Our Man in Vienna

Comparisons

Being in Third-Reich-Austria at an early age,
and then returning to my birthplace 24 years later,
afforded me a unique historical view.

My piece bearing the title
Violence Under the Guise of Art
contains aspects of the Aftermath and Aftereffects
of the Third Reich that have not yet
been brought to the fore.

The present is a key to the past
and vice versa.

The Aftermath and the Aftereffects
exceed being a Shadow and an Echo.

Is Actionism* a follow-up
of days gone-by
that have actually
not quite gone by?

Was the Brown Baton passed on?
Did the Actionists grab it
and fill the gap?

Is Actionism the old spirit
in a new garb?

Violence has been integrated into the arts
and poses as a protest against violence
of a brown hue..

Actionist anti-humanist deeds and declarations
cry out for comparisons.

Comparing today’s diction to yesteryear’s
more than makes the case

Actionism is not a catharsis for barbarism.
It is a bona-fide ideology and mode of behavior.
.
The perpetrators of the Third Rich
showed the Actionists the way.

Advocates of Actionism espouse
extreme forms of violence
with no holds barred.

Actionist dedication t
o promulgating inhumanity
is unadulterated.

Actionists are providers
as well as doers.

Actionist violence borders on crime,
and at times
transcends that border.

Violence Under the Guise of Art
is a money-making operation.

Sado-masochism sells.
Sadism is a bestseller!

You have to hand it to the hucksters;
their forerunners had inhibitions
about declaring themselves.
They have none.

The idea of packaging violence as art is brilliant,
and labeling it as anti-fascism
is a stroke of genius.

It is not an easy matter
to defend the indefensible
(even for a genius).

The powers-that-be
present the tormenting of man and beast,
as well as the abuse of minors and children,
successfully (so far).as ant-fascistic art.

The proponents of Actionism
do not engage in a debate,
since they know that they do not have
a polemical leg to stand on.
Thus there is no alternative
to cancelling the critic out.

As it is, everything is hunky-dory.
The anti-fascists are fighting fascism,
the purveyors and perpetrators
of Violence under the Guise of Art
are enjoying international fame
and someone comes along
and tries to gum up the works.
No wonder they do their best
to cancel the critic out.

I give them an A+
for effort.

No doubt about it.
Third Reich inhumanity was the precursor
to today’s Actionist cult in the arts.

The Third Reich fought
almost to the last man and the last bullet.
If barbarism had been declared as art,
the enthusiasm would have been even greater,

more is here

 

*Vienna-Actionism