New Year's Thoughts at Failte

Failte's, Mississauga
January 13, 2019
[Photo By: KPA]

From Larry Auster's View From the Right written January 12, 2012:

I wouldn’t say I’ve been heading in this direction. It became my direction, or my new outlook, in the space of a couple of weeks this past fall. But there is a huge amount to say about this new outlook and I’ve only just begun.
Also, this outlook is not actually new. It’s more a change of gestalt, in which the background becomes the foreground. For many years my position has been that we were in very bad shape but that it was possible to turn it around. So I always placed the emphasis on that possibility. For example, I never simply ended an article about some horror in our society and left it at that. I always ended with the point that it doesn’t have to be this way, that we can restore a better America. That is what has changed. I no longer think such a positive reversal of direction it’s possible. The overall shape of the picture I am looking at has not changed, but, in my consciousness of the picture, the foreground and the background have switched. The likelihood that liberalism would go on until it has crashed our civilization is now in the foreground of my thoughts, and the possibility that liberalism may collapse before it has reached that point is in the background—or rather I’ve dismissed it as a practical scenario. While my philosophy has not changed, the change of perspective I have described changes many of my responses to contemporary political and cultural phenomena.

[...]

If the destructive course can’t be stopped, what then is there for us to do?

- Continue to critique and denounce the mainstream and show why its false, evil, and doomed;
- Lay out an alternative vision of society (which will not be adopted or have any significant effect on the society in the foreseeable future); and
- Build up a traditionalist organization/community which serves as a spiritual and social life raft and which, as the mainstream society gets worse and worse, will attract more and more people.

Email Interaction on Publishing a Book on Mississauga

Spikey Non-Christmas Tree outside of Holts Luxury Department store
at the main entrance of the Square One Mississauga Mall
the hub of activity in Mississauga
[Photo By: KPA, December 4, 2018]

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On Thursday Nov 29, 2018, at 12:10 PM
To: Ricardo Duchesne
Kidist Paulos Asrat wrote:

Dear Dr. Duchesne,

I frequently read the articles on the website Council of European Canadians, and I have read your book Canada in Decay.

I have been collecting and filing data on Mississauga, Ontario, for about three years now, to publish a book on the city.

I have been living in Mississauga for about five years, having lived in Toronto before that.

My years in Mississauga exposed me to multiculturalism and it steady and nefarious progression into the Canadian life and landscape. Mississauga is conveniently ignored by major cities like Toronto and Ottawa, and is a destination for Third World immigrants who flock here looking for cheaper housing and a safe suburban life, away from the "big city" problems of Toronto. Mississauga now has one of the largest non-white population in all of Canada.

Mississauga's leaders' intentions are starkly displayed at the Art Gallery of Mississauga, where I was a frequent visitor and recorder of the art and artistic activities promoted and programed by the gallery.

About a year ago, I asked one too many controversial question at an AGM gallery event about the lack of Western art on display at the gallery, and subsequently, I received an email from the galley's (still current) director, Mandy Slater, a white woman, to cease my "antagonistic" behavior and not to frequent gallery any more, with my name submitted to the Peel Region Police and the Mississauga Security division, should I not comply. I haven't entered the gallery since then. But the AGM's prolific website provides me with all the information I require on the gallery's exhibitions and programming to follow and monitor their activities. As well, most of the staff post photographs and commentary on their various social media sites.

Since then, the AGM has been making progressive changes in the gallery's structure and organization, and especially so in the past few months. One of the dramatic changes has been the removal of Kendra Ainsworth, its one (of two) white staff. The other is Mandy Salter, the gallery's director, recently hired only about a year ago. All the other administrative and curatorial positions are [KPA edit: since] filled with non-white, mostly Indian (Asian) and Muslim staff. Most are also relatively new to these posts, stretching back about two years for the most senior.

The AGM's purpose of this newly restructured gallery is is to "build a whole new kind of art institution" as I wrote to a correspondent recently. What I mean by this is a gallery that exhibits and promotes works by non-white, non-Western artists.

I have a background in the arts both as a practitioner and as a researcher. I studied photography at Ryerson University, and painting and textile design through various courses and workshops in Toronto, including the Ontario College of Art and Design in Toronto.

I started a blog called Camera Lucida in 2005 to "explore and shed light on how art, and culture and society converge."

Several years later in 2013, I started a blog I titled Reclaiming Beauty "to document the contribution that beauty had made toward our Western Civilization," where I still continue to blog.

I believe that the AGM is building an institution that can expand into other regions in the province and the country, as a successful example of an art institution that reflects multicultural and ethnic art, and a gallery which has pushed to the sidelines, and even out of the gallery, works by what now Canadians are being regularly told "racist" white artists, and especially those which reflect a Canada of half a century to a century ago, which of course are almost exclusively white artists.

Mississauga's history originates as a "new city" built around the 1970s, as an ambitious vision by a white Canadian, Bruce McLaughlin, to separate this already existing small town from the influences of Toronto, and to build self-sufficient and independent city. Immigration and non-Canadian residents were far from his, and his colleagues' minds. The AGM itself was established in 1987, as a separate gallery, independent from big-city influences, or even the then encroaching multiculturalism, and its inauguration was celebrated with the visit of the Duke and Duchess of York in July 1987.

