Those who don’t value art and science are distrustful of them for similar reasons.
People who value both, are open to new ideas.
Also, if they’re artists or scientists, they exert a lot of effort to meet their goals.
Those who value neither, live in all-or-nothing materialistic worlds.
In 1980, Donald Trump decided to tear down the Bonwit Teller building, so he could build Trump Tower.
This 1929 building was designed by Warren and Wetmore, the same architects who designed Grand Central Terminal.
Art dealers had appraised the two Art Deco bas-relief sculptures, that decorated the building, at being worth between $200,000-$700,000.
Therefore, Trump agreed to donate them—plus the ornate grillwork above the door—to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Preservationists, and everyday New Yorkers, were shocked when Trump without warning broke his word to the Met.
His illegal workers* surprised New York City, by smashing the 15-foot sculptures to bits.
Why did Trump destroy these iconic sculptures almost 45 years ago?
If he was truly a wealthy man, it would have been just a little “skin off his nose” to save them.
If he had lived up to his word, he would have gained the endless gratitude of the Met.
He might even have negotiated for more money than the cost of preserving the sculptures.
However, that would have made him look poor.
Instead, Trump callously destroyed the bas-reliefs, labeling them “garbage” and “junk.”
In later years—as the saga of the Art Deco sculptures became legend—he called the sculptures “martyrs,” saying “They are like a man who was nothing in life, but when they were shot they become somebody.”
Of course, Trump doesn’t believe in being a true martyr, just like he didn’t believe in becoming a soldier during the Vietnam War.
However, martyrdom is one of the subjects that he’s fascinated by, like sharks, batteries, and taking showers.
I know some of the reasons why Trump destroyed the two Art Deco sculptures.
He looked at them, but he was unable to comprehend why they were valued.
Possibly, he didn’t have the cash on hand to preserve the sculptures, and was embarrassed by that fact. Therefore, he ordered them destroyed, with blow torches and jack hammers.
The preservation of the two bas-reliefs would have made him feel stupid, and Donald Trump hates feeling dumb.
In 2024, Republican House members wanted to deflect criticism of Trump’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic from Trump.
Therefore, they asked that Dr. Anthony Fauci (an advisor to seven Presidents) be questioned on how the Trump administration handled the pandemic.
The goal was to blame a scientist for the bad job that Trump did.
Republican Representative Marjorie Greene waved around photos of beagles, and refused to address Dr. Fauci as doctor.
Republican Representative Ronny Jackson (former doctor to Trump) claimed that Dr. Fauci had covered up a Chinese lab leak.
I know why House Republicans are trying to destroy Dr. Fauci’s reputation.
They look at him.
They don’t want to admit that Trump cared only about his image and was an inadequate president.
Therefore, they order Dr. Fauci destroyed.
Dr. Fauci’s knowledge, and integrity, exposed them both as ignorant.
Ever since Socrates (469-399 BCE) was forced to drink poison for the sin of heresy against the Greek gods, and Galileo (1564-1642) was condemned for heresy by the Roman Catholic church, philosophers and scientists have been persecuted for putting forth theories that don’t align with the politics of the group in power.
Science is the process of uncovering the laws of nature, and scientists devise theories to explain facts.
At first, some scientists theorized that COVID could be transmitted via surfaces, but that turned out to be rare.
Early on during the COVID crisis, the public was discouraged from buying up all the KN95 and N95 masks, but that was so hospitals would have enough.
The fact remains that in most influenzas, not spreading your germs around does bring infection rates down, no matter how much you hate wearing a mask.
For further information on why some of the assumptions that scientists initially had about COVID-19 were wrong, please read Dr. Anthony Fauci’s On Call: A Doctor’s Journey in Public Service, Silent Invasion by Dr. Deborah Birx, or Nightmare Scenario by Yasmeen Abutaleb and Damian Paletta.
My memorandums “Condemned to Repeat the Past, Part One” and “Condemned to Repeat the Past, Part Two,” discuss the 1918 pandemic in relationship to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The six scientists had all downplayed the likelihood of a major earthquake.
Each man was sentenced to six years of imprisonment, but the convictions were eventually overturned, three years later.
The conviction of Bernardo De Bernardinis—deputy director of the Italian Civil Protection Department, who was tried alongside the six scientists for listening to their advice—was not overturned.
However, his sentence was reduced from six years to two in 2015, and his sentence was suspended.
Such people exist in an imaginary world in which all vaccines could have zero side effects.
They want scientists to never be wrong when predicting natural disasters.
They want every physician to make a clear diagnosis, and never be puzzled by which treatment to choose.
They want all infants to be born either male or female, when the percentage of intersex babies is between 0.018% to 1.7%.
Making art is the process of creating environments, objects, sounds, and visual experiences.
Most artists want to share their work with others.
Just as scientists disagree about theories; we disagree about what art is worth making.
When Vincent Van Gogh committed suicide, he died convinced by the world that he was a failure.
The great master, Henri Matisse, dismissed Pablo Picasso’s early paintings as a revolting hoax.
Some people only value representational art, because they believe they understand this form of art.
Those dismissive of artwork, however, are usually less angry than those resentful of science.
It’s easy to say that art, especially fine art, is superfluous.
It’s not so easy to dismiss science and scientists.
We’ve watched as inventions have transformed societies.
We’ve watched as doctors have improved medical outcomes.
These experiences have given scientists a power that artists do not possess.
*According to the Forbes article, “How Donald Trump Took Down Bonwit Teller, A Fifth Avenue Landmark,” by Michael Lisicky, the undocumented, mainly Polish, workers hired to take down the limestone and granite building were earning $4 an hour (a very low hourly wage for a very dangerous job).
