Naw, they are just Americans. It’s too bad they can’t see outside their own bubble.
Guy
This could very well be considered art to some.
Because these buildings were built when people had much of the say? This isn’t how most people want their gov to function.
Yeah, did you miss the point? You can’t just throw money at it. It’s not entirely a budgeting issue which is what I’m responding to.
I’ve already said the gov can be involved, but I’m questioning the role of them and having a culture minister. At one at hand they can do a bang up job, on another they can do horrible job things like destroying culture and suppression of art in the other samples of China and soviets. But even in democracies, you often can get results like this.
There are some laws and regulations that fucks with private art ownerships. In the more extreme, governments aren’t beyond taking away art from private collections for the people and such.
Some big countries don’t get it. Small countries need to fund some of their local culture which also includes stuff like music, sports, language , arts. In Ireland the the most popular sport Gaelic games, was funded by the govt by a large amount. So.is the Irish language. The reasons why the Irish language almost died out was due to cultural genocide in the first place. Sometimes you need the govt to step in to help reverse things.
A bit similar in Taiwan with govt support for Aborigines, Hakka and their languages .
I agree that Taiwan wastes too much money on white elephants though and they seem to spend too much money on more elite cultural promotion like recitals and orchestras.
Also if Taiwan govt didn’t sponsor some foreign groups to come to Taiwan they wouldn’t come here. Fact. My kids go to see some shows from pupetteers and drama groups from overseas sometimes.
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Don’t be on a discussion forum if you want people to agree with you and be in your bubble lol
There are no reasons to be concerned with gov involvement and having a cultural minister?
Sure there are reasons. Just like there are reasons to be concerned about government involvement in business (which they are), the military (which they are), sports (which they are), etc etc.
My point is not that governments are perfect. My point is that it seems it’s only Americans that think that culture just magically happens in the modern world without some basic structural support. That’s the bubble you’re in, and it’s not helping you to see what’s at stake in smaller countries including Taiwan. Jump out of it and see what’s possible. : D
Guy
No, I explained how cultural Consumerism works as a person from a smaller country like Taiwan.
If you mean “consuming Hollywood films” or “consuming Japanese comic books,” then sure this exists. But this has nothing to do with making sure stories about our communities and our histories here in Taiwan actually make it to the market. That’s what I’m talking about. And surely you can see the potential value in that? It’s not that everything is perfect (of course it isn’t!) but neither are all those Hollywood films or Japanese comic books which flood the market.
Cheers!
Guy
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Yeah, that’s why me and others are weary of the role gov should play. Didn’t past governments in Taiwan basically alone try to wipe out a lot of local culture? But this time we got it right? For every example of a good job, you can easily find another example of the gov doing a terrible job.
No one cares about art and culture when they can’t become patrons of some sort and have time to.
The case of the Hakka in Taiwan is interesting for this discussion. In theory government initiatives to preserve Hakka culture and language are meritorious. In practice I’m guessing a lot of the efforts are misguided, amount to tokenism, and occur purely to court the Hakka vote. There are a hell of a lot of Hakka cultural parks out there…do they achieve anything? I doubt it. Hopefully though there has been some successes. I’ve heard of a couple of attempts at language nests in Miaoli to get kids speaking the language.
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The only one they teach half well as a local language is Taiwanese in school. If there’s no exam or points for it they don’t really take it seriously.
I actually played. Isn’t this to my point? Gaelic football thrived as people got money to be patrons of it and support the game in Ireland. And the gov made stupid laws like banning the play on sunday?
It’s not about how big the country is. Japanese art from centuries ago found it way to Europe and it shocked the artists there. They copied it in fact and created a new art movement from it. When you have the environment, especially economically for people to care about art and culture. They thrive.
The GAA is an unusual case (I’m also a gaelic player) since it was set up to promote Irish sport and culture directly in the face of English oppression of that culture. The GAA remains a private organization run by volunteers, not sure if it receives any direct government funding.
It receives a massive amount of govt funding at local and national level. Croke park didn’t pay for itself! At the same time they generate a lot of their own revenue too. Its not a professional sport (yet) so it is quite unusual yes.
Wouldn’t this seem completely unfair if you didn’t like the game? Idk if it is a big topic there but it’s been an issue in the US with sports teams asking their cities to help fund sports venues with tax payer money instead of paying it for themselves.
It’s funny because they don’t disclose that fact in their annual reports, no mention of funding. I know they got lots of money because they even give us some here in Taiwan.
Well, we do not have the universla image of teh starving artist for nothing. Art does not usually make big bucks… until someone kicks the bucket.
For exmaple, actors and directors in Taiwan are not doing that bad, but if you want to see anything differnet from high school nostalgia movies, then you need extra support.
And the lady now cries foul and plays victim… sigh…
This has nothing to do with being American or not. Plenty of Americans would agree with your position. I just don’t happen to.
Yes some people complained it’s unfair, therefore they allow some games from other codes to be played, but not very often . Their stadiums double as national sports stadiums, concert venues etc.
The ex prime minister of Ireland was a huge supporter so he just shunted them money through different schemes. Personally I’m okay with that mostly as we they are good for the communities. Taiwan doesn’t really have anything like that, something for the local towns and the cities to get behind. Baseball a little I guess. I am seguing a bit but sports can be culture too.
Ah the old waterworks. Always a time and a place.
This is a good one though . Slap a government minister in public…Then start crying unfair 