A Great First Step
You may or may not have seen this story about Ireland giving a no-strings-attached stipend to artists as part of a pilot program for the next three years.
I have to hand it to the Irish for being nicely forward-thinking on this, even as it pains me that something like this'll be unlikely to ever appear in the States, because of the fascist a-holery of the Banana Republicans (and, honestly, the neocapitalist dipshittery of the mainstream Dumbocrats).
But the idea of a Universal Basic Income (UBI) is something that should be in play throughout the First World, to be honest.
I think it's cool that the Irish are using it with artists, to see what they might do with some patronage and support.
This is the thing people who aren't creative don't understand: when you're a creative, you create whether or not you get money from it. The drive is simply there. And those lucky sods in Ireland who're artists can then create without worrying how they'll make ends meet.
Jettison the romantic notion of "the starving artist" as anything worthwhile, because it's not. A creative person may be forced to turn their creativity toward daily living expense, but suffering is an sucky form of inspiration -- what kind of painter can you be if you can't afford brushes, paints, or even a canvas?
A society willing to support its artists? Well, that says something about that society. In the States? Hell, we can't even get sensible gun control legislation after endless cycles of mass shootings -- especially school shootings. If we can't/won't do that, how on earth could we expect anyone to offer a UBI to artists (I'm including writers, of course -- any creatives, for that matter).
Just saying. I look forward to seeing how Ireland's experiment progresses, and I salute them for trying it, hope other civilized nations do it, too.
Oh, and in case any right-wingding is trolling my blog and grumbling about "free stuff" or whatever -- just know that you creeps love subsidies, so long as they apply only to you (see farm subsidies for one glaring example among many), but also note how red states receive far more money & services than they ever pay out, compared with blue states, who pay out more and get less -- so, what I'm telling you is to SUCK IT, you hypocrites -- it's time for a UBI in the States, and kudos to Ireland for blazing that particular trail.
Let's see actually taxing the rich (and super-rich) what they should be, and have that money fund a UBI. Hell, put a Tobin Tax on speculative investing and they could probably fund it in a fortnight.
So sorry-not sorry if this is too political for you, Gentle Reader. I'm just not a fan of gorging Fat Cats deciding how the rest of us are supposed to be content with crumbs.
I have to hand it to the Irish for being nicely forward-thinking on this, even as it pains me that something like this'll be unlikely to ever appear in the States, because of the fascist a-holery of the Banana Republicans (and, honestly, the neocapitalist dipshittery of the mainstream Dumbocrats).
But the idea of a Universal Basic Income (UBI) is something that should be in play throughout the First World, to be honest.
I think it's cool that the Irish are using it with artists, to see what they might do with some patronage and support.
This is the thing people who aren't creative don't understand: when you're a creative, you create whether or not you get money from it. The drive is simply there. And those lucky sods in Ireland who're artists can then create without worrying how they'll make ends meet.
Jettison the romantic notion of "the starving artist" as anything worthwhile, because it's not. A creative person may be forced to turn their creativity toward daily living expense, but suffering is an sucky form of inspiration -- what kind of painter can you be if you can't afford brushes, paints, or even a canvas?
A society willing to support its artists? Well, that says something about that society. In the States? Hell, we can't even get sensible gun control legislation after endless cycles of mass shootings -- especially school shootings. If we can't/won't do that, how on earth could we expect anyone to offer a UBI to artists (I'm including writers, of course -- any creatives, for that matter).
Just saying. I look forward to seeing how Ireland's experiment progresses, and I salute them for trying it, hope other civilized nations do it, too.
Oh, and in case any right-wingding is trolling my blog and grumbling about "free stuff" or whatever -- just know that you creeps love subsidies, so long as they apply only to you (see farm subsidies for one glaring example among many), but also note how red states receive far more money & services than they ever pay out, compared with blue states, who pay out more and get less -- so, what I'm telling you is to SUCK IT, you hypocrites -- it's time for a UBI in the States, and kudos to Ireland for blazing that particular trail.
Let's see actually taxing the rich (and super-rich) what they should be, and have that money fund a UBI. Hell, put a Tobin Tax on speculative investing and they could probably fund it in a fortnight.
So sorry-not sorry if this is too political for you, Gentle Reader. I'm just not a fan of gorging Fat Cats deciding how the rest of us are supposed to be content with crumbs.
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