The Fine Art of Democracy

Picasso famously said that 'every act of creation is first an act of destruction'. Because to create something means not settling for what is currently held to be right. Innovation will upset the status quo, in the quest for truth.

There is however a delicate dialectical relationship between tradition and innovation. Picasso respected tradition, but knew that to honour the tradition of fine art, he must continue to show that it can progress and have meaning going forward. As soon as one period of cultural tradition is canonised as the definitive model, then the aesthetic loses its status as art, and becomes a political tool or a sentimental cliché of a bygone Era.

When conservative tradition totally denies innovation, the relationship stops being self-regulating and becomes hijacked for political means. To insist that 'Progress stops here!' is the beginning of the end. It is an issue that postmodernism grapples with, when considering where we are going in the world.

The 1980s epitomised much of what postmodernism feared about mainstream global politics. Had we not learned the dangers of fascism? Norman Tebbit, it seemed, had not:

"Bad art was as good as good art. Grammar and spelling were no longer important. To be clean was no better than to be filthy. Good manners were no better than bad. Family life was derided as an outdated bourgeois concept. Criminals deserved as much sympathy as their victims. Many homes and classrooms became disorderly - if there was no right nor wrong there could be no bases for punishment or reward. Violence and soft pornography became accepted in the media. Thus was sown the wind; and we are now reaping the whirlwind."

Norman Tebbit. 1985. Lecture.

Mr Tebbit suggests that any art that disagrees with his conservative taste, should be branded bad by all. This kind of state imposed nationalism would lead to a dictatorship. Moreover, Lord Tebbit seems to forget that his government's greedy privatisation of state institutions, and deregulation of corporate capitalism, is what eroded society's sense of identity and sense of dignity in the first place. No wonder people are not 'behaving' themselves in the Victorian sense of the word. If violence and porn are rife, it is because the Conservative government of the '80s neglected to realise that selling off Britain to the highest bidder, would inevitably lead to putting the welfare of the people in the hands of businessmen; who don't care if your kids are exposed to graphic sex and violence, so long as they are paying the premium channel rate.

Britain felt betrayed by the government which was not acting on their behalf. People will only show respect, when they are respected. To ask them to be clean, well-mannered, courteous, well-read intellectuals, when they are fighting for basic survival, shows how far removed Britain's ruling elite had become.