I will present this historical material in my book on how a once confident city, with confident citizens, now has devolved into this multicultural outpost, almost forgotten by other regional centres, but which is quietly restructuring society and culture.

At some point it will gain some power and start to promote successful and prosperous multiculturalism as an example for other Canadian cities to follow.

The reality, though, is that Mississauga is far from success and prosperity, with some of the highest poverty rates in Ontario recorded in the city's non-white ethnic neighbourhoods, and a non-existent, true, "mosaic" of mixed multiculturalism, with an increasingly self-segregating population separating itself by race, ethnicity and religion. And the various socio-ethnic groups do not work together, in art or other cultural and social programs, especially where their "identities" are involved, and some are even antagonistic towards each other (Indian Hindu and Muslims, for example).

And the AGM would not exist were it not for the close to the third of a billion of dollars in governmental grants it receives annually to promote this artificial mosaic of integrated multiculturalism through its art exhibitions and art programming.

I propose that we co-author such a book, perhaps as part of a larger subject of the practical realities of multiculturalism in Canada, and use Mississauga as one (perhaps the most important) example of how things really do function when multiculturalism is the Canadian government's policy.

Sincerely,
Kidist Paulos Asrat

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On Monday, December 3, 2018, 11:11:24 AM
Ricardo Duchesne <...@unb.ca> wrote:

Hello,

Why not turn this into an article for CEC? You already have a good draft, and need to have an introduction, and a few other revisions to make it into an article. This is a topic I am interested in, and would like to see this developed into article.

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On Monday, December 3, 2018, at 6:09:37 PM
Kidist Paulos Asrat wrote:

Thank you for your suggestion.

KPA
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On Wednesday, Dec 5 2018, at 6:47 AM
reclaimbeauty@gmail.com
To: Ricardo Duchesne


Dear Dr. Duchesne,

Thanks once again for your helpful comments.

Nonetheless, I will independently write and publish the book on Mississauga rather than produce a very much condensed article.

Mississauga is a unique place. It warrants a full book: a demonstration of how society devovles as rulers and leaders lose confidence in themselves and a government-mandated plan (Multiculturalism) to change society is forced on all policy makers, which they have to comply with if they want to keep their jobs and have some future to look forward to (retirement, children well-educated, mortgages paid off, etc.).

There was something exciting and fresh about Mississauga when it started out as a city built from the ground up - literally.

The saddest part of this bright history is the current demoralized population, both white and nonwhite.

For example, non-white residents and immigrants relate to their ancestral countries much more so now than a decade or two ago. Most of them are bitterly disappointed in Canada, where they have been unable to "integrate," despite tremendous efforts by government officials and policies to assist them to do so. And their children, the Canadian-born second generation, who are experiencing the same lack of integration, are militant in blaming the "racist" white culture that they fervently believe is denying them their "rights." Thus there is no integration, but increasing ethnic and racial self-segregation. And there is also a new (albeit weak) trend of a repatriation and return "home" by some.

But I believe all this is a good thing, a good sign, demonstrating the failures (and cruelty) of multiculturalism, not just to critics like me, but to ordinary people, which is forcing them to search for, and discover, authentic ways of living.

Here is where I can show systematically how we can all salvage what we have. Those who return to their countries of origin can reclaim their ancestry and abandoned homes. And those like me can reclaim the city as it was once envisioned by its pioneers.

I believe that Mississauga, because of its strange "outlier" geographical position, is a perfect blueprint to demonstrate all these points.

Thank you once again for your communication. All the best in your projects.

Sincerely,

Kidist Paulos Asrat

The Starving Artist Myth

On Sun, Jul 8, 2018 at 7:48 AM, eightypictures@gmail.com wrote:

To whom it may concern;

Please can you inform me where I can purchase the Ink Movement's Mississauga Youth Anthology VI online or through your website.

Thank you,

Kay A.

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On Wed, Jul 18, 2018 at 8:45 PM, ink.movement@gmail.com wrote:

Hello Kay!

We are very sorry for the late response - we are flooded by emails during this time of the year and accidentally missed this one! Also, the anthology does have a cost ($20) unless you're published, in which case you can get a free copy. This is why we do not have an online document. Hope that helps!

Again, we apologize for any inconvenience we may have caused. Let us know if you have any questions and/or concerns.

Regards,
Ink Movement Mississauga

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On Wed, Jul 18, 2018 at 11:35 PM, eightypictures@gmail.com wrote:

It is surprising that you took 10 days to respond to my email. Also that you have no way to purchase the document online, or to download it if has no cost.

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On Wed, Jul 18, 2018, at 11:45 PM, ink.movement@gmail.com wrote:

Hello Kay!

We are very sorry for the late response - we are flooded by emails during this time of the year and accidentally missed this one! Also, the anthology does have a cost ($20) unless you're published, in which case you can get a free copy. This is why we do not have an online document. Hope that helps!

Again, we apologize for any inconvenience we may have caused. Let us know if you have any questions and/or concerns.

Regards,
Ink Movement Mississauga

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On Thu, Jul 19, 2018 at 12:16 AM, eightypictures@gmail.com wrote:

Thanks for your reply. It is a trek for me to get to the Art Gallery. Can I send a $20 check to your organization and have you send me a copy?

