Yeah but Miller's rant was back when he was on HBO ten or so years ago, when he was cool (sort of). Now, he's a conservative tool.

Like shuac says, this is really two liberals disagreeing.

Personally I don't mind minor supports to the Arts, if it's to keep things like playhouses, concert halls, museums, or other artistic venues open, even if they fail to attract sufficient customers to support them.

Not be a dick but it is Dennis* just saying.....

Whelp, have to totally disagree with Maher on this. 1) He is NOT an artist, he is an entertainer. 2) Some of the greatest art in the history of art has been funded by some form of government entity. Think all the way back to Homer, and all the way forward to Bergman (c'mon, what foreign film do we see that doesn't have their country's name in the beginning credits... "Svensk Filminstitut, Dansk Film..." etc). And lets remember all the national treasures of museums here in the states that are funded by the gov't. And also, I shudder at the thought of my life without PBS or NPR. Yeesh. What planet is Bill living on.

True NetRunner. Maher said it himself "not everything should be for profit".

Yeah, to suggest that funding for the arts is 'mission creep' is historically ignorant.

I too completely totally absolutely disagree with Maher in this clip. Unfortunately, artists can sometimes be stopped. If they have to hold down two jobs just to get by because the marketplace hasn't discovered them or deemed them to be "sellable" enough, its likely they wont have the time, energy, or drive to produce. Most artists struggle as it is and I think that every bit of help they can get is a good thing.

I agree with Maher 100% in this. It is not the Federal government's purpose to subsidize art. The government should not be in the business of deciding what is art and what isn't or what "art" my money goes to. If you, as a tax payer, want to encourage art (financially or in any other way) in your community then do so. We have several events each year in the tiny, not well off, area I live in. Always draws a big crowd and lots of support for the artists. Paying taxes isn't the solution. Get involved! Art is in the eye of the beholder. Go to a local museum. Visit a local art gallery. Give them your money. Learn about art and the artists who have their works displayed there. Then, support the ones who you connect with.

Like NetRunner said .. if it was just about keeping struggling artistic venues open that would be different. That's something we need to do. Unfortunately, most people just talk about art and don't really give a shit about it, don't visit their local art venues or support local artists in the first place.

Being against the National Endowment for the Arts does not mean you are anti-art.

I'm not going to get into what the purpose of the government is, but I do think that art is important and should be encouraged. Without art, cultures have no soul.

As an artist who used to work at the National Endowment for the Arts I can tell you that the majority of funding they give out goes to educational programs and to keep artistic venues open. Many times those two overlap because a lot of places that function as artistic venues at night serve as art schools during the day.

As a resident of New Orleans who teaches jazz to middle school students I can tell you that federal programs are usually the only way we can pay for things like instruments because most of the local communities simply don't have the money for it no matter how much they want to support it.

As for federal involvement, I would rather fund trumpets, paint brushes and tap shoes over guns, tanks and bombs any day.

I really don't know what to think here.

On the one had I don't think governmental policy shouldn't be playing the role of amplifying more worthy arts because ultimately that's subjective, even though it's clear at least to me for very many objective reasons that say classical music has much more value than most modern day pop nowadays.

On the other hand I'd hate to see popular culture digress into the void of watching cars drive around endlessly in a circle, obsessing about celebrities and being enamoured by reality television.

Joke's on Miller. We don't have souls.

*dead

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