Your thoughts on Philistinism

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Philistinism is generally a narrow minded view of arts, spirituality, creativity, etc. It is a sort of anti-intellectual movement. However, as far as I know, it doesn't directly discredit knowledge of a subject because followers of this philosophy believe that material wealth and physical possessions are preferred over intangible or cultural wealth, as far as I can tell, and "despise" everything related to the latter. What are your thoughts? Do you think the general attitude of the US or of Americans follow this description? I'm American but I don't think of myself as a Philistine. What are your thoughts?

As a side note, my PERSONAL definition of culture is something of a more classical, marinated, tender perspective. I like older music and arts because I feel it is more attractive to me. This is not too common in our world today, where much of the population leans continually towards newer and more explorative styles of creative expression rather than the fine and beautiful works of previous aestheticians. I don't know if this is true or not and it is an assumption, but I feel that much of todays music is simplified and mainstreamed to be intellectually accessible to a larger audience, and those of us who do not wish to be involved in this mass culture are often excluded or made to be outsiders when we wouldn't have been a hundred years ago.

I think most Americans, unfortunately, are dismissive and uninterested in the arts and sciences. Most people think they should be making money rather than expressing oneself in the arts for arts sake.

A culture's really a big collection of animals and it seems like they can only be pushed on to do so many things, and pick up on queues as to what social habits, interests, etc. help them fit in the center of the curve and be more relatable to other people for the life expediency that offers. To some extent not to be 'basic' like that per say almost takes being an outsider, having something different going on internally that other people don't generally share, and it's the more challenging type of life to live which is why I don't think most people really choose to be in the out or exploratory group unless they have no choice either due to circumstance or due to their own internal pressures.

Another way to look at it - if we were to try and draw some type of conclusion about what priorities in life are from the way it treats us, it seems like that set of priorities is get born, procreate, take care of your offspring, die. Nature throws a lot of variant personalities and body types against the wall to see what sticks, does so mindless of any sort of story you might tell yourself or desire for ongoing growth you might have, and it seems like what makes up success in the mainstream circuit, ie. the get status, get the best possible mate to have the best possible children with, etc. is very different from what works in the creative circuit. That doesn't mean that you'll never have people who are successful in both but it seems far more often the case that great art, music, etc.. come from deep pain and very honest/critical examinations of life, culture, meaning, etc..

In that sense I think Philistinism is really part-in-parcel with the human procreative engine where almost every trinket you can pick up will have something to do with climbing a social ladder and if it doesn't help you climb a social ladder then you're worse off for bothering with it, otherwise if its neutral its dead weight. Obscure genres of music, art, literature, etc. are all damage and no gain to a person whose working strategy is be as much like everyone else as possible for the sake of easy power and hierarchical status.

At the moment I'm more interested in seeing what others' thoughts are than in sorting out my own.
While this may not be directly the thing it may connect to parts of it.

Philistine here and proud of it.
People can study and create all the art the wan't but it better be able to stand on it's own financially without subtitles and grants at John Q. Taxpayer's expense.

One of my mixed-media paintings recently won "Best of Show" at an art gallery.
It's a contemporary acrylic abstract.
And it sold before the opening reception.

I think really neat things will happen when we have more AI and cheaper tools for building. Architecture could become a DIY thing, providing you're following local building codes, and I could see people who have a real artistic flare really bringing back the classics, sacred geometry in architecture, etc.. without having to worry too much as to who will fund the projects - I'd think the results will speak for themselves.

Also phoenix - awesome job! The arts IMHO are the soul of humanity, and as I mentioned soul seems to be a rare commodity in our social-Darwinian utilitarian world.

The reason IMHO Philistinism isn't a thing to be proud of, now matter how evolutionarily pragmatic it might be, it completely ignores the subconscious functioning of society. That has to stay healthy, otherwise you have a society that's just not worth living in.

Thank you very much, Misslizard, Kraichgauer, and techstepgenr8tion!

Here's a photo of the painting below, the unframed version. It's called "Serenity Storm."