AP Photo via militant social media account (nypost.com)

World leaders from different generations have often espoused the virtues of preserving a nation’s culture and identity as a moral obligation. Churchill and De Gaulle insisted on it during the Nazi siege of World War Two; James Madison did during the War of 1812. The core of a nation’s culture and identity is found from institutions and artifacts which make a nation proud, a unifying language, and a border. Advanced societies must remain steadfast in protecting their heritage or risk becoming a relic of history, rather than a beacon of light for which future generations aspire.

Recent images of Islamic State militants destroying ancient artifacts for show and blowing up 3,000-year-old-temples are infuriating people across the globe.  The news media is dubbing it “cultural genocide” because the Islamic State is attempting to eradicate any hint of Iraq’s non-Muslim culture.  Why does this matter – especially in terms of art?  It matters because art is one of the most important parts of culture.  Art, architecture, and music have the ability to unify people of different religions and factions.  And that is precisely why art, or rather its preservation, terrifies ISIS. The lack of unique core to a societal structure placates masses because they have nothing to look up to. So when our facebook and twitter feeds explode with pictures and videos of ISIS destroying ancient temples and chopping off the heads of musicians, their attack isn’t just a vapid, anti-culture attack…it’s a larger, more categorical attempt to nullify social progress and reduce people to living in fear and not having aspirations for a better future. When we see the vast areas of Syria, Yemen, Iraq, and other countries having their borders diluted and their histories destroyed, the ability for developed countries to assist in protecting the weak is even more treacherous because advanced societies enter into a fight of the unknown.

Living in fear and lacking aspirations means that necessary social progress, like technology advances, womens’, minority, and gay rights, and basic access to essential goods necessary to live will be unattainable and world chaos will continue. A just society must remain steadfast in speaking loudly in favor of all forms of social advancement and that means, not just sitting by and watching from afar, hoping that terrorist groups will magically change their minds and embrace social progress. The United States and our allies must act firmly and resolutely without cowering because the lives of perhaps billions of people hang in the balance.

So when we see terrorist groups destroying property, ancient relics, instruments, and murdering people who belong to other minorities who have their own identities, (see: Kurds), it’s important to remember that art and culture transcend time and people. Today, even with the advent of technology, art is thriving.  We can very easily see photographs of the Sistine Chapel or the Colosseum and the Eiffel tower online or on our newest smartphone, yet millions of people travel to these destinations every year to see them in person and experience them with their own hands and eyes. Attendance at the Metropolitan Museum of Art continues to climb (5.68 million in 2011 and 6.2 million in 2014) and is the highest it has been in 40 years. Society desires art because it’s rewarding, it’s invigorating, it’s inspirational, and it’s necessary for us to broaden our horizons. There’s even something to be said about what I have the pleasure to do for a living. People could google opera performances or listen to past recordings, but just like the need to witness art in person, people are drawn to live performances to feed their soul and be moved to look to the future.

It’s heartbreaking to watch the Islamic State militants destroy cultural artifacts and the people who preserve them. While praying for world peace is nice, acting affirmatively to remove insane factions of culture vultures is necessary to keep society moving forward and safe. Stand up and speak out because what would our world be without culture and art???