"Ordinary folks don't care about arts" - Harper

Yeah, I just sit around on my ass being brilliant all the time and the gov't sends me a nice, fat cheque -- for nothing! [img]rolleyes.gif" border="0[/img]

what are you quoting here?

quote:

---

Sigh, this is becoming a full-time job.

---

Well thanks for doing a good job of it unionist [img]smile.gif" border="0[/img]

quote:

---

Originally posted by unionist:
[b]
ETA: By the way, make sure to read the "Comments" after Norman Spector's article. Everyone "got" the joke except him.

[/b]

---

Of course Norman Spector (J'ai besoin d'un "cracher" smilie) doesn't get the joke. He's exactly the type of pointy-headed technocrat being satirised in the clip.

Good! [img]smile.gif" border="0[/img]

Margaret Atwood takes on Harper.

quote:

---

What sort of country do we want to live in? What sort of country do we already live in? What do we like? Who are we?

At present, we are a very creative country. For decades, we've been punching above our weight on the world stage - in writing, in popular music and in many other fields. Canada was once a cultural void on the world map, now it's a force. In addition, the arts are a large segment of our economy: The Conference Board estimates Canada's cultural sector generated $46-billion, or 3.8 per cent of Canada's GDP, in 2007. And, according to the Canada Council, in 2003-2004, the sector accounted for an "estimated 600,000 jobs (roughly the same as agriculture, forestry, fishing, mining, oil & gas and utilities combined)."

But we've just been sent a signal by Prime Minister Stephen Harper that he gives not a toss for these facts. Tuesday, he told us that some group called "ordinary people" didn't care about something called "the arts." His idea of "the arts" is a bunch of rich people gathering at galas whining about their grants. Well, I can count the number of moderately rich writers who live in Canada on the fingers of one hand:

I'm one of them, and I'm no Warren Buffett. I don't whine about my grants because I don't get any grants. I whine about other grants - grants for young people, that may help them to turn into me, and thus pay to the federal and provincial governments the kinds of taxes I pay, and cover off the salaries of such as Mr. Harper. In fact, less than 10 per cent of writers actually make a living by their writing, however modest that living may be. They have other jobs. But people write, and want to write, and pack into creative writing classes, because they love this activity - not because they think they'll be millionaires.

Every single one of those people is an "ordinary person." Mr. Harper's idea of an ordinary person is that of an envious hater without a scrap of artistic talent or creativity or curiosity, and no appreciation for anything that's attractive or beautiful. My idea of an ordinary person is quite different. Human beings are creative by nature. For millenniums we have been putting our creativity into our cultures - cultures with unique languages, architecture, religious ceremonies, dances, music, furnishings, textiles, clothing and special cuisines.

"Ordinary people" pack into the cheap seats at concerts and fill theatres where opera s are brought to them live. The total attendance for "the arts" in Canada in fact exceeds that for sports events. "The arts" are not a "niche interest." They are part of being human.

(snip)

I suggest that considering the huge amount of energy we spend on creative activity, to be creative is "ordinary." It is an age-long and normal human characteristic: All children are born creative. It's the lack of any appreciation of these activities that is not ordinary. Mr. Harper has demonstrated that he has no knowledge of, or respect for, the capacities and interests of "ordinary people." He's the "niche interest." Not us.

(snip)

Rumour has it that Mr. Harper's idea of what sort of art you should hang on your wall was signalled by his removal of all pictures of previous Conservative prime ministers from their lobby room - including John A. and Dief the Chief - and their replacement by pictures of none other than Mr. Harper himself. Histo ry, it seems, is to begin with him. In communist countries, this used to be called the Cult of Personality. Mr. Harper is a guy who - rumour has it, again - tried to disband the student union in high school and then tried the same thing in college. Destiny is calling him, the way it called Qin Shi Huang, the Chinese emperor who burnt all records of the rulers before himself. It's an impulse that's been repeated many times since, the list is very long. Tear it down and level it flat, is the common motto. Then build a big statue of yourself. Now that would be Art!

Adapted from the 2008 Hurtig Lecture, to be delivered in Edmonton on Oct. 1

---

[url=http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080924.wcoarts25/BN..."To be creative, is, in fact, Canadian" Globe and Mail Fri Sept 26, 2008[/url]

quote:

---

Originally posted by N.R.KISSED:
[b]Please don't tell me Margaret Atwood used the term "envious hater". I appreciate what she says in this speech but I really don't understand how this term "hater" has become so common that even a talented wordsmith would utilize it. It really is a meaningless term and there are certainly much richer ways to describe the psychology of Harper and his allies.

Actually I realize that she used the term to describe what Harper thought of average Canadians, but still ooohhh! I hate that term.
[/b]

---

Quit bein' a hater!
[img]tongue.gif" border="0[/img] [img]tongue.gif" border="0[/img]

As an artist I was insulted by Stephen Harper's narrow-minded comments. More over I've been reading various reactions and surprised how many Canadians believe art is only something that you hang on a wall.

