Symposium: Should Beauty Be Used?

This article is in response to “Want Truth? Work for Beauty” and is part of the symposium on What’s Wrong with Conservatism and How Do We Make It Right?

Should beauty play a role in the conservative movement? Although I am inclined to answer yes, I am also haunted by Hayek’s explanation for why a numerous group on the top is likely to be formed by the worse elements of a society: “It will be those whose vague and imperfectly formed ideas are easily swayed and whose passions and emotions are readily aroused…” It saddens me that it seems to be suggested by Mr. Russello that we would do well to take advantage of this.

Is that really all that we are?

I can’t help but think of Kevin Gutzman’s point: “Let us begin to speak to our fellows as citizens to be respected, not consumers to be sold or constituents to be manipulated.” One of the reason the liberals’ approach works is because it caters to the readily aroused passions and emotions of humanity. This seems to be an example of the aforementioned quote. Do we really want to imitate this?

At the very heart of conservatism lie principles and rational arguments. These come from natural law, human nature, and deductions from a study of the traditions we have inherited. I’m just not sure this can be adequately expressed by the “persuasive imaginativeness” which Mr. Russello is claiming can be used.

And yes, it is true that “popular culture needs to be connected to deeper and more substantial themes in order to last.“ Examples of success in this realm are few and far between, but they are there. There is the profound beauty found in the mercy and love of Tom Hooper’s Les Miserables or the harsh reality of human nature in Breaking Bad which Jonah Goldberg claims is a principle of conservatism. But it seems that the goal of these is beauty—even in the form of simple truth—for its own sake, and by its very nature this ought not to be a means to some other end.

I’m not sure what the answer is. Perhaps using beauty is the only way at this point to reach millions of Americans. But I worry that the means we will adopt might compromise the end, thereby effecting the nature of what this movement represents. If nothing else, let us proceed cautiously.