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> “It's great that you like it, but what if I don't like the culture/science it spends my tax dollars on?” Boo hoo? What if I don’t like the spending on fighte
by pavlov 3y ago
> “It's great that you like it, but what if I don't like the culture/science it spends my tax dollars on?”
Boo hoo? What if I don’t like the spending on fighter planes and fossil fuel subsidies?
My options are the same as yours: move to a country that doesn’t fund this stuff, or vote for politicians who will cut the funding.
> “How is this not simply about driving whatever agendas government is promoting?”
A valid question that is at the core of how funding for arts and sciences is structured in the West. There are many levels of indirection in place exactly to avoid direct interference from elected officials and to have experts in each field making the decisions on what deserves funding.
- verisimi 3y ago> My options are the same as yours: move to a country that doesn’t fund this stuff, or vote for politicians who will cut the funding. Why should I move? Can I state the fact that this is a tyranny? Must I love the tyranny? Can I say that government is far, far beyond whatever use it may have served? Can I say, that it is no longer the servant, but the master? It chooses my art!
- pavlov 3y agoI don’t know which country you live in. If it’s Russia or China for example, then yeah, I’m sorry, you don’t get a real say. But if it’s a democracy, then you can always go start a political party yourself if nobody else has taken up this cause. In most countries, voters don’t seem to love the idea of eliminating funding for arts and sciences. It’s a very small part of the total budget for any state, and it tends to have appeal that connects with the purpose of having a nation in the first place (“who’s going to make movies in our language if we don’t?”)