In an artistic way, here is my video response to Harper's comments:

[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhaXsa4Czcs]http://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Enjoy, and pass it on!

[url=http://www.cbc.ca/arts/tv/story/2008/09/30/walsh-sweater-vest.html]Take your sweater-vest and get lost, Warrior Princess tells Harper[/url]

Lookit guys, here's what I'm talking about:

quote:

---

"...Canadians risk a damaging polarization between conservative rural voters and liberal urban voters similar to the divide between Republicans and Democrats in the U.S., argued Eric Miller, director of the university's Cities Centre.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's recent comments that "ordinary working people" are unable to relate to government-funded cultural elites were less about devaluing art, since Harper himself plays piano, than about creating a divide between liberal cities and the rural, conservative heartland, Miller said.

"I think the reason Mr. Harper's comment about ordinary people and these fancy elites resonates was not just because it was an attack on the arts," Miller told the Star.

"He's using classic, Republican code-word, wedge-type (politics). He's trying to differentiate between the city slickers and the rural people. He's trying to create that sort of classic red-blue division that you see in the States."

Miller, whose Cities Centre hosted the event called Urban Issues in the Federal Election, added: "Even if you don't care about the arts, the fact that (Harper) is trying to create those sorts of divisions in people's minds is very dangerous. Because I think we do have a social cohesion in Canada."

---

[url=http://www.thestar.com/FederalElection/article/509358]http://www.thestar...

What many working artists and their close supporters are missing about this issue -- because they see the actual effects on the ground -- is that the whole thing was done mainly for propaganda value.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Tommy_Paine:
[b]I'd rather not think of myself as ordinary, but I suppose I am. Work, though, is something I deffinately do. Actual work, nothing you could do from behind a desk, or in a three piece suit.

I must say that when I get home, I don't ordinarily turn to something artsy fartsy to wind down. Unless a long shower with my wife's rather artistic home made soap counts. [/b]

---

Gee, I had no idea that what I did 40-50 hours a week wasn't "actual" work. I always figured that since it paid the "actual" bills, it was real work.

Oh, glad you like the soap. Dear. [img]tongue.gif" border="0[/img]

Eeeep.

I knew I was launching a boomerang when I wrote that-- but still, I turned my back on it.

quote:

---

... the Baird campaign has filed an official complaint with Elections Canada over the involvement of this “foreign organization”, and is seeking an injunction to prevent Azaaz.ca from launching its ad campaign targeting Baird and others. (Isn’t that a lot like the ‘gag order’ on third parties that a certain former National Citizens Coalition president fought all the way to the Supreme Court?)

---

[url=http://blog.macleans.ca/2008/10/06/attention-sorosophobesphiles-weve-hit... O'Malley[/url]

[url=http://www.rabble.ca/arts_media.shtml?x=76074]Open letter to Stephen Harper[/url]

quote:

---

Monsieur le premier ministre,

We are neighbours. We work across the street from one another. You are Prime Minister of the Parliament of Canada and I, across the way, am a writer, theatre director and Artistic Director of the French Theatre at the National Arts Centre (NAC). So, like you, I am an employee of the state, working for the Federal Government; in other words, we are colleagues.

Let me take advantage of this unique position, as one functionary to another, to chat with you about the elimination of some federal grants in the field of culture, something that your government recently undertook. Indeed, having followed this matter closely, I have arrived at a few conclusions that I would like to publicly share with you since, as I'm sure you will agree, this debate has become one of public interest.

---

They keep trying to appeal to "average Canadians" but it always backfires because they just can't get a grip on the fact that average Canadians don't share their caveman values. Remember the "Martin supports child porn" nonsense from 2004? It happens every time.

quote:

---

He made the announcement after 5 p.m. on a Friday — a tried-and-true strategy to minimize bad press.

---

So, the new "New Government" is going to continue to act exactly like the old "New Government". Is anyone surprised?

There goes my chance to visit (within driving distance) a gallery with paintings of old white men with peculiar arrangements of facial hair. [img]wink.gif" border="0[/img]

M. Spector, I would agree with someone asserting a national gallery should be in the nation's capital, if the capital was Winnipeg. [img]tongue.gif" border="0[/img]

quote:

---

Originally posted by M. Spector:
[b]Hell, why not say Calgary while you're at it?[/b]

---

Because then our Central Canadian overlords would have to travel so damn far to get a look at their ancestors with the funny facial hair. And I feel sympathy for our Central Canadian overlords -- them being so poorly served with national institutions and all. [img]rolleyes.gif" border="0[/img]

M. Spector wrote:

And Winnipeg isn't too damn far?

Well, I was going to suggest Churchill as being closer to the geographic center of the country, but decided to come up with a suggestion that was on the Trans-Canada Highway... call me sentimental.

Whom the hive does not cherish it eats.