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On Fri, Jul 20, 2018 at 9:15 PM, ink.movement@gmail.com wrote:

Hi Kay!

We will get back to you soon on that one!

Regards,
Ink Movement Mississauga

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On Fri, July 20, 2018 at 9:29 PM, ink.movement@gmail.com wrote:

Hi Kay!

Unfortunately, we are unable to ship you a copy - you would have to come to the AGM to get one. You can call them in advance and ask them if they have copies left as there are a limited number of them.

Let us know if you were able to get a copy or if you have any questions and/or concerns!

Regards,
Ink Movement Mississauga

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On Fri, July 27, 2018 at 7:46 AM eightypictures@gmail.com wrote:

Cc:reclaimbeauty@gmail.com

Thanks for your reply.

There is really nothing further for me to ask you since you were unable to assist me with a simple request: That you mail me a copy of you latest anthology (or find me an online point of sales) for a copy.

I would only add that artists are also salesmen. A gallery that doesn't even promote your book to your benefit is not assisting you.

To further your cause, which is to distribute Massasauga writers' talents across the country (and beyond) you need to take your own actions. For example:
- Self publish and have Amazon distribute your book
- Self publish and distribute your book on your own website
- Have a business contract with agencies like the Art Gallery of Mississauga where you books can be obtained both in the gallery and through online purchase.

I wish you all the best. The starving artist image (and ideal) went out a couple of centuries. It has made a come-back in our era of "government funds" promises. But promises come with strings attached. And your independence, and your words, will eventually be required to fall in line with these agencies' mandates in order that their "promises" to you get to be fulfilled.

If you disagree with their mandates, then you will be well on the way toward the unpleasant life of a "starving artist." Ask Van Gogh what that's like.

Sincerely,

Kidist Paulos Asrat
Artist, Designer, Writer
Email: reclaimbeauty@gmail.com
At: Reclaiming Beauty

Designing a Photo Shoot Around the UN's New World Order

Note: This is a huge topic and one onto which I stumbled by accident simply by trying to analyse the composition of a group portrait photograph. This led me down an interesting path and one which I will pursue, not only in the UN photo shoot that I discuss below, but through my observations of art galleries (e.g. the Art Gallery of Mississauga) and other cultural and academic institutions which are in covert (for now) manner subverting and transforming our established institutions and organizations.


United Nations: UN Women Champions of Change 2018

The group photo above is presented with the following invitation:

Please join us for the “Champions of Change for Gender Equality” Awards in celebration of the Metro NY Chapter's 30th Annual Meeting at the SVA Theatre in New York City. We are proud to recognize these women and men who make significant contributions to women’s empowerment and gender equality in their professional and personal lives. Following a reception at 6:00 pm with wine and global hors-d'oeuvres, we will honor our champions in the following areas:

Economic Empowerment
Peace & Security
Political Participation
Eliminating Violence Against Women
Media
Advocacy

The program's website Announcing Our 2018 Champions of Change is here.

Of course the black or dark outfits are in solidarity with the "me too movement," and the white or beige clothing are simply accentuating the darker ones.

The visual effect of the photograph is an attractive triangular pattern achieved through bodies sitting or standing; forward placed or shifted back; grouped together and separated individually; natural tall/short height positioning; and a left/right side placement of the seated "models." Most of these bodies can be traced around clusters of three to emphasise the triangular pattern.

The rule of thirds (threes) and the triangle is an important strategy in art and photography to improve on the composition of the image.



But there is also a deeper, hidden meaning of the triangle: of power structures (top rulers/leaders, lower classes - yes in America!!), of secrecy, and hidden money and wealth. These women may all not be part of such power structures, but the photographer understands their importance in the activities they participate in, and their presence (or their recognition) in the higher echelons of the UN hierarchy and the world Global Order (more information here), and has likewise presented them in this coded manner. And the important thing is that they all consider themselves leaders in whatever it is they do, and are thus very likely willing allies of the UN and all the organization's mandates and activities.

"A One World Government and one-unit monetary system, under permanent non-elected hereditary oligarchists who self-select from among their numbers in the form of a feudal system as it was in the Middle Ages. In this One World entity, population will be limited by restrictions on the number of children per family, diseases, wars, famines, until 1 billion people who are useful to the ruling class, in areas which will be strictly and clearly defined, remain as the total world population.

There will be no middle class, only rulers and the servants. All laws will be uniform under a legal system of world courts practicing the same unified code of laws, backed up by a One World Government police force and a One World unified military to enforce laws in all former countries where no national boundaries shall exist. The system will be on the basis of a welfare state; those who are obedient and subservient to the One World Government will be rewarded with the means to live; those who are rebellious will simple be starved to death or be declared outlaws, thus a target for anyone who wishes to kill them. Privately owned firearms or weapons of any kind will be prohibited."[Source: Educate-yourself.org

Here is a list of their activities/positions/identities:

(Each woman's, and man's - there are three of them, more detailed activities, qualifications, and memberships are posted after her photograph at the Champions for Change website.)

