NEW IN PIRATE WIRES: America Needs an Aesthetics Czar The built environment reflects the cultural and spiritual health of a civilization. What we choose to build — and how we choose to design it — tells you what a society believes about itself. But walk through any contemporary Western city today, and you’re confronted by a soulless concrete jungle, where aesthetics have been sidelined in favor of minimalism and utility. Contemporary brutalist monstrosities like the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago or the FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C. don’t evoke a sense of awe or wonder — they’re lifeless, oppressive, and instead project a sheer force of power. To stop this trend, and return to the architectural style of our ancestors who built with intention — guided by faith in a higher power and reverence for symbolism — @timjeke0 lays out a solution: America needs an Aesthetics Czar. If we want people to care about their communities, their country, and restore civic pride, then we need to build structures that look like they came out of ancient Rome — not the Soviet Union. We push back against cultural decay by starting with how our surroundings look and remembering that beauty is foundational. Appoint an aesthetics czar… and start building architecture with soul again. Read the full piece threaded below 👇