beside the point. A travesty was brought upon that continent that is not unique in commission to the white man; it is a land of tyrants that have long supressed freedom and dignity.
• I appreciate the expression of a people that have been under oppression, particularly because it is under difficult circumstances that such ambition has risen despite the heavy hand of hatred and the teaching of your intellectual inferiority by an ignorant or stubborn group of people.

What is my complaint in the midst of my positivity? Aside from the fact that the opening of this museum was harnessed and in fact, attended mostly by a positively radical leftist community... aside from the fact that the museum is founded in a cultural mosh pit of foolish ideas (S.F.)... aside from the fact that hardly a single conservative leader embraced or lauded this project...

Rabbit trail:
This brings to my mind a new idea: Maybe right-thinkers (an idiom that is so apropos!) should build a museum featuring the most foolish ideas man has fabricated, the ideas which have fallen flat time and time again. Is it possible that a "Museum of the Foolery" could be the Smithsonian of corrective remembrance for those who think they've found a "new idea"? Of course, it would never gain support on the West Coast, but maybe Hillsdale, MI? Nah, too remote... I suggest somewhere it could do the most benefit, say Gary, Indiana? Or shoot for the stars: the Capitol Mall.

Back to the MoAD story, Leah Garchik, of the San Francisco Chronicle gave me plenty of reason to shake my head over the hypocrisy of a "pragmatic" left. It seems every time leadership changes hands, whether here in the U.S. or overseas in the land of the "dispersal", the left thinkers embrace the change with open arms as long as it meets a shallow criteria: Embrace black power, resist traditional order/be a revolutionary, uphold marxist ideals as though it's a new concept that "will work this time", and finally, the real initiation: hate American idealism and power.

MoAD's chief financial officer, Michael Brown gave a speach before the crowd of nearly 500. Of Dutch descent, Brown had grown up in Zimbabwe. His family fled that country and scattered when President Robert Mugabe took office. "Despite the color of my skin,'' he said, "I am an African. And that, to me, is the overriding message of this museum.''

Now what Ms. Garchik faithfully superimposed on this notebook report (to quote from her article) was that Brown's family "fled that country and scattered when President Robert Mugabe, considered by many a tyrant, took office. Mugabe's administration is symbolic of many things, of course, including a return of power and land to blacks. Most people in the room would approve of that..."

What ignorance! What pragmatic disillusionment! Robert Mugabe, elected into office became nothing close to a reflection of the will of his people; he now holds a place among the many African leaders that have taken power over their people and brutally administered "justice" to lift their cronies and allies. He took (formerly) Rhodesia from an example of economic prosperity and equality, educational strength and self-sufficiency (on a continent not known for such things) to despair and corruption.

Barbara Simpson, WND columnist and San Francisco area radio show host and newspaper contributor said it very well:
"The sheer audacity and ignorance of those statements is breathtaking, to say nothing of its elitism. Let see ... a productive white family, which considers itself "African," is forced to "flee" their home country because a black is elected president. But, as long as power and land are returned to blacks, everything is OK."

Robert Mugabe is a poster child of native African leaders that have given descendents no alternative place to return, if they wanted to:

(From B. Simpson's article)

• A man who orders the bulldozing of thousands of homes of the poorest in his country (sometimes with people still in them) leaving them in winter without shelter, sanitation or water
• A man who promises reimbursement and then orders the outright theft of white-owned farms, the beating, raping and killing of the farmer owners and the blacks who work for them
• A man who distributes the best land to political cronies and family and allows squatters on the rest, not a fair homesteading distribution program
• A man who destroys/takes over businesses, censors the media, destroys the stock market, the education system, the airports, and the currency (inflation is 700%)
• A man who steals elections and has his political enemies threatened, attacked and maimed, if not killed
• A man who orders the wanton shooting of all big game, even endangered species (speaking of the hypocrisy of the left...)

"The liberal elite say none of this matters because what's really important is returning power to black people. The United Nations has been stunningly silent on this travesty, as have other nations, including France and China."

What bothers me so much about the history surrounding the oppression of African peoples is more than the fact it occured within our own society, and that my ancestors were deluded enough to believe it their God-given right to subject an entire people to the curse of indignity and forced labor. There seems to be a geographical burden on the entire African continent, from South Africa and Zimbabwe to Rwanda and Sudan, and across to Senegal and Liberia. Some would pontificate that it was Western empirical powers that taught this primitive continent the concept of colonialization and subjection and corruption. But this is ignorance, if not a bald-faced perversion of the truth in history. Mankind, in itself possesses the ungodly impulse to succeed and obtain power by whatever means necessary. It is true, from time to time that a society learns from it's actions and the biblical truths of individual liberty and prosperous life overtake the evil institutions that exist; it has yet to happen in Africa.

But such was the case in the United States in the 19th century. The Whig and subsequent Republican party were the progressive radicals that believed a strong, unified nation gauranteeing liberty and good faith to all "beings" not just "citizens" was the basis for a strong democratic republic. Since then, while some shadows of this horrible past still waft in the fog of our minds, the descendents of the African "diaspora" have ascended to great heights equal to the accomplishments of the Jewish people, the Chinese, Korean, or any other culture that was suppressed by tyrants and dictators.

History holds several beacons of successful, though rare African leadership: Toussaint L'Ouverture of Haiti in his resistance to Napoleonic power, Nelson Mandela, who was against both white and black domination, and Tenkamenin, King of Ghana from 1037-1075... probably the only truly successful democratic ruler of African origin.

What fails the African culture today is a continued reliance on government which constantly changes over to reveal another corrupt plan to exploit it's people and resources. America has maintained it's economic and cultural might on the basis of it's geography, natural resources and it's faith and moral conscience. The land of Africa has even more potential, should it ever unite and truly reform. What is needed are enlightened leaders with solid principles that understand the power of personal liberty and are not intimidated by placing power in the hands of the people.

Now it sounds like I'm talking about America... maybe I am.

America is a land of many people, many beliefs and backgrounds, but traditionally one principle: the freedom and dignity and potential of man to live his faith in harmony with his neighbors and for his God. To break it down a little further, I believe that God has blessed this nation like no other in history because we have embraced two concepts that every other nation-state or empire was lacking in one or the other: personal responsibility, and faith in a biblical God that blesses as we give. We ought to tremble constantly at the thought of relinquishing this heritage to progressive, post-modern ideology.

I prayed today that God would allow Africa to see independence, liberty and God-fearing leadership for the first time; that it's several hundreds of millions of people would become the most transformed, empowered civilization in ages. And I hope the same to continue for the American descendents of this impoverished continent, living only a few steps away from where I sit.

Yes, we ought to make it possible for them to reach it on their own volition; the answer has obviously never been to do it for them.