Hello from London!
My question of the day is: When did society give up on beauty? From our cities to our fashion to our use of language, it seems that America has become uglier.
This might come as a surprise, but one of my favorite forms of entertainment is ballet. I love everything about it. I never really thought about why I love the craft of ballet until I arrived in London this week.
I come here at least twice a year because my husband was born and raised here. We’re always so excited just to get out into the city of London. That’s because it’s a beautiful city.
American cities, though, are not this way. Many of them are objectively ugly.
London, however, is a work of art. People seem to take care of the city. Paris is the same way.
Let me be clear. This is not because of how much money those cities have. I don’t want you to associate greatness with wealth because, irrespective of wealth, each European city that I’ve been to — and there are many — has been beautiful.
Bucharest in Romania is a magnificent city, Budapest in Hungary same way. Don’t get me started on Rome, Milan, or even Dubrovnik in Croatia where I lived for two months — all poorer cities than the ones you can find in America — but all beautiful.
For many of us, our impression of faraway places comes from our cultural experiences — especially movies.
In movies the streets of London are magnificent, the architecture is unbelievable and it is exactly like that in real life — only rainy.
Yet when I meet foreigners who want to travel to America, to see New York or Los Angeles because of what they see in movies — a little piece of me dies inside.
I know how incredibly let down they’re going to be when they arrive because, nope, those cities are not like the movies.
I don’t think the movies smell like New York City does. Because when you get into NYC, the stench completely overwhelms you. The filth of the city overwhelms you. The dilapidated subway stations and crime overwhelm you.
Many people think Los Angeles is some glamorous place like in “Pretty Woman.” You’re expecting everything to look like Beverly Hills. You’re expecting to see beautiful, inviting palm trees.
In reality, when you visit Los Angeles — it looks like a very poor South American city and the palm trees look depressed, as if they’re being held hostage, begging to be taken to Florida.
So what happened? Obviously, this is not how America always was. There was a great American tapestry and now it’e being slowly unwoven.
What happened to American architecture or even home decor? Now it’s all white walls and stainless steel appliances. It’s very utilitarian.
And then there’s American art. Museums, like MOMA, are literally putting out toilets, saying “Oh, it’s art. You get it. It’s so deep. So deep, it’s so forward.”
No, it is crap. It’s what it is.
And yet somebody will step up to the plate and they will spend $10,000 for that junk.
Or think about American dance. We have gone from ballet to twerking.
What happened to our fashion? If you look at old pictures of America, the men looked amazing. They were dressed so well. How did we face this fashion decline over time?
Most men today aren’t working as hard as their grandparents did, but they’re dressing worse than they did. How did we get so lax in our fashion?
Language is also something that is suffering.
We have become a culture of colloquialisms, a culture of slang. American English does not inspire greatness. It is not eloquent.
Consider the books we’re producing. Books like “50 Shades of Gray” completely butcher the English language. It’s atrocious. Of course, that went on to become a movie when it’s really just debauchery. It is disgusting.
Beauty is actually good for the soul. That’s why I like being in London. I like the clean lines, I like my surroundings, the buildings, and the landscaping. I like to walk down the street.
Beauty actually calms your soul and inspires it.
Walking in London, I realized that I am drawn to ballet for the exact same reasons I am drawn to European cities. There is a certain discipline about both.
That’s a very important word — discipline. It seems we have lost it in America.
Instead, we have a very undisciplined culture.
And the evidence is everywhere throughout American society, which is why so many aspects of our culture have lost their beauty.
Be sure to watch my new documentary The Greatest Lie Ever Sold where we uncover the truth behind Black Lives Matter.
