Commentary by David Biddle, Copyright 2025
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Which Way We Going Now?
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Being an Artist in This Strange New World
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I’ve been wondering about two things ever since the spring of 2016 when Donald Trump began winning primaries and getting all sorts of weird media attention. First off, were the Republican Party and its voters really willing to accept responsibility for the direction that guy wanted to push them? And, secondly, how much would the art world step up as a reaction to what Trump and his ilk seemed to want to do to our country?
Obviously, that first question has been answered. But the second one is still up in the air. How exactly are creative people going to respond using their talents, especially now, halfway into the third decade of this century?
During Trump’s first term, the only real potent work going out to the edge of our culture seemed to me that from the world of comedians and comic wannabes. Lots of late-night TV joking, social media memes, and talking head cable news folks getting goofy. Many of us kept laughing as best we could, waiting until normal life could start up again, especially once Covid-19 made things so difficult.
It’s clear now, with this second term, that we’re in a different moment historically. Attempting to obliterate major American institutions and remake our national economy in order to create ever more tax cuts for the wealthy is not something to joke about. To those of us who have worked with and in government agencies professionally (I had many roles as an analyst, planner, and administrator for nearly 30 years) the idea that public servants would be reviled as members of a so-called “deep state” (a fictional propaganda concept), is extremely sad, frustrating, and maddening. There’s little question, too, that we are only at the beginning of a four-year debacle of incompetence and unnecessary cruelty.
So, I wonder how painters, songwriters, photographers, designers, writers, choreographers, sculptors, filmmakers and other committed, professional artists see what’s going on. We are watching a level of hostile disregard for virtually everything that made our country an endlessly enthralling place to live and create for at least the last 160 years. Glimmers of imaginative rebellion and poetic opposition have begun to pop up, but when is it going to become a tidal wave or a movement? For that matter, when are audiences and fans going to stop wanting to bear witness to cute kitchen dancing and funny pet tricks in favor of honest questions about dishonest propaganda and dishonoring what it means to be a member of our diverse and complicated society?
All of this is deeply frustrating on so many levels. Where does one start? I don’t see politics in my work. I see common sense and concern for the lives of my fellow citizens. I believe in peace, love, community, independence, laughing, looking people in the eyes, being honest, and working hard not to be angry or hateful towards others, trying to understand not judge. That’s all seeping into my stories these days—from novels to flash fiction. I can only assume a similar approach will be true of other artists over the next few years.
We keep hearing the media talk about “bubbles” and “silos” and “different realities.” Artists have always known about those things. The arts can be an antidote to politics by waking up honest and meaningful emotion on deep levels for each single one of us 340 million people. Even if the only thing we accomplish is to remind people that we’re all in this together, we’ll have made a big contribution to a better future for our grandchildren and their children.
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David Biddle is a Philadelphia-based writer whose new novel, Sound Effect Infinity, is available at all the obvious places online. He can be reached through his website: https://davidbiddle.net
For additional articles by David Biddle, link here: https://tonyward.com/david-biddle-sound-effect-infinity/