- Feminist
- Peace activist
- Economic empowerment for women
- Humanitarian
- Human rights advocate
- Human rights treaty
- Human rights lawyer
- Socal change
- Gender justice advocate
- NYC Commission on Gender Equity
- NY State Coalition Against Domestic Violence
- Planned Parenthood
- Women's Global Leadership
- Cities for CEDAW (The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women)
- Education reform
- Sustainable development advocate
- Vision 2020 towards human, environmental and economic sustainability
- Diversity in the media
- Diversity of dance
- Center for Men and Masculinities
- PowHer New York
- Governor’s Council on Women and Girls
- Women’s International League for Peace
- Secretary General of Parliamentarians for Global Action
- What Will it Take to Make a Woman President?
- Training women to run for local and state office

These sound like the run-of-the mill left/left liberal pronouncements of many non-Westerners, but are fact "soft" radical stances for government change leading to full-out belief in revolutions where (when) necessary.

They are preludes to a New World Order.

Oprah! President!

I'm sure this was staged. The "powers that be" at the Golden Globes Equal Opportunity/Gender Equality Committee™ must have said:

"Let's have Oprah ON! Let's give her the Cecile B. DeMille 'Outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment' award. This is Hollywood and we are here to right the wrongs!"

Even though Oprah has made no "outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment." Her two acting roles were mediocre. Her talk show years were not outstanding, unless you find aggressive programs entertaining. She is one of two television personalties to receive this award, but not one that would be classified as an entertainer. Her shows were social and political agendas, treading lightly on many occasion not to instigate undue controversy, to showcase Black Americans and to demean (subtly and cleverly) whites.

Many in her long list of "acting" roles are as herself. One third of her thirty three productions are her own shows: either the Oprah show or affiliated programs such as Oprah's Big Giveaway. Her other productions are forgotten documentaries or made-for-television films (i.e. no-one watches them).

Her feature films deal mostly with contentious civil rights and slavery issues: i.e. evil whites.

Here is an article (published) I wrote about Precious, a film for which she was executive producer.

The only other talk show host to receive the award was Richard Skelton. And he has a long list of acting roles, albeit not in star roles, to his credit. But was a genuine entertainer as a vaudeville, radio, film and burlesque actor and deserving of his "outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment" trophy.

And Oprah is a "Me To-er!" And that is how she addressed her Hollywood audience in her acceptance speech. Carefully, though, since she cannot alienate all those other "outstanding" men; black men especially, and certainly white men too. Amongst these men, there would be a large number of liberals and leftists who would support her "cause" and who would be her biggest allies and supporters.

Because Oprah most definitely will run for President. Think about it: The first Black, Female, Entertainer President of the Untied States. That's killing so many birds with one stone! What an antodte to the current Mr. President. She should have run instead of the pathetic Hillary. What a match we would have had! She must regret that every single day!

And here she came to the Golden Globes to hurl that fury in a speech! "I SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE!!!"

But everything about Oprah always seems staged. A "Fake News."

- Her public speaking is a hyperbole of words with emphases on all the wrong places.
- Her fashion and hair is nether classy nor "indifferent," that fake stance all liberal women put on as they wear their thousand dollar Manolo Blahnik shoes and straight-off-the-runway bedazzled gowns.

Look at Oprah's dress: Black with glitter and VERSACE!!!! And her shoes are crystal-encrusted pumps

And this clueless fan tells us:

She stunned wearing a custom-made Atelier Versace off the shoulder, fitted long sleeved black velvet gown with Swarovski crystal encrusted accents along the neckline and waist.

"We Rock!"
Abused Movie Stars at the GGs in their haute couture dresses

By the way "custom made" at what cost? There is no information yet on the price of the gown out in the fashion blogs (although Oprah can censor that bit of information) but Michelle Obama's custom-made Versace gown from 2016 cost her (or the American people) 12,000 dollars.

And in a fashion show of evening dresses (I cannot say "gowns" since some are mini-skirts) called "Ballgowns, à la Versace" this article tells us:

Couture shows – the highest echelon of fashion, with made-to-measure frocks, private clients and six-figure prices – always highlight the craft of fashion as well as the fantasy.

So much for equality and ordinary people.

So why is she running?

For a "New Day?"

Really?

Listen to her speech below.



Oprah is part of the bigger movement in America (and Canada) to complete the usurpation the Western culture and tradition from America and render it a black/brown dominated country.

For how long will whites put up with this? For how long will they stand around as they get called all kinds of names and accused of all kinds of crimes? How long before they turn around and call Oprah and ilk racists and hypocrites?

How long before they take back their land?

Museum of Beauty

Pope Benedict XVI said when addressing a group of artists assembled in the Sistine Chapel

Beauty, whether that of the natural universe or that expressed in art, precisely because it opens up and broadens the horizons of human awareness, pointing us beyond ourselves, bringing us face to face with the abyss of Infinity, can become a path towards the transcendent, towards the ultimate Mystery, towards God. [Meeting with Artists. Address of His Holiness Benedict XVI. Sistine Chapel. November 29, 2009].

In my last post, I briefly mentioned the idea of a Museum of Beauty. Beauty is best appreciated when it is seen. I think our perception and appreciation of visual beauty surpasses all our other sensory perceptions of beauty. Ideally, there is a plethora of beauty to be seen, from the buildings we pass by, to the gardens we walk through, and the dresses we see on people. I say ideally, because these days, we are living in a cult of ugliness, and finding beauty is like a thirsty wanderer in a desert finding water.

