This may be offending, but I got from a friend who was just as shocked as I was upon reading it, some people just don't have any compassion at all, I have also included a blog response from a fellow conservative, it's interesting when one conservative doesn't back another.....It this is offending to anyone, I will remove it, I just want people's thoughts...


AESTHETICS OF HATE: R.I.P. DIMEBAG ABBOTT, & GOOD RIDDANCE
-- Time For Conservative Imagination!

by William Grim, Iconoclast Contributing Editor

You've undoubtedly heard by now that a demented fan last week killed heavy metal guitarist Dimebag Abbott at the Alrosa Villa in Columbus, Ohio. While I am extremely happy to hear that the assassin was shot to death by a brave Columbus policeman and I in no way want to engage in a blaming the victim scenario, I cannot deny that there much in Mr. Abbott's demise of one being hoisted on one's petard. The squalor, inhumanity, filth (both in the metaphorical and hygienic senses), depravity, ugliness and ignorance of everything that heavy metal represents (Like rap, I cannot use the noble term music in a description of heavy metal) creates a mindset among its devotees in which Mr. Abbott's assassination was an event that was all but waiting to happen.

It was highly amusing, and also terribly sad, to watch on television fans conducting a "vigil" for the slain Mr. Abbott outside of the Alrosa Villa. It was an assemblage of ignorant, semi-human barbarians who were filthy in attire and manner, intellectually incoherent and above all else, hideously ugly to the point of physical deformity. Here is a definite case in which the outer appearance of these "fans" accurately represented the hideousness of their souls. That the physical deformity of their ugliness was self-inflicted makes the spiritual tragedy of their misspent lives all the more tragic.

But one can see why the heavy metal fans so closely identified with Mr. Abbott. He was an ignorant, barbaric, untalented possessor of a guitar and large amplifier system. Freakish in appearance, more simian than human, he was the performer of a type of "entertainment" that can be likened only to a gorilla on PCP. Lacking subtlety, wit, style, emotional range and anything approaching even the smallest iota of intellectual or musical interest, Mr. Abbott was part of a generation that has confused sputum with art and involuntary reflex actions with emotion.

De gustibus non disputandem est. Matters of taste are not subject to argument. That has been a general principle of aesthetics for some time, and when we are talking about the visceral preference for Mozart or Haydn or Beethoven among civilized human beings we are on pretty safe ground. I do not understand exactly why I prefer Haydn to my good friend who prefers Beethoven. But we both agree (as do all civilized human beings) that both Messrs. Haydn and Beethoven are numerous steps further along the evolutionary trail than Dimebag Abbott.

Here is one area in which conservatives have failed and failed miserably. Whether it is out of a lack of interest or despair, conservatives for too long have ceded the entire field of aesthetics to the trust fund red babies of the blue states. And look at what this has brought us. So-called heavy metal music, so-called rap music, operas and stage plays in which modern "stagings" reduce Verdi and Shakespeare to the condition of a schizophrenic's finger paintings. Leftist domination in the visual arts has made a mockery of the aesthetic greatness of modernism and replaced it with the turd encased in Lucite. And the grammatically-challenged racist rantings of Amiri Baraka now pass for poetry.

However, we conservatives should not confuse family values with aesthetics. In the realm of art, our evangelical brethren have many crimes to answer for. When a church replaces Bach with Bacharach it has engaged in the aesthetic rape of the liturgy. Just because one has good intentions and approaches the numinous with "sincerity" and "authenticity" (the latter term ironically being a buzzword among the Marxist aestheticians of the Frankfurt School), that does not absolve one from aesthetic responsibility.

As far as I am concerned, those who advocate a dumbed-down liturgy and schlocky pop music substitutes for Bach, Handel and the masses of the Renaissance, are as offensive as the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church and his perverse sexual politics.

Part of the hard work of civilization is teaching young to be able to distinguish between the good and the bad in all aspects of life. If we teach our young children to obey the 10 Commandments and to obey the laws of the land, but don't teach them to realize that Johann Sebastian Bach is superior to Dimebag Abbott, we have failed as parents and mentors. If a person has gone through 12 or 13 years of education and has not developed an appreciation for the greatest artistic achievements of mankind, that education has been an utter failure.

While laissez-faire is the correct approach to economics it has no place in the realm of aesthetics or morality. A confidant civilization imposes its morality and aesthetics on it young people. Yes, you heard it right. We impose. The Rousseauian noble savage is a myth. Left unchecked and untutored the savage will never attain nobility.

There are those who will accuse me of elitism. And I admit it. I am a conservative elitist. I want the very best. The very best form of government, the very best of civilizations, the very best educational system, the very best literature and art, the very best music, the very best way of life. If I need open heart surgery I want to go to an elite heart surgeon.

Mediocrity is the goal of socialism. Americans should aspire to greatness.

In the past forty years, conservatives have won great victories in the political, economic and moral realms, but we stand to throw all our gains away if we do not reclaim ascendancy in the aesthetic realm as well.

And while the murder of even a semi-human barbarian like Mr. Abbott is tragic and to be lamented, it would be wrong to ignore Mr. Abbott's complicity in contributing to the soul-deadening culture of death, ugliness, depravity and inhumanity that spawned his killer.

Hugo von Hofmannsthal once remarked that "all powerful imaginations are conservative." It is time for conservatives to utilize their imaginations and reclaim the field of aesthetics from the left-that is, while there is still something left in the aesthetic realm worth reclaiming.

