Althouse: "Few of the 100 or so residents, though, think much of his art. In America, 'you don’t need to be very good at something..."

November 11, 2018

"Few of the 100 or so residents, though, think much of his art. In America, 'you don’t need to be very good at something..."

"'You just need to be different. You don’t need to sing or paint well so long as you do it differently.' She much prefers Rembrandt because ;at least you can see he put a lot of work into his paintings.'"

"She" is Julia Varcholova, a resident of Mikova, Slovakia. She's talking about Andy Warhol, her cousin, and quoted in "Andy Warhol Said He Came From 'Nowhere.' This Is It" (NYT).

I wish I had tags for "What nonelite people think about elite things" and "What nonAmericans think about Americans." Especially the latter. The former is a trite subject that would include every "My child could paint better than that." But I'm intrigued by ideas that foreigners have about my people, especially when they're not particularly mean but actually say something about how we seem different. Here it's the idea that individuality reigns in America and we love originality. You don't even need to be good. Just creative. Not completely true, but interesting to know that's our brand.

19 comments:

David Begley said...: “But I'm intrigued by ideas that foreigners have about my people....” Your people? What are you? A nationalist? Maybe even a white nationalist!

You are a citizen of the world. There are no borders. Imagine.

Althouse is so last century. Get with it!; 11/11/18, 6:18 AM
Ralph L said...: Not "our" brand but the Art World's.; 11/11/18, 6:20 AM
rhhardin said...: Soup can in a bowl of urine.; 11/11/18, 6:25 AM
gilbar said...: No Borders! No Wall! No Warol at at!; 11/11/18, 6:37 AM
Bart Hall (Kansas, USA) said...: Though born and raised in the States, I've worked extensively on three continents, have European in-laws, and myself lived for more than 20 years in foreign countries, 16 of those years where English is not the native language and not much spoken outside the educated areas of major cities. Here's a non-exhaustive list of what I've observed foreigners observing about Americans.

a) Americans are quite rudely impatient.
b) They have no clue as to how good they have it, and thus complain (almost incessantly) about stupid shit.
c) Their friendliness is insincere and superficial. [when a Hungarian asks "How are you?" (s)he *means* it.]
d) Americans have little idea as to how things work elsewhere in the world.
e) They make no effort to ensure their English will be understood -- talk too fast, not clearly, full of contractions and idiomatic expressions, complex run-on sentences, and so on -- and this includes many supposedly world-savvy lecturers.
f) Americans are commonly poorly-educated, over-weight slobs with a crude, base, ignorant culture.
g) If I get really sick I'll go to the States for treatment.
h) Foreigners envy our freedoms and the right to personal self-defence.
i) Foreigners hunger for our economic freedoms, dynamism, and flexibility.; 11/11/18, 6:40 AM
Hagar said...: The Canadian prime minister Diefenbaker allegedly was asked what is was like living next to the United States, and said it was a little like being in bed with an elephant - a nice warm friendly elephant, but what if it started having nightmares and began threshing about in the night?; 11/11/18, 7:05 AM
Hagar said...: I like Americans, weird as they are - at least the Republicans and "sagebrush" Democrats.; 11/11/18, 7:08 AM
JML said...: I'm just as unique as the next fellow: Where's my fame and fortune?; 11/11/18, 7:28 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: "Not completely true, but interesting to know that's our brand."

One of the things I hate, about the disappointment I'm forced to feel when at home, is remembering what erroneous things people think of us when I'm overseas. Because then - realizing how wrong it all is - the depth of the world's problem with ignorance sinks in, and I'm left to ponder concepts, like space and the universe, just to find relief from humanity's stupidity on the ground. And, of course, there's little relief there.

I can understand dictators if this is all they've ever had to work with.; 11/11/18, 7:58 AM
Temujin said...: Not completely true, but mostly true I would say. In this post-everything world, new and different gets more points than true and useful.; 11/11/18, 8:15 AM
Fernandinande said...: Welcome to Mikova, Slovakia!
Home of the World's Largest Dracula.; 11/11/18, 9:05 AM
Jaq said...: I worked in France for a little while and they definitely envied our freedom to start companies. England is different because everything is seen through a kind of sibling rivalry.; 11/11/18, 11:25 AM
Jaq said...: "One of the things I hate, about the disappointment I'm forced to feel when at home, is remembering what erroneous things people think of us when I'm overseas. Because then - realizing how wrong it all is - the depth of the world's problem with ignorance sinks in."

Once a person gets a handle on their own ignorance, wisdom begins.; 11/11/18, 11:27 AM
Bill Peschel said...: What especially fucks everyone up is that we don't realize how much of our knowledge is acquired second-hand. Not through direct experience, but through someone else's opinion.

How many of our opinions about films are derived from watching them, versus reading Roger Ebert, Pauline Kael or the sweater guy?

Then there's our memory, which is mallable and (as we get older) slips a few gears, so we fill in the blanks and stand behind it. That doesn't include the times we intentionally lie.

I'd rather try to find the wonder at what we've been able to accomplish over our quotidian, human faults.; 11/11/18, 11:30 AM
Jaq said...: My mother said she became a citizen because she realized she was an American when she got upset with the Dutch running down America on a trip home.; 11/11/18, 11:30 AM
Darrell said...: a) Americans are quite rightly impatient.
b) They American Left knows exactly how good they have it, and thus complain (almost incessantly) about stupid, often imaginary shit.
c) Foreign friendliness is insincere and superficial. [when a Hungarian asks "How are you?" he *means* "just give me your money, asshole."]
d) Americans don't give a shit as to how things work elsewhere in the world. Right is right.
e) They make no effort to ensure their English will be understood -- talk too fast, not clearly, full of contractions and idiomatic expressions, complex run-on sentences, and so on -- and this includes many supposedly world-savvy lecturers. Nor should they. Learn to speak English.
f) Americans are commonly called poorly-educated, over-weight slobs with a crude, base, ignorant culture. By foreign assholes.
g) If I get really sick I'll go to the States for treatment.
h) Foreigners envy our freedoms and the right to personal self-defense.
i) Foreigners hunger for our economic freedoms, dynamism, and flexibility.; 11/11/18, 11:31 AM
Sebastian said...: "Here it's the idea that individuality reigns in America and we love originality."

You can see why we won the Cold War. We do disinformation a lot better than the Russians.; 11/11/18, 1:33 PM
Howard said...: So Bill, you are confessing to giving up. Everything you outline is a choice. It certainly explains the Trump cult attraction.; 11/11/18, 2:54 PM
DEEBEE said...: Being a transplanted brownie in thus country., yYES SHE IS RIGH< only to the extent that the miracle — exceptionalism? — is that even ordinary people can live comfortably. In other shithokes, you either have to be real good at what you do or real good at who you know. No wonder most of the bell curve of the world wants to move here except, perhaps the far right, imagined of not.; 11/11/18, 7:47 PM