At one time, people created their surroundings with beauty in mind. They knew that what they saw affected them deeply, from the temporary pleasure at the initial viewing of a beautiful object, to the deeper connection beauty (the beautiful object) instills over time.

If one's surroundings are ugly, why bother to preserve them, or live in them?

I think this is the impasse we have reached now.

I cannot redesign our modern world around beauty, but I can try to create small islands of respite where beauty can be viewed and appreciated.

I hope my blog provides such a place. But the ephemeral world of the internet is not enough. We need concrete places where our thirsty eyes can be filled with the wonders of beauty

My idea is to create a Museum of Beauty.

This is not as far-fetched as it sounds. There are the following kinds of museums:
- The Museum of Natural History in New York, which looks at Nature
- The Museum of War, in Ottawa Canada
- The Museum of Science and Technology, in Washington D.C.

There is even a Museum of Bad Art (which I term as a Museum of Ugliness). So why not a museum of beauty?

There are many questions to answer. One of which is: Aren't there enough museums which show beautiful things already?

Yes, there is the Louvre in Paris, the Metropolitan in New York, and many other smaller museums and galleries around the Western world which show art and other objects which are beautiful. But there is none that I can find which exclusively looks at beauty.

And modern curators are not interested in beauty. And the collections which they preside over which show beautiful objects are from past eras and centuries. Modern museums and curators do not want beauty in their museums. This often results with horrific and horrible things displayed in these museums, and museum visitors are hijacked to view them without complaint.

Creating a museum around a concept isn't a far-fetched idea.

Here are the working titles of my book project Reclaiming Beauty, around which the various sections of the museum can be created:

An Introduction to Beauty
- Seek and Ye Shall Find
- Beauty, Truth and Goodness
- Synthesis of Beauty
- Beauty in the Worship of God
- Beauty and the Transcendent
- Beauty and Humanity
- Beauty and Femininity
- Beauty and Masculinity
- How to be a Beautiful Movie Star
- Beauty: I will be your mirror
- Rejecting Beauty
- Elimination of Beauty

Beauty in Art
- Architecture
- Painting
- Drawing and Illustrations
- Film
- Photography
- Dance
- Design and Fashion
- Art Criticism

Beauty in Language
- Literature
- Poetry
- Writing
- Books
- Blogging
- Humor

Beauty in Culture and Society
- Religion
- Christianity
- Islam
- Myths and Legends
- History
- Traditions
- Conservatism
- Politics
- Immigration
- Multiculturalism

Beauty in Nature

Beauty in Science

Desecration of Beauty

Reclaiming Beauty

Even the last two chapters, Desecration of Beauty and Reclaiming Beauty are important. It is necessary for people to see how our modern world is destroying beauty,and how this is historically unprecedented: No other civilization aimed to destroy beauty. And I feel it is important to give guidance on how we can reclaim this beauty lost, since ordinary people have been subliminally hijacked into accepting ugliness as the norm.

I equate this "seeing" with Christianity. From the very beginning, God shows us his presence, perhaps the earliest being when he appeared as a burning bush to Moses, and later gave him tablets to read, with scripted words, rather than words to memorize and recount to the Israelites. These became the visual, written words: The Ten Commandments.

The ultimate revelation, at least in our era, is that of Jesus, who came to show us that God wasn't an entity in the heavens, but a real being, who disclosed himself to us as a human being through Jesus.

And the first words in Genesis, the very beginning of the Bible, are:

And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.[see below for verses 1-31]

The light to see things, to view his beautiful creations.

But, light also enables us to differentiate and discern the beautiful from the ugly, and by extended logic to discard the ugly, or to reshape it to become beautiful.

In those first verses of Genesis, we do not read about the wonderful sound of the seas:

And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good

.
We are presented with "the seas" as a visual differentiation between land and water. We may love the sound of the bubbling brook, but it is foremost its vision, with the grass and rocks around it, that captures our imagination.

Pope Benedict XVI said when addressing a group of artists assembled in the Sistine Chapel

Beauty, whether that of the natural universe or that expressed in art, precisely because it opens up and broadens the horizons of human awareness, pointing us beyond ourselves, bringing us face to face with the abyss of Infinity, can become a path towards the transcendent, towards the ultimate Mystery, towards God. [Meeting with Artists. Address of His Holiness Benedict XVI. Sistine Chapel. November 29, 2009].

My post "An Introduction to Beauty: Seek and Ye Shall Find" expands on this.

So, a beauty museum, or a Museum of Beauty, can continue with this movement of "Reclaiming Beauty."

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Genesis 1

1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.

7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.

8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.

10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.

11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.

12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.

14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:

15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.

16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.

17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,

18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.

19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.

21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.

23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.

25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.

30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.

31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
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Posted By: Kidist P. Asrat
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New Year's Pledge: Continuing to Challenge the Destructive Elements of Our Society

In my last post On Round Tables, where I discuss the formation of a group that plans, strategises and completes a particular goal, I wrote:

I continued to challenge the destructive elements of our society and culture at my blog and tried to bring in contributors, with the aim of taking this small idea into a larger movement of Reclaiming Beauty.

