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Hai there France, its the WTO calling. PS. I can't for the life of me understand why having TV equals culture. Honestly, IMO they should impose a tax on tele

Hai there France, its the WTO calling. PS. I can't for the life of me understand why having TV equals culture. Honestly, IMO they should impose a tax on televisions so people buy less of them so there is LESS TV if they really want culture.

Fargren 14y ago
You don't get to decide what's culture and what's not. The world would be a much bleaker place without the likes of Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, The X-Files, Lost, or Adventure Time.
derleth 14y ago
TV is culture for the same reasons books are culture. Neither is inherently better.
te_chris 14y ago
(I read through your comments to work out if you're american so this may be off, but..) An American who wasn't raised with a culture of high quality, non-commercial cultural production would say that.
- yardie 14y ago
  Only smug, assholes get to decide what is high quality culture these days.
gilgoomesh 14y ago
> IMO they should impose a tax on televisions If you read the article, you'll notice that there is already a tax on "television users". This proposal is about extending that tax to cover other devices that carry cultural entertainment. Not that I agree with this or any other narrow taxation. If cultural funding is deemed important, it should be funded through broad taxation like any other service that is considered important.
potatolicious 14y ago
In some countries public broadcasters don't have to stop the program every 15 minutes to beg for money, like the PBS does. See: the CBC and BBC. There are ways for television to surpass the lowest-common-denominator - we just don't see this often in the USA, but it does happen elsewhere. Government funded art need not be limited to crazy modernist sculptures sitting in front of government buildings.
- hnriot 14y ago
  The bbc get funding by taxing the population. Look at the backlash when we tried that for healthcare, you can imagine how popular it would be!
- derleth 14y ago
  > In some countries public broadcasters don't have to stop the program every 15 minutes to beg for money, like the PBS does. PBS only does this during short periods.

Fargren 14y ago

You don't get to decide what's culture and what's not. The world would be a much bleaker place without the likes of Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, The X-Files, Lost, or Adventure Time.

derleth 14y ago

TV is culture for the same reasons books are culture. Neither is inherently better.

te_chris 14y ago

(I read through your comments to work out if you're american so this may be off, but..) An American who wasn't raised with a culture of high quality, non-commercial cultural production would say that.

yardie 14y ago
Only smug, assholes get to decide what is high quality culture these days.

gilgoomesh 14y ago

> IMO they should impose a tax on televisions If you read the article, you'll notice that there is already a tax on "television users". This proposal is about extending that tax to cover other devices that carry cultural entertainment. Not that I agree with this or any other narrow taxation. If cultural funding is deemed important, it should be funded through broad taxation like any other service that is considered important.

potatolicious 14y ago

In some countries public broadcasters don't have to stop the program every 15 minutes to beg for money, like the PBS does. See: the CBC and BBC. There are ways for television to surpass the lowest-common-denominator - we just don't see this often in the USA, but it does happen elsewhere. Government funded art need not be limited to crazy modernist sculptures sitting in front of government buildings.

hnriot 14y ago
The bbc get funding by taxing the population. Look at the backlash when we tried that for healthcare, you can imagine how popular it would be!
derleth 14y ago
> In some countries public broadcasters don't have to stop the program every 15 minutes to beg for money, like the PBS does. PBS only does this during short periods.