Maplethorpe, Karen Finlay, and others in the NEA bruhaha were already famous when they got their grants.
Let the private sector fund their trash. Do you have a problem with holding the artists who "create" on the public dime accountable to that same public?
If these freeloaders weren't getting NEA grants, it would have put that much more money out there (from the limited funds) for other arts programs.
No, I guess not, but I'm not always happy when someone insists on showing me stuff that is repulsive. I mean, you know, we pay for national forests and the animals (and some of the people, probably) in those forests are doing all sorts of things that I don't necessarily want to see. ;-)
Maplethorpe, Karen Finlay, and others in the NEA bruhaha were already famous when they got their grants.
I have to confess that I don't (or at least didn't) know much about any of those folks and I probably would have remained surrounded by a blissful ignorance of their existence were it not for their detractors.
Let the private sector fund their trash. Do you have a problem with holding the artists who "create" on the public dime accountable to that same public?
If these freeloaders weren't getting NEA grants, it would have put that much more money out there (from the limited funds) for other arts programs.
Well, I agree that those who operate the program should be a bit more careful about the way in which they exercise their disretion when awarding grants.
More importantly, I just think that voters who wish to consider this funding proposal in selecting a president should understand that they are talking about 28 cents. I can't speak for everyone, you know, but it's not going to be the deal maker/breaker for me. ;-)