Iconoclast contributing editor William E. Grim is a writer who lives in Germany and is a native of Columbus, Ohio. He may be reached at wgrim@myrealbox.com.

there is his email, and here is a response from a fellow conservative

I Spit On Your Grave

By Mark Radulich


AESTHETICS OF HATE: R.I.P. DIMEBAG ABBOTT, & GOOD
RIDDANCE

Conservative columnist William Grim (wgrim@myrealbox.com) wrote a piece
entitled above, that essentially blames the recently murdered heavy
metal guitarist Darrell a.k.a. "Dimebag" Abbott of causing his own
death. He says that heavy metal itself is the culprit and had Abbott
not created such wretched "music" then a "fan" wouldn't have been moved
to murder. But here's Mr. Grim in his own words, "I cannot deny that
there much in Mr. Abbott's demise of one being hoisted on one's petard.
The squalor, inhumanity, filth (both in the metaphorical and hygienic
senses), depravity, ugliness and ignorance of everything that heavy
metal represents (Like rap, I cannot use the noble term music in a
description of heavy metal) creates a mindset among its devotees in
which Mr. Abbott's assassination was an event that was all but waiting
to happen."

As a matter of fairness, the line before the above statement was, "I in
no way want to engage in a blaming the victim scenario." I cannot see
how he isn't blaming the victim here but hey, he's the writer of the
piece and I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.

The bulk of the piece revolves around trying to get good conservative
folks to take back the arts in the name of all that is good and Godly
in the world. For example, "Here is one area in which conservatives
have failed and failed miserably. Whether it is out of a lack of
interest or despair, conservatives for too long have ceded the entire
field of aesthetics to the trust fund red babies of the blue states.
And look at what this has brought us. So-called heavy metal music,
so-called rap music, operas and stage plays in which modern "stagings"
reduce Verdi and Shakespeare to the condition of a schizophrenic's
finger paintings. Leftist domination in the visual arts has made a
mockery of the aesthetic greatness of modernism and replaced it with
the turd encased in Lucite. And the grammatically-challenged racist
rantings of Amiri Baraka now pass for poetry."

For someone attempting to paint himself as a thinker of the highest
order, I'm left perplexed as to why he's attacking a murder victim whom
he's never met. He's also apparently never done a serious study of the
origins of heavy metal, the psycho-dynamics of why it appeals to
certain segment of the population (in the millions world-wide mind you)
or the effects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in former soldiers
returning from combat.

Nathan Gale didn't kill Darrell Abbott because the devil or the rhythm
made him do it. Nathan Gale was a former marine and apparently was in
desperate need of therapy. Locals in his area of Ohio saw, "...his
hulking, hooded figure walking quickly up and down Fifth Street several
times a day, often dressed in the same outfit for days in a row."
(Credit VH1.com) That's a clear sign of some degree of dementia, in my
humble opinion.

The armed services are hiring licensed clinical social workers to work
with former combat soldiers to properly reintegrate them back into
society rather than just cutting them loose "Rambo style". I don't
know what happened to Gale or how he left the marines but this sad
incident, as well as his inexplicable behavior was a tragic cry for
help. It was not an indictment of the lyrics and style of underground
music.

I've been critical of liberals for resorting to name calling when logic
failed them but Mr. Grim reminds us that conservatives are just as
fallible in the childishness department. "He (Abbott) was an ignorant,
barbaric, untalented possessor of a guitar and large amplifier system.
Freakish in appearance, more simian than human, he was the performer of
a type of "entertainment" that can be likened only to a gorilla on PCP.
Lacking subtlety, wit, style, emotional range and anything approaching
even the smallest iota of intellectual or musical interest, Mr. Abbott
was part of a generation that has confused sputum with art and
involuntary reflex actions with emotion."

As Andrew Sullivan would say, you sir, get the Malkin award. I think
it's rather morbid and classless to insult the recently
departed. Especially when you espouse the aesthetics of Bach and
Beethoven. Mr. Grim would most likely be saddened to know that many
musicians in heavy metal were inspired by classical music and some were
in fact classically trained musicians. He would most likely be
flabbergasted to know that black metal musicians such as Dimmu Borgir
employ the use of a full orchestra when recording their albums. My how
gauche!

Mr. Grim's entire column sinks to depths of grave robbing in my
opinion. He is using the occasion of a musician's tragic murder to
invoke the "Culture War" and promote elitism. He's doing this in blind
ignorance of the music he's criticizing. I doubt Mr. Grim has ever
spoken to a fan of heavy metal or has been to a concert. I would gather
he's never actually ever done any fieldwork and interviewed any metal
musician to see if his hypothesis, that they're all "simians," is
actually valid. That is what we academics like to call, "fallacious
thinking".

Maybe I'm giving him too much credit and he just likes to pick on kids
and dead people from his computer in Germany where nobody can confront
him. But then, I don't know the man and I don't want to be
judgmental. That would be classless.

I am willing to make a deal with Mr. Grim however. If he can assure me
that men and women across the globe will never bring children into the
world they don't want, then I will condemn heavy metal, the music I
clung to in my formative years. If he can assure me that fathers across
the globe will never abandon their children, then I will condemn heavy
metal, the music I clung to in my formative years. If he can assure me
that a mother will never again birth a child addicted to drugs, then I
will condemn heavy metal, the music I clung to in my formative
years. If he can assure me that every child in every part of the world
will grow up in an environment free of crime, filth and disease, then I
will condemn heavy metal, the music I clung to in my formative
years. If he can assure me a child will never be molested or raped ever
again, then I will condemn heavy metal, the music I clung to in my
formative years. If he can invent a cure for alienation, then I will
condemn heavy metal, the music I clung to in my formative years.

In the words of Socrates, "I only know one thing, and that is that I
know nothing." Mr. William Grim sir, you stand in good company.

http://www.theskyiscrape.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=5085

IBTL.

my bad.....