I haven't read James Lileks in awhile, so I have to admit this passage, in an otherwise banal whinefest on "performance art" grabbed me:

Of course, one could make the case that the greatest threats to the freedoms of the West are posed by the head-choppers, plane-exploders, their many merry supporters, and the nuke-seeking state that supports them.

But don't expect the artists to make the case.

(snip)

The artists seem more concerned with a culture that won't let gays marry than one that won't let them live. (link via Instapundit)

Well, since you put it that way, if by "freedoms of the West," we're talking about basic civil liberties, due process, freedom from cruel and unusual punishment, etc., well, no, the "head choppers," "plane exploders," et al., are clearly not the "greatest threat" to those liberties, not here in America, nor anywhere in any western democracy. Unlike the real fascists we were fighting in the '40's, terrorists do not pose an existential threat to our country. Al Qaeda can blow up planes to its heart's content, and even deliver the occasional nuke to one of the great cities in our Blue States, and still not threaten our right to self-government or our devotion to the Bill of Rights. It has been our own government that has seen fit to threaten those liberties, often without even a modiucum of a rationale towards fighting terrorists.

As terrible as September 11 was, it still resulted in less than half the number of dead Americans than at the Battle of Iwo Jima, fighting over "less than eight square miles," in a war that really did determine the survival of the "freedoms of the West." Of course, back then, those who saw the battle against the Axis Powers as a twilight struggle in the defense of freedom were too busy enlisting in the armed forces to be refighting the culture wars of the 1960's in the media.

And as far as whether artists in the West should care more about homophobia here than the persecution of gays in the Middle East, well, I guess artists are just funny that way, caring more about what's going on in their own backyard than somewhere else. We should care about both, for we are our brother's keeper and all that, but artists, as public citizens, can do a lot more to fight battles here than abroad.