I also listed a large paragraph of topics that we were to discuss at my "round table" group in New York.

Here is the list of things I planned to discuss at the dinner (from the notes I took with me):

My comment on Lawrence Auster's View from the Right post Standard Lying Politician from February 2013:

I think you are being generous towards Obama. The more I try to understand him, the more I realize that he is insidiously evil. He wants destruction, and destruction of the white West, in order to give us his utopia.
I think in this regard he is even worse than African black dictators, to whom he has been compared. You could say that black dictators were fighting their rivals, the whites, the best they know how. I don’t think they aimed to destroy their countries. And in some sense, in some historical sense, one could argue that the physical land was theirs.

Obama carries his blackness like some kind of yoke. But he is still an American. Even a black American ought to have some love and respect for his history and the people he lives alongside. The people who created the country in which he lives, and has prospered. Obama is set to destroy his rivals, cleverly and systematically. This means he is out to destroy whites, cleverly and systematically.

Why is he shooting that rifle? Why does he have to show us that image? I think he is running scared. I think he thinks that whites are beginning to see through him, and he has to appease them somewhat. But, it is probably too late for appeasement, and I personally think it is too late.

By the way, I know people like Obama. Black, non-white people who have an evil hate for whites, and who go out of their way to find any possible way to destroy them and their works. It is easier to get away with this in Canada because of the multicultural laws, and the Human Rights Commissions, which are another way of destroying whites. I always say to these people: “Just go back to where you came from.You don’t belong here. You don’t love the country, you don’t wish it well. It would fare better without you.”

Larry Auster did respond:

I did not mean the description “standard lying politician” to be an exhaustive critique of Obama. I was merely speaking of this photograph. I agree with what you say about him.

Below is the photograph, and you can read Auster's full post here:



Here is more on the notes I took with me to the dinner, based on the discussion topic. I focused on "cult of personlality, and on Obama:
1. Obama started with "niceness" then started showing Mussolini moments. But he still uses his "nice guy" persona
- Obama doesn't have the chutzpah to pull it off
- From my blog post Mocker in Chief:
-- [Obama] looks nervous
--Stuttering
--lying
--Forgetting what he said
--Wants to go with the "Obama nice guy, nice husband, nice father" image

2. Michele Bachmann's statement, in an interview in October 9, 2013, which I posted on blog as "A Dictatorship Under Somebody Like Barack Obama...":

I want the Tea Party to know they made a profound difference, and what they're fighting for is to see if we're actually going to be a constitutional republic or if we're going to be totally devolved into a dictatorship under somebody like Barack Obama.

3. Obama's "I am no longer the candidate. I am the President" declaration, which he said soon after his election in 2012 which I discuss in my post on September 2012: Obama's Mussolini Moment, and Other Moments at the DNC

In this post, I also comment on the humility with which Lincoln accepted his role as president, and how Obama used Lincoln's words to his advantage.

4. Mocker in Chief, where I discuss Obama's cruel mockery of Michele Bachmann, rather than substantively discuss (disagree or agree) her comments on his dictatorial desires.

5. And the post Obama's Mussolini Moment, and Other Moments at the DNC, I discuss Obama's use of slavery as the reason for "social justice" in American politics and society.

One of the comments I made, regarding Obamacare, is that Obama may appear to vacillate, but he hasn't budged an inch on his basic views. Now, even liberals are turning against him (or I should say, white liberals), since they are as much under attack in Obama's race-fill world view as are conservatives.

I mention these as the political and societal topics that were discussed as my New York group's dinner. My New Year's Pledge is more specific, though it encompasses politics as well. My 2014 New Year's Pledge, "to challenge the destructive elements of our society and culture" will more specifically analyze how this is affecting beauty, and how I (and hopefully a large "we") can deter and bring it around.
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Posted By: Kidist P. Asrat
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On Round Tables

In the Algonquin where the Round Table met
[Image Source]

I am part of a group that meets in New York (hence one of my reasons for traveling to New York this past holiday season), to have a meal together, and to discuss the latest political/social/cultural developments. I compared this group to the Knights of the Round Table, or the more current Algonquin Round Table, in my email to the host of this group:

I am working on being a permanent presence in New York! But until then, I will make it as often as I can to your "Knights of the Round Table," (although the Algonquin Round Table fits well too!).

In our last meeting, we prepared to "discuss and criticize" the following:

Politics today wants to convert the world into a sort of machine for equal production and distribution of satisfactions. The goal is inhuman, since man is not a machine. It is also unworkable, and the attempt means public institutions that don't function as intended. To some extent that's a feature and not a bug: incompetence is good when the goal is bad.

At some point people will lose faith in the project. Today there are still many true believers but people are becoming more cynical, and liberalism in particular is becoming soaked in hatred and snobbery. That tendency seems likely eventually to reach some sort of tipping point in spite of the enduring idealism, or perhaps sentimentality and literal-mindedness, of much of the American public. Also, at some point it will no longer be possible to make up for malfunction by payoffs. The money will run out or lose purchasing power.

The end result is likely to be something like a third-world dictatorship: a semi-socialist ideology no one takes very seriously, the cult of personality, crony capitalism, corrupt officials, methods of control that rely on the stick more than the carrot, and social and economic life that's mostly off the books.

