[Leica] Re: WAS Riefenstahl NOW Newfoundland nationalism

[locke at straylight.ca (Greg Locke)]

Of course I do Emanuel. :^)  ...you're a smart guy.

I'm just trying to get people to look at this never ending discussion from a
different perspective than politics from the last century.

As journalists we know that nothing is what it seems and everyone has an
agenda so that is where we should also be looking ...beyond the history
books. The ambitions and motivations of individuals are the basis of all
historical events and they are not always what we think they are.  Maybe
contemporary examples will help us put things in perspective. The political
tactics, strategy, propaganda techniques and "art of politics" of Hitler's
party and government were and are not unique. The "art of politics" knows no
political ideology, time or place.

We also know that at times we have to set aside our personal feelings and
beliefs inorder to get the full story as a service to our readers. It is our
jobs to give the full context of the story. That sometimes means making
analogy.

In "anthropology school" we were taught to view situations from different
discipline perspectives to try and understand the motivations for
social/political/economic actions by individuals and social groups.

I want people to try and understand the artists perspective in the
environment of the day with an honest, unbiased, detached or non-judgemental
eye. 

Maybe I am wrong to take this out of the emotional ring and try to drag it
to the academic ring but understanding is the key to knowledge, not facts.

Yeah, she was a Nazi propaganda film maker... SO WHAT!! Tell me something I
don't know.
The question should be why and how and what does she have to teach us about
her art and her times.

{insert witty punchline}

...but doing this we will understand why Greg Locke (and other) picks up
Leicas and makes pictures and books about their country and that of others.
Craft + motivation = artistic statement.

Greg Locke
St. John's, Newfoundland
http://blog.greglocke.com

--TRINITY Photographic Workshops--
     September 3 -5, 2004
  at The Artisan Inn, Trinity
www.straylight.ca/trinityworkshop 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: lug-bounces+locke=straylight.ca@leica-users.org 
> [mailto:lug-bounces+locke=straylight.ca@leica-users.org] On 
> Behalf Of Emanuel Lowi
> Sent: Tuesday, August 24, 2004 11:41 AM
> To: lug@leica-users.org
> Subject: [Leica] Re: WAS Riefenstahl NOW Newfoundland nationalism
> 
> I suspect that, given the chance, many Newfoundland 
> nationalists would jump at the opportunity to eliminate the 
> Quebecois and the rest of the Canadians, employing the 
> trenchant manual techniques of harp sealing. 
> 
> Quebec's theft of Labrador remains a sore point. Ditto 
> Canada's genocidal mismanagement of the cod.
> 
> But Newfounlanders, being the fine people that they are, 
> choose instead to neutralize their rivals with kindness. 
> 
> This is Canada, not Germany circa 1939. 
> 
> And that's why we ignore Riefenstahl (the person and her 
> work) at our collective peril. And I bet Greg Locke (another 
> Leica-toting creator of nationalist
> propaganda) agrees.
> 
> Emanuel Lowi
> Montreal 
> 
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