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Lesson Plans


Re: Mike and the NEA

[ Thread ][ Subject ][ Author ][ Date ]
Rosa Juliusdottir (rojul)
Mon, 26 Oct 1998 20:48:15 -0500

Thanks for your response Mike. Obviously I still donīt agree with you and
neither do I like being called silly or uninformed, but then again I called
you arrogant so weīre even.
>You sound so silly, but uninformed will also do.
>[note here, dear list owner, that I am simply fending off an insult aimed
>at >me]
And I do like the discussion because there were more people than you that
had some real good comments. As far as Holland goes I have many good
friends and colleagues there and I know the system you talk about but it is
not quite like this.
<In fact, I have a number of Dutch pals and I go to a Swedish massage
<therapist. My sister is married to a Frenchman. In the netherlands when you
<graduate from college with an art degree you are automatically "certified"
<as an artist and receive a stipend, for which you have produce a certain
<amount of "art". It gets a little complicated, but the government
<essentially owns that art. My roommate told me that there is always a
<scramble at the end of the year to hump out the required pieces of art so
<as to keep on qulaifying for the stipend. You can just imagine how swell
<Dutch art is under those circumstances.
Infact the goverment does not own the artworks and by the way there is
plenty of good Dutch art these days

As far as you Americans being generous to extend your defense umbrella over
us in the Nordic countries(not states by the way) you must remember it was
only for your own good, you wanted to be here it was very stratically
important for the USA.
<The Nordic states had the luxury of indulging in their foolish
<economic experiments because during the Cold War we Americans were generous
<enough to extend our defense umbrella over them. Their freeloading
<notwithstanding, Nordic economies are still not in particularly good shape
<- certainly not as good as the United States. Sweden in particular has
<begun reversing their benighted social policies, but they are victims to
<what I call the M & M syndrom; if you never give a baby a bag of M & Ms the
<baby will never cry for them. On the other hand, just try to take the M &
<Ms once the baby has them! The Nordic countries have given the baby LOTS of
<M & Ms.
And our Economy is no worse than yours.

I do not believe poor children are just because of negligent parents, and
I donīt think children should be taken from parents for reasons of poverty
the goverment should see to that it does not have to be done.
<Nonsense. Poverty in the US is caused by negligent parents. Period. If you
<want to institute policy that removes children from such parents, then be
<prepared to pay for that policy (I'm undecided on the issue).

I certainly do not characterize artists as helpless but as great wealth to
society.
<Yes, society does owe assistance to the helpless. Would you characterize
<artists as helpless? Sometimes I wonder....

As far as your discussion on the education system and health care we will
never agree and I donīt care to bother to show you my point. All in all the
choice is yours to live in your system and mine is to live here(by the way
I can live in yours if I want to for Iīm married to an American citizen but
we choose to live in this Nordic system you so dislike.

And again I said I like the discussion because there were many other
interesting points being made. Anyway I donīt think weīll ever see eye to
eye on this subject, I will remain a firm believer of goverment support for
many things like: arts, culture, education and healthcare to name a few,
but I believe in democracy and that is the system we have in the Nordic
countries.
Have a great day, best regards from the far north, Rosa