Friday Five takes off....

Friday Five will be ‘off line’ for the next few weeks as I will be teaching in Australia and making visits to New Zealand, Hong Kong and Romania!  Friday Five will be back in the middle of June at the latest…

Meanwhile, let me point you to three of the most popular editions of Friday Five in case you missed them:

Meryl Streep’s greatest success?  considered the importance of two very long term, stable relationships to her unparalleled success as an actor.

Redefining marriage: what is at stake?  looks at the relational importance of marriage between a man and a woman to society in the context of the UK debate to redefine it.

The third crisis of public trust was prompted by the enquiry into phone hacking by journalists working for Rupert Murdoch’s media empire; it examines the central role of trust in society.

All the previous editions of Friday Five can be read and shared on the Friday Five site here.

Till next time! 
Jonathan

What have we done with The Scream?

The hammer fell at $120 million, the most expensive work of art ever sold at auction last week. The painting was Edvard Munch’s “The Scream”, one of the most iconic and best known images ever created.

 

Yet the artist’s studio and the auctioneer’s showroom could hardly be further apart.

Munch painted this version of The Scream in 1895. Having rejected the narrow pietism of his family, he joined a Bohemian community in Oslo and came under the influence of the nihilist Hans Jaeger, who sought to drive his generation either to moral corruption or to suicide. Munch chose the former, and through his art yearned to ‘paint his own soul’, translating raw emotion and his search for meaning on to the canvas.

He later described the personal anguish behind the painting: "For several years I was almost mad… You know my picture, 'The Scream?' I was stretched to the limit – nature was screaming in my blood…"

The painting has since captured the imagination of each generation in the twentieth century, as it expresses at gut level the pervasive sense of angst and alienation – from ourselves, from others, from nature, from God.

Contrast this with the scene last week at Sotheby’s, when art collectors and their agents gathered in elegant attire to fight over who would part with the most outrageous sum to acquire this cry of a lost young man on a Norwegian bridge.

Munch’s iconic painting no longer provokes serious discussion about what has gone so tragically wrong with the Western view of the world; instead the image has become domesticated, commercialised and trivialised.

In place of stimulating an enquiry into how nihilism and its 21st century forms lead people to despair and suicide, The Scream excited investors into calculating the painting’s financial value and how that might increase.

Rather than prompting a sympathetic hearing of young people’s troubled search for meaning in a painful and confusing world, the record-breaking painting has become the trophy of someone who might instead have spent that $120 million on initiatives to rekindle a sense belonging, understanding and hope to those young people inheriting only broken families, lifeless philosophies, bankrupt economies and a fearful world.

What have we done with The Scream?

Urban democracy: directly elected mayors?

Quote

“A politician thinks of the next election; a statesman thinks of the next generation.”  James Freeman Clarke, American theologian and author (1810-88)

News

Yesterday, ten British cities held a referendum on whether to establish directly elected mayors, in place of the system whereby local councillors choose their leader. So far, only one of the first five cities has said yes, albeit with low voter turnout.

Advocates of change argue that the current system lacks accountability and is prone to party political squabbles; most city dwellers don’t even know who the leader of their council is. A directly elected mayor would be an advocate for the city, accountable to the electorate as a whole, with a city-wide mandate to deliver change. Opponents say this will only increase the costs of local government, centralise power in one person, and move away from consensus politics.

However, since cities are increasingly competing with each other nationally and internationally for investment and tourism, then it could be argued that a champion is needed – someone who is charismatic, ambitious and entrepreneurial, at arm’s length from party bosses. Boris Johnson, the front runner in yesterday’s election for London Mayor, typifies this kind of leader.

From a relational angle, a stronger relationship is established between the voters and their elected mayor, with the potential for greater transparency and accountability. Also, by rallying the whole population around common goals for the city, the mayor can build commonality and strengthen community relationships. However, with more powers available, there’s the risk that a directly elected mayor may also downgrade relationships with other elected councillors and override minority concerns.

An elected mayor can help foster a sense of local identity, pride and industriousness; but the drive to promote the city’s interests in a competitive market must never lead to antagonistic relationships with other localities. In a relational society, competition between cities or regions should always be tempered by a commitment to regional and national solidarity. Let’s hope any elected mayors will have the wisdom to strike that balance.

Read on…

In 1904, GK Chesterton published his first novel, “The Napoleon of Notting Hill”, set 80 years in the future in a politically drab and apathetic society.  It tells a story of what happens when localism is taken to an extreme.  Read a review of the book here. 

Walk the talk

Apathetic voter turnout undermines the whole basis and legitimacy of democracy; what might you do to encourage more people to go to the polls – even if they don’t think their vote will make any difference?

The Last Word

Deuteronomy chapter 1, verse 13: “Choose some well-respected men from each tribe who are known for their wisdom and understanding, and I will appoint them as your leaders.”