72 lines
4.8 KiB
Plaintext
72 lines
4.8 KiB
Plaintext
GwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwD
|
|
T h e G R E E N Y w o r l d D o m i n a t i o n T a s k F o r c e
|
|
Presents:
|
|
"Campaign Against Art Seeks to Stifle Dissent"
|
|
by Charles Marowitz
|
|
(from _The Dallas Morning News_)
|
|
|
|
The word from House Speaker Newt Gingrich and others of his political
|
|
persuasion is that the arts had better prepare themselves for a bloody nose.
|
|
Every artist who receives a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts is
|
|
threatened.
|
|
I have just started a classically based professional theater in Fort Worth
|
|
called Texas Stage and am competing for subsidies with monoliths like the new
|
|
Performing Arts Hall and all the established arts institutions in the metroplex.
|
|
Large and small alike, all of us are trying to keep our heads above water.
|
|
It is a curious paranoia that makes Mr. Gingrich believe all artists are
|
|
liberals and determined to subvert the Republicans' Contract With America.
|
|
Actually, most artists aren't political partisans. Most adhere to a "curse on
|
|
both your houses" philosophy.
|
|
Every artist worth his salt is, in some sense, counter-cultural. As English
|
|
essayist and poet Matthew Arnold pointed out during the 19th century, art is a
|
|
criticism of life, and it is the nature of criticism to air grievances and posit
|
|
dissent.
|
|
The same kind of democratic spunkiness that Republicans and Democrats
|
|
practice in Congress is motivating the work of performing art groups, art
|
|
galleries, and individual artists throughout America. Their art is expressing
|
|
discontent, questioning established values, and agitating for reform.
|
|
These political qualities -- so apparent in playwrights like Arthur Miller
|
|
and David Mamet -- are just as present, albeit in a more oblique form, in the
|
|
works of "entertainers" like Noel Coward and Neil Simon. You can't practice art
|
|
without criticizing life.
|
|
The National Endowment for the Arts doesn't sustain any of its artists per
|
|
se. It merely contributes to their assistance and legitimizes their efforts in
|
|
particular communities so that local patrons will be encouraged to provide
|
|
support.
|
|
Despite what some people apparently believe, the government's patronage of
|
|
the arts isn't a 20th century invention. Indeed, such support was built into
|
|
the ideological structure of ancient societies and helped the Renaissance to
|
|
take root.
|
|
There always has been an assumption that government has an obligation to
|
|
assist artists, because art is part of the social fabric that clothes the body
|
|
politic. Art subsidies aren't handouts, but, rather, the appropriate return of
|
|
tax money to a populace that doesn't wish to live by bread alone.
|
|
The threat of withdrawing such government support because of political
|
|
paranoia bespeaks a temperament that is intrinsically oppressive and sinisterly
|
|
totalitarian; it seeks to suppress criticisms of life and silence dissent.
|
|
That is why Mr. Gingrich's campaign against art subsidies is so frightening.
|
|
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
copyright (c) 1995 by _The Dallas Morning News_
|
|
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
The above article does not necessarily reflect the views of The Greeny world
|
|
Domination Task Force or any of its members. We do, however, urge you to write
|
|
to your Congressman and tell him/her what you think of the proposals to cut
|
|
funding for programs such as The National Endowment for the Arts and PBS. Your
|
|
say does count, despite what anyone has told you.
|
|
-----------------------------[GwD Command Centers]------------------------------
|
|
Chaos (806)797-7501 | PCI (806)792-3302
|
|
GridPoint Durant (405)920-1347 | The Sprawl (806)797-0820
|
|
Federation Slayers' (806)798-8168 | Goat Blowers Anon. (215)750-0392
|
|
The Snake's Den (806)793-3779 | The Lagoon (914)638-3712
|
|
The Siege Perilous (806)762-0948 | Altered Reality (203)925-8349
|
|
Brazen's Hell (301)776-8259 | Cell Block 4 (214)612-8694
|
|
Pirate's Cove (806)795-4926 | Static Line (806)747-0820
|
|
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
ftp =-= etext.archive.umich.edu /pub/Zines/Greeny
|
|
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
/---------------\
|
|
text file copyright (c) 1995 GwD Inc. :FIGHT THE POWER:
|
|
GREENY world Domination Task Force copyright (c) 1993 by Lobo : GwD :
|
|
All rights reserved \---------------/
|
|
GwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwD39
|