Do artistically inclined people tend to be more liberal?

[angus]

by and large they do.  one presumes that the "starving" aspect of the starving artist puts them in line with "american liberalism"  an engineer is much less likely to go through a destitute period after academic training than the musician or the painter or the novelist.  n'est ce-pas? 

If by liberal we mean what GHW Bush referred to as this great liberal democratic system (e.g., die Liberale for Germans) then it probably has more to do with the creative type's quest for originality and self-expression.  (In this case, liberal is quite the opposite of "american liberalism" since it involves more, and not less, freedom.) 

presumably, then, if one is both the starving artist and the intrinsically creative, one wants both types of liberalism.  Freedom for everyone, except for the capitalist class person, who is expected to surrender some wealth in forced support of the starving artist.  this is not hypocritical, by the way, since the very logic required to define and recognize hypocrisy is presumed to reside in the left, not the right, hemisphere of the brain. 

[Palefire]

The portion of the artistic community that looks for, much less receives, hand outs from the capitalist class is very narrow.

From an economic point of view (which is only a small piece of this puzzle), I think it would be more revealing to look at the motivation of the typical artist. Most don't live and breathe to make money; they live and breathe to create and express. People that live and breathe to make money don't tend to be economically liberal. People who view money as side issue in their lives tend to be more economically liberal - and for many different reasons; some altruistic, some not so altruistic - that depends upon the individual.

Now we come to this with two different perspectives. NYC has a very different art scene than Ashville and Penland and Durham. The NYC art scene a pretty messy one that does involve hand outs and the like for some - so I get what you are saying. But I think it's a very large generalization to impose the actions of few upon the many.

[angus]

The portion of the artistic community that looks for, much less receives, hand outs from the capitalist class is very narrow.

From an economic point of view (which is only a small piece of this puzzle), I think it would be more revealing to look at the motivation of the typical artist. Most don't live and breathe to make money; they live and breathe to create and express. People that live and breathe to make money don't tend to be economically liberal. People who view money as side issue in their lives tend to be more economically liberal - and for many different reasons; some altruistic, some not so altruistic - that depends upon the individual.

Now we come to this with two different perspectives. NYC has a very different art scene than Ashville and Penland and Durham. The NYC art scene a pretty messy one that does involve hand outs and the like for some - so I get what you are saying. But I think it's a very large generalization to impose the actions of few upon the many.

well, I'd say that many wealthy folks support the arts.  (yes, I'll admit the implication that artists are those who are voting Left is false.  In fact, they have, collectively, a lower percentage VAP than most.)  But lawyers, physicians, etc., are often big patrons.  Also, this isn't probably limited to NYC, but it's probably true that in only select markets does the city actually allow venting  (e.g., right now they're allowing local artists to paint wonderful murals on the construction barricades at battery park, etc.) 

the main thrust of my post was to clarify, actually.  Look, I think we can all agree on what is "artistically inclined people" but there's often confoundment on this forum of the term "liberal"  right?  You know as well as I do that when Americans hear the word "liberal" they often, but not always, think of The Left.  (e.g., liberals favor stricter gun control, often higher taxes, etc.)  But in many societies "liberal" still brings to mind the concept embodied in the related word "liberty"  (and I think in the particular speech by GHWB to which I referred he used "liberal in that sense.)  For a while we had taken to calling that Classic Liberal, as opposed to American "Liberal".  So we have at least two (largely opposed!) definitions.  I'm saying that by either definition artists are more liberal.  And then is there a paradox??  (can you want more freedom and still want more control)  Well, remember these are Right Hemisphere types we're talking about to begin with, so not necessarily.

By the way, voter participation among this group is rather low, so it's really a tough call.  Though generally, if we mean Left, then it's easy to understand the phenomenon based on economic consideration.  Generally, if we mean Classic Liberal, then the phenomenon is easy to understand based on the general proclivity toward free expression.

That said, yeah, the sort answer is what you said: 

People who view money as a side issue tend to be economically liberal. 

or, as Port Arthur, TX native Janis Joplin used to say, "Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose."

you said it, Janis. 

[Blue Rectangle]

I should note, though, that some of them were pretty cool.  One that I especially liked was named after me.

Was it a painting of Gabumon?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

But I was really just trying to reclaim the thread from being another odious Hitler discussion.

How dare you. Obviously we need yet another discussion about how Hitler was CLEARLY a follower of a viewpoint the poster detests and that in fact his views were COMPLETELY opposite of the posters. So obviously all people with views the poster disagrees with are either Nazis, closet Nazis, etc. etc. etc.

[Blue Rectangle]

But I was really just trying to reclaim the thread from being another odious Hitler discussion.

How dare you. Obviously we need yet another discussion about how Hitler was CLEARLY a follower of a viewpoint the poster detests and that in fact his views were COMPLETELY opposite of the posters. So obviously all people with views the poster disagrees with are either Nazis, closet Nazis, etc. etc. etc.

Hitler was pretty sarcastic too.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

But I was really just trying to reclaim the thread from being another odious Hitler discussion.

How dare you. Obviously we need yet another discussion about how Hitler was CLEARLY a follower of a viewpoint the poster detests and that in fact his views were COMPLETELY opposite of the posters. So obviously all people with views the poster disagrees with are either Nazis, closet Nazis, etc. etc. etc.

Hitler was pretty sarcastic too.

He liked rectangles too

[Gabu]

I should note, though, that some of them were pretty cool.  One that I especially liked was named after me.

Was it a painting of Gabumon?

Har har.

No, there's this one really cool piece of modern art in the museum that was entitled "Lucas".  It's kinda hard to describe, though.

[opebo]

Not only artistically inclined people.. also intellectually inclined people.  Basically all forms of intellectual liveliness, interest in the world, skepticism, etc. tend to correlate with political liberalism.

[A18]

Yes! All intellectuals support a $15 minimum wage!

[J. J.]

Not only artistically inclined people.. also intellectually inclined people.  Basically all forms of intellectual liveliness, interest in the world, skepticism, etc. tend to correlate with political liberalism.

By your standard here, I'd be left wing.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Not only artistically inclined people.. also intellectually inclined people.  Basically all forms of intellectual liveliness, interest in the world, skepticism, etc. tend to correlate with political liberalism.

By your standard here, I'd be left wing.

But of course. Opebo has changed what "left wing", "liberal" etc. means to fit with his sickening elitism.

[J. J.]

Not only artistically inclined people.. also intellectually inclined people.  Basically all forms of intellectual liveliness, interest in the world, skepticism, etc. tend to correlate with political liberalism.

By your standard here, I'd be left wing.

But of course. Opebo has changed what "left wing", "liberal" etc. means to fit with his sickening elitism.

Of course, obepo doesn't understand reality.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Scientists seem to be more liberal than artists in my experience.

[TomC]

I would say they tend to be more radical, more thinking outside the box, not necessarily the way liberal has been defined in the last 25 years.