Such a situation could stagger on for quite a while. It's not at all inspirational, though, and people want to believe they're in a world that makes sense and is going somewhere, so it's likely to be a seedbed for the growth or regrowth of religious communities.

Any thoughts on how these things, to the extent I'm talking about something real, are likely to play out?

I wrote in my previous post, The Fruits of the New Year:

I continued to challenge the destructive elements of our society and culture at my blog and tried to bring in contributors, with the aim of taking this small idea into a larger movement of Reclaiming Beauty.

It is well and good to have a blog, where I write independently on current (and at times historical) topics, and to have a "blog" group. But at some point, these words have to be transformed into some kind of action, and the ephemeral "blog" group has to assemble in some real place, in real time.

That is why think my New York group is so important. As I wrote in The Fruits of the New Year:

I will battle on with persistence and perseverance, and hope to accomplish some of my goals for this year.

Our table is indeed a round table of knights, where we are battling the destructive elements of our society and culture.

My idea of a round table idea was also influenced by my passing by several times the original meeting place in New York of the Algonquin group.

During my trips to New York, I go to a small diner on 44th between 5th and 6th, for a quick and inexpensive meal. It is only a few blocks away from the 42nd Street New York Public Library. Next to this diner is the Algonquin Hotel, where:

After World War I, Vanity Fair writers and Algonquin regulars Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley, and Robert E. Sherwood began lunching at The Algonquin. In 1919, they gathered in the Rose Room with some literary friends to welcome back acerbic critic Alexander Woollcott from his service as a war correspondent. It proved so enjoyable that someone suggested it become a daily event. This led to a daily exchange of ideas, opinions, and often-savage wit that has enriched the world's literary life. George S. Kaufman, Heywood Broun, and Edna Ferber were also in this August assembly, which strongly influenced writers like F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway. Perhaps their greatest contribution was the founding of The New Yorker magazine, which today is free to guests of the hotel...The group expanded to a core membership that included Edna Ferber, Franklin P. Adams, George S. Kaufman, Heywood Broun, and Marc Connelly.

Though society columns referred to them as The Algonquin Round Table, they called themselves the Vicious Circle. "By force of character," observed drama critic Brooks Atkinson, "they changed the nature of American comedy and established the tastes of a new period in the arts and theatre."

Although my idea of exchanging ideas specifically around beauty might seem tame, it is surprising how strongly people feel when confronted about their definition of beauty, especially in our liberalized society, where everything is gradually being diminished to the same level of ugliness, all in the name of equality. Bringing up beauty as something with standards of excellence seems to ignite a viciousness in people, as though I'm suggesting that we eliminate all those who don't fit with this view.

The idea for specifically battling against ugliness, and fighting for beauty, is I think much more difficult than for fighting for our culture and society. Of course, the first problem is the definition of beauty, although I think there are good enough definitions of beauty. I think another problem will arise when we question people's (most people in our modern society) acceptance of ugliness, and allowing the usurpation of beauty by ugliness. No-one wants to be identified as a nurturer of ugliness, and each will thus defend "to death" his concept of beauty as we criticize and label it as ugliness (or the antithesis of beauty).

Also, I'm saying that beauty is hierarchical (some things that are more beautiful than others), and it is better to be upfront about it than to be subversive (and liberal). The idea of hierarchy in anything, let alone appearances, is not a popular one in our modern, liberal era, and will probably be attacked as viciously as the definition of beauty. And as I've written elsewhere (I'll find the sources), beauty is transmitted to various levels of society, which is another form of hierarchy. Those who have the capacity to see beauty, or to live in beauty (artists for example, or the wealthy) can set the example for others. A beautiful piece of jewelry, in gold and other precious stones, can be imitated in less expensive material, but can still hold some kind of magical attractiveness.

This concept of elitism and societal hierarchy is not popular in the new world (America and Canada), and it speaks of the aristocracy that was left behind in the old world. Although, I have to say that both Canada and America foster a hypocritical and subversive liberal elite, while the "elitist" Knights of the Round Table was actually designed (to be round) in order to remove a "head" of table, and allow discussions to proceed with equal voice (and strength) for all the table's members.

The Round Table is:

...King Arthur's famed table in the Arthurian legend, around which he and his Knights congregate. As its name suggests, it has no head, implying that everyone who sits there has equal status. The table was first described in 1155 by Wace, who relied on previous depictions of Arthur's fabulous retinue. The symbolism of the Round Table developed over time; by the close of the 12th century it had come to represent the chivalric order associated with Arthur's court, the Knights of the Round Table. [Source: Wikipedia]

The Knights' round table was designed to diminish hierarchy, in an age when hierarchy was the way of life. Yet, this group of leaders decided to meet in this "democratic" fashion, in order to have a better method for completing its goals.

This meeting of like-minded, and elite groups, in a democratic and equal fashion, shows that true elitism isn't rooted in demagoguery, and dictatorship. It is just an efficient way of ruling. And that in many ways, Godly and conscientious elites can be democratic, whereas equal opportunity seeking liberals can be demagogues. But, the balance falls against liberals, who have repeatedly shown us that their demagoguery is much more vicious than the elitism (if it is vicious at all) of traditional elites.

