Skip to main content

Government Art / N.E.A. / Censorship

. .
It bothers me that my tax dollars are used to fund artwork that I find worthless. As soon as a conversation starts on this topic, so does the matter of censorship. They go hand in hand. Americans are protected by laws that forbid censorship, yet there are many instances in our society where censorship is applied. This would seem to indicate that there is room for exceptions. We are not to yell fire in a crowded theater. We are not to travel nude on a bus. And etc. Isn't that a level of censorship? When something is called artwork the question become is it properly labeled.

Art is, as they say, in the eyes of the beholder. One man's artwork is another man's trash. The National Endowment for the Arts (N.E.A.) has labeled many repulsive items as art, and they continue to give away my tax money (and yours) to support the artists that make this (in my opinion) junk.  I don't like it!

There are many excellent artists that produce wonderful conventional artworks, (Robert Mapplethorpe for example) - who also sometimes produce some of the worst garbage describable. Holy Bibles nestled in dog poop. A caricature of Jesus sketched in blood. Children portrayed having sex with a dog. And so forth. None of this trash should be supported by public money. Period.

To prevent subsidization of artists that insist on making this detestable kind of non-conventional and unacceptable art, and assuming that the Government should be involved at all, should we (the government) set standards to qualify for taxpayer support? In other words, a level of censorship.

I think this would be dangerous and the power could be easily misused. Who should draw up such qualifications? What subjects should be forbidden? I've got the questions. Do you have the answers?

Comments

Rain said…
Mapplethorpe was an extreme although art as a means of political protest has gone way back and for all we know even showed up in petroglyphs.

Generally speaking the grants don't really fund any individual artist but go to traveling exhibits or programs. After reading your thoughts on it here, I went looking for who is getting it right now and found this: http://www.nea.gov/grants/recent/09grants/am09.php?disc=Visual%20Arts%20Touring. A person might or might not approve of the various exhibits but there really isn't much money going into them either. Most artists are supported or not by selling their work and a lot of those who sell the most probably don't get any grants-- nor need them.

I always have a problem even with art museums as often the work (to me) is very questionably the best art of its generation. One time I was looking at an exhibit in Portland and said something to the guard about how it was more like the Emperor's New Clothes than real art. He was taken aback and definitely didn't agree with me; but it was the truth. Someone important said it was art and therefore it got in there but will a future generation think it is? Unlikely in my opinion.

The thing is though without those small grants for like a local dance group, with schools cutting out the arts for budgetary reasons, where might that leave any support for budding artists in the future? I favor money for the NEA but know I won't always agree with who they consider worthy.
November 2, 2009 at 1:49 PM
The Grey Geezer . . . . . . . said…
Rain . . This time, though I pains me to admit it, you are 100% right. I especially agree with your last sentence.

Dixon
November 3, 2009 at 8:09 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Intellectual / Incompetent / Liberal

We all know that there are serious problems with ou American political system. The federal government and national media have been telling us that we continue to lead the world in just about everything. Unfortunately, we do not. Measuring our status against other nations is difficult as it entails comparison of different attributes and characteristics. Comparisons are, at best, crude.  Surely, if we look, it's clear that America is no longer dominant among the world's communities. 


For decades following the 1929 economic depression, America has enriched foreign industries at the expense of our own. We have subsidized foreign military powers while allowing the depletion of our own. We've defended other nations borders while, at the same time, not defended our own. We've spent trillions of dollars to subsidize unworthy governments, and let our own infrastructure to fall into disrepair. 

The use of our economic power as a diplomatic tool may have been the correct thing to d…
Post a Comment
Read more

What Comes Next- And When

The speed of progress is astounding.  Watching television a few days ago I listened to Mark Cuban talk about subjects that I know little about. It was fascinating. He started with cars. Automatic cars. Driverless cars. Cars that think for themselves. All of which ended with a conversation about "artificial intelligence". Frankly, some of the discussion went right over my head. 
He began talking about the growth of computer knowledge and abilities that will result in the power to exponentially grow. Ultimately the amount of knowledge will exceed that of human beings. At that point "artificial intelligence" will control human beings. 

Mr. Cuban stopped there and asked "when this happens in the future, and it will, where will human beings fit in the composition of the universe".  
Several brilliant minds have been working on the answer but no consensus exists - except one. The transition from the dominance of human beings on earth will end will be be replaced b…
Post a Comment
Read more

Donald (I am not a clown) Trump

I'm eighty years old. Several Presidents have come and gone. Some good. Some not so good.come and go. A few were excellent executives and a few were not. 

Now, out of the blue, comes Donald Trump. The Democrats cheer and the Republicans go back ask themselves 'what just happened'? 

The Democrats watch their candidate turn to dust. Dishonesty and corruption laid her to rest. Bye bye Hillary.

America has endured eight long years of the radical, liberal and  progressive politicians. Our sleepy nation finally agreed that they were attempting to destroy America. Our character, traditions, Constitutional government and international stature were sliding faster and faster toward big government socialism. The foundation of our freedoms that we worked so hard to establish were being undermined before our eyes. 

Our recent President Obama gave us eight years of faulty direction. He trashed the government with misguided appointments that steered America onto the ultra-liberal shoals.

Trum…
Post a Comment
Read more