Artistic inheritance does not cause excessive centralized powers, as too often natural resources do...though intellectual inheritance could

Sir, Janan Ganesh discussing the possible effect on Europe of its “intellectual and artistic inheritance” refers to the natural“resource curse” in terms of retarding development, as “The temptation is to coast on the proceeds from the natural assets.” Clive James and Europe’s culture curse” November 29,

Indeed, that could play a role but the by far worst part or the “resource curse”, is the fact that its revenues are way too often way too much centralized in way too few hands. 

Take my homeland Venezuela. Had its (geographical) liberator Simon Bolivar not accepted to impose in Venezuela in 1829 Spain’s mining ordinances, which deemed all natural resources under earth to be the property of the King/state, our destiny would have been quite different. As is, as someone from another oil cursed nation mentioned to me years ago, “we do not live in a nation, we live in somebody else’s business”, the redistribution profiteers’.

And this does not apply to the artistic inheritance’s culture curse. The Museum of Louvre might centralize a lot of cultural treasures, but it does not remotely benefit as much from it, as do the citizens of Paris.

Of course, when it comes to an “intellectual culture curse”, which could result from handing over too much influence to too few intellectuals, like to Ph.D.’s and opinion makers, that can contain all the inheritance in a silo, in a mutual admiration club, all bets are off, in Europe and everywhere.

https://theoilcurse.blogspot.com/2016/05/the-last-thing-venezuela-needs-is-to.html

@PerKurowski

Unfortunately the fight for the best gate-watching positions is a never-ending story

Sir, I can certainly identify with Dr. Thomas Snitch’s despair when, quoted by Gillian Tett, he cries out “These folks would rather turn down the offer of free help to save the rhinos than to be put in a position where their annual report states that fewer animals are being taken by poachers” … and thus undermine their ability to raise money, “Wild animals, poachers and the human jungle” August 25. 

And quite often it is much worse, since “these folks”, these think-tank’s without ideas but with a “concern” that defines their business model, often monopolize the public debate on “their” issue. Indeed some of “these folks” are really like powerful multinational corporations operating with much less of that transparency they often accused others to be lacking. 

But Dr. Snitch, thanks to another gate-keeper, Gillian Tett, at least here got himself a chance to describe what he was up to. And that is much more than what others who are being ignored by the media and the journalists who, also feeling threatened, take refuge in the hierarchy of their own little net-works or in their own officially approved little intellectual silos. 

Thankfully the world is changing, and insignificant persons like me now have, because of the web, better chances of bypassing the gate-watchers in order to voice any significant concerns of theirs… and perhaps even to be able to challenge one or two hierarchies. 

PS. A Challenge!