Expected Response: Oh no! The NEA has become the new Department for Agitation and Propaganda!!!

Quote :

"On Thursday August 6th, I was invited by the National Endowment for the Arts to attend a conference call scheduled for Monday August 10th hosted by the NEA, the White House Office of Public Engagement, and United We Serve. The call would include “a group of artists, producers, promoters, organizers, influencers, marketers, taste-makers, leaders or just plain cool people to join together and work together to promote a more civically engaged America and celebrate how the arts can be used for a positive change!” ... We were encouraged to bring the same sense of enthusiasm to these “focus areas” as we had brought to Obama’s presidential campaign, and we were encouraged to create art and art initiatives that brought awareness to these issues. "

http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/pcourrielche/2009/08/25/the-national-endowment-for-the-art-of-persuasion-patrick-courrielche/

But seriously, does anyone feel strongly about this (in either direction)?

Does this make you feel more uncomfortable than, say, putting the faces of American political figures on our currency? What about this question, are you more/less uncomfortable with the Hidden Persuaders in private industry than you are in government?

[Edited on August 28, 2009 at 2:44 PM. Reason : ``]

8/28/2009 2:36:23 PM

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

8/28/2009 2:58:51 PM

As long as they paint stuff on velvet I am ok with this.

8/28/2009 3:48:13 PM

A liberal administration encouraging a mostly liberal art community to create art to support their policy positions.

A "conservative" administration encouraging a completely conservative talk radio community to support their policy positions.

I don't have an issue with either of these. I would have an issue if the NEA started funding only pro-current administration artists, but that doesn't look like what this is.

Quote :

"Does this make you feel more uncomfortable that, say putting the faces of American political figures on our currency"

Sure, on a scale of uncomfortability 0-100, faces of American political figures on the currency is around a 0 or 1 (least uncomfortable) and the NEA having this conference call is around a 10. Things don't really get uncomfortable until at least a 30 or 40 though.

Quote :

"Are you more/less uncomfortable with Hidden Persuaders in private industry than you are in government"

I suspect most people on the left will say they are more uncomfortable with hidden persuaders in private industry, and those on the right will say they are more uncomfortable with hidden persuaders in government. As more people in this thread answer the question, we'll see if my assumtion holds true (in a non scientific way)

For the record, I'm more uncomfortable with hidden persuaders in government but that doesn't mean I'm comfortable with hidden persuaders in private industry either.


[Edited on August 28, 2009 at 4:56 PM. Reason : ]

8/28/2009 4:54:33 PM

Quote :

"A "conservative" administration encouraging a completely conservative talk radio community to support their policy positions."

The difference is that the conservative talk radio community is not federally funded.


I have a huge problem with this, as should artists I would hope. I think the last quote in the article summed it up pretty well:

Quote :

"“This is just the beginning. This is the first telephone call of a brand new conversation. We are just now learning how to really bring this community together to speak with the government. What that looks like legally?…bare with us as we learn the language so that we can speak to each other safely… “ "

The idea that government is funding this is disturbing.

Of course a the idea that the government is funding a lot of things is disturbing.

8/30/2009 9:14:53 PM

Well, so far, IIRC they are not actually funding anything yet. They are only encouraging artists to create works that advance the admin's political goals (though I guess some level of funding goes toward this encouragement, paying people to organize this conference call for example).

8/31/2009 11:31:15 AM

Fair enough. They can do what they want with their own time.


Whoever controls the narrative, controls the populace. I have a problem with the art community functioning as a statist cheerleader (for the right or left) instead of a force which questions authority and the status quo. Truth to power vs. truth of power and whatnot.

8/31/2009 11:35:50 AM