Breaking Down Barriers

Shadbolt is still very much concerned with breaking down barriers - between rich and poor, intellectuals and workers, systems and people. His own contribution is to help make people more aware of the contradictions which exist in New Zealand society. Personally, I think it would be a good idea if the comment on intellectuals was plastered up around the varsity, to help us out of our complacency and make' us think (once again) about just what we are doing here. Who knows, you might even get a better perspective on the world. Perhaps the only thing I had reservations about in Concrete Reality was the first few pages, devoted to telling 'us young 'uns' who weren't actually old enough to remember much about the 60's, about Vietnam and what was happening on the New Zealand cultural scene at the time. Reminiscence about the 60's is as annoying as reminiscence about World War II, and reminiscence about the depression. Thankfully, he soon moves on to the 80's and makes an interesting comment about the New Zealand art scene in general. "The artists tend to tailor their works to suit their markets... Those who entertain; survive - those who seriously challenge are usually ruined - their work simply fails to sell." I suspect that Shadbolt would place himself more in the latter category than the former and I would agree most of the way (except that there are people who find the politics-of-serious-challenging mildly entertaining.) But the value of Concrete Reality lies in its challenging - there is very little that Shadbolt takes for granted. I think it is necessary to have people like him around, to question the rest of us who are accepting whatever comes our way because it adds to our sense of comfort.