arts = "leftist hobbies"... don't they have it backwards?

[ochame]

I really don't understand politics anymore. Did the right and left switch places at some point, and I didn't notice?

The populist Freedom Party who lent their support to the coalition dismissed the arts as "leftist hobbies". It is a phrase that caught on and many feel has damaged public perception of the value of culture in the Netherlands. ( Read more... )

Comments

[pro_sha]

Hm. Everything is consistent. Freedom party is right-wing. They think that arts is not very productive but for hobbies. What are you surprised by?

[ochame]

But that's always been the left-wing thing? Art is decadent/bourgeois, bad influence and all that? Cultural revolution, productive labor and матросы делают свои дела в вазах зимнего дворца?

[pro_sha]

I don't get what you are saying. I think it makes sense. Not materialistic = left.

[triz_wiz]

Arts supported by public funds is a treated as a leftist idea. On the other hand, ideologically correct, "revolutionary" art is OK ("cinema and circus" etc).