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- cross-posted to:
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Gov. Ron DeSantis gave no explanation for zeroing out the $32 million in grants that were approved by state lawmakers.
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Leaders of arts organizations in Florida, many of whom have worked in the state for decades, cannot remember a governor ever eliminating all of their grant funding. Even in the lean years of the Great Recession, at least a nominal amount — say, 5 percent of the recommended total — was approved.
Established arts organizations usually know better than to overly rely on nonrecurring state dollars subject to the discretion of politicians, said Michael Tomor, executive director of the Tampa Museum of Art. But to cut funding at a time when arts organizations are still struggling to recover from the coronavirus pandemic sends a concerning message “that taxpayer dollars should not be used in support of arts and culture,” he added.
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Mr. DeSantis, a Republican, gave no explanation for zeroing out the arts grants. His office said in a statement that he made veto decisions “that are in the best interests of the State of Florida.”
In all, Mr. DeSantis vetoed nearly $950 million in proposed spending and proclaimed that the remaining $116.5 billion came in under the previous year’s budget.
Because arts uplift, and misery is a huge part of the engine of fascism
Well adjusted societies have less temptation for it on the pro side, and a lot stronger and more inspired resistance to it from the anti side. It needs to breed sickness in order to really take hold and thrive.
I doubt DeSantis has that much of an organized plan for it, of course; I think it’s simple mean spirited ness on his part that he happened to see some vulnerable people that he can punish.
Art is also political, and more popular with open minded people than regressives. Fascists have historically hated art.
Not entirely true, they can’t get enough of art that is exactly like the things they already like. A boring landscape that could have been painted a century earlier? They love that shit.
But if you dare try to get creative (with message or medium) they will demand your head.
Id say that is exactly why they hate art. Art is inherently an extension of oneself, everything from a beserk warrior creating poetry as they fight to a master craftsman working for a week straight on a statue are expressions of art. Hell even things not generally considered art could still be classified as being from the same expression, like a person restoring and touching up an old axe.
Fascistshate personhood, they wish to strip away all that is unique if not in a literal sense then by a cultural sense. They hat the broad capacity of mankind thusly they hate art. Reminder Hitler threw a bitch fit when German archeologistswere digging up actual ancient Germanic and pre Germanic villages because it broke his narrative.
Republicans need people to stop making art because they want everyone to be dependent on low wage jobs at chain stores.
If you can support yourself in a way that isn’t lining the pockets of the ultra wealthy you’re “hurting america” or some bullshit like that.
True. And art brings people together who might then talk to each other and find allies and form a base of communication centered around something other than “do what I say or I’ll punish you.” There’s lots not to like about it if you’re trying to destroy a country’s democratic institutions.
This is the better answer. People don’t want a bleak, colorless world, they want art that makes them feel good.
But art isn’t something that makes you feel good necessarily. It can but it also can make you feel other things, it’s a tool for conveying feelings and ideas to someone else, it’s a type of communication. We were supposed to have been taught this as children, that art is communication and we have to be able to hear and see things that make us uncomfortable or we will never, ever succeed in life at the things we want.
Fascists don’t want people empowered, they want people’s imagination squashed so people don’t imagine an alternative narrative to the propaganda that keeps people propping up their dear leader. All channels of communication will be controlled.
This is some toddler-level conceptual understanding. When we start banning forms of communication then everyone should stand up and point at someone trying to undo society. This is a real threat to everything we’ve accomplished as a species.