Below is the Charge Given to the Knights by King Arthur.

The first line is:

God make you a good man and fail not of beauty.

It is interesting to note that this confidence in ruling is rooted in a Godly humility. And that beauty (I think here it means order)
The next lines continue with the message of goodliness and of protecting and defending the weak:

Thou must keep thy word to all and not be feeble of good believeth and faith. Right must be defended against might and distress must be protected. Thou must know good from evil and the vain glory of the world, because great pride and bobauce maketh great sorrow. Should anyone require ye of any quest so that it is not to thy shame, thou shouldst fulfil the desire.

And chivalry towards women:

Thou shouldst be for all ladies and fight for their quarrels, and ever be courteous...

It is interesting that the Knights, along with their humility and adherence to good, are there to battle the world of its evil tendencies:

Right must be defended against might and distress must be protected. Thou must know good from evil and the vain glory of the world

.
The Algonquin Round Table was also called "The Vicious Circle." It may have been vindictive and cruel at times, but I think its real purpose was to set some kind of standard for art, culture and literature. Like the Knights of the Round Table, the Algonquin group must have had its standards which it felt it had to uphold, in culture and specifically in literature. Its label as vicious must have come from its confrontational stance.
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Posted By: Kidist P. Asrat
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A Beauty Movement

Image Title: Cornus Florida. (Dogwood).
Artist: Bigelow, Jacob, 1787-1879
Medium: Engravings, Hand-colored
Source: American medical botany,
being a collection of the native medicinal
plants of the United States,
containing their botanical history and
chemical analysis, and properties and
uses in medicine, diet and
the arts, with coloured engravings
Location: Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
Rare Books Division

The New York Public Library's digital gallery has a wealth of images. I found the dogwood illustration above from the Nature Illustrated: Flowers, Plants, and Trees collection, here.


Dogwood Sketch
By: KPA

Below is an excerpt from my grant proposal for the Cullman Center Grant for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library.
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My book Reclaiming Beauty aims to document the contribution that beauty has made toward our Western civilization, from the earliest records of God’s love of beauty, to a young child who sees beauty almost as soon as he is born. Our civilization thrived, prospered and matured because of beauty. Our great artists, architects, writers, philosophers and scientists have always referred to beauty with awe and wonder. It is in the modern era that beauty began to be undermined and eventually neglected by artists and other intellectual leaders.

Reclaiming Beauty will show that the abandonment of beauty leads to the death of culture, and eventually society. Modern man’s neglect of beauty has initiated the cult of ugliness, leaving us with bleakness and nihilism.

But, people want beauty. And they will surround themselves with some kind of aesthetic quality. Still, beauty is the business of the knowledgeable. The man on the street may be able to recognize beauty, but he would not be able to explain why it is beautiful. That is the task of the experts.

With Reclaiming Beauty, I aim to present my ideas, observations and analyses on beauty, and to provide a guide for recommendations on how to remove oneself from the nefarious influences of our beauty-rejecting world. This way, we can build a parallel world which will eventually form a growing movement of beauty-reclaiming individuals, who can start to shape a world where beauty is not minimized and rejected.

Reclaiming Beauty will be the first book on beauty to make a comprehensive, historical, cultural and societal review of beauty. It will describe the moment (or moments) when beauty was not only undermined, but eventually abandoned, as a paradigm of civilized life. Rather than attributing beauty to a Godly goodness, philosophers, writers and artists began to view beauty as their enemy, and as their nemesis. They saw God as a judge who would not let them do as they wished. In order to pursue the image of beauty they desired, they began to look elsewhere. They began to abandon God, and by abandoning God, they began to change their world, filling it with horror and ugliness.

I maintain that this was not their objective, which was merely to look for a different perspective on aesthetics. This realization may have come too late, and too weakly, from the cultural leaders, but ordinary people, who are most affected by these changes in worldview, are already incurring changes. But they cannot make useful inferences, and hence necessary changes. They still need an elite to help them materialize their desires and observations.

A new elite that is pro-beauty needs to take the cultural reins, to guide and return our world back to its awe and wonder of beauty. To this end, Reclaiming Beauty will add an element which no other book on beauty has attempted: guidelines on how to renounce this world of anti-beauty, and how to progressively bring beauty back into our culture.

The book will be a manifesto for concrete references to these basic ideas. Along with the book, a website will be developed that will be an interactive continuation of the book. On the website, members can post their original articles, shorter commentaries, articles and excerpts from other authors, and encourage feedback and comments from other members. At some point, this group can develop into a more formal society, which can meet in a physical locations a few times a year, building beauty societies, whose purpose would be to develop ideas and strategies for bringing beauty back into our culture.

Part of the book will revised versions of what I've been developing over a number of years in my blog posts at Camera Lucida, Reclaiming Beauty and Our Changing Landscape, and from my full-length articles from Kidist P. Asrat Articles.

All images that head the chapters will be from my own collection of photographs and designs. Some of these images can be found at Kidist P. Photographs and Well-Patterned. Others I will choose from my collection of photographs, mostly in negatives and prints. Others I will take as the project progresses.
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Posted By: Kidist P. Asrat
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