Kickstarter is the site where people beg strangers for money to fund their "projects," which are usually along the lines of helping a horrible band buy studio time to record a demo, or helping a horrible filmmaker finish his mumblecore short about veganism. That kind of begging needs to take place in an arena where you can forget there are things like hunger (ie. The Internet!). If the homeless or genuinely needy find out about it, it could bring the entire site to its knees. No one's going to feel good about helping fund an interpretive breakdance troupe if right underneath it a hurricane victim is requesting money to repurchase her daughter's schoolbooks.
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Matthew | 01/21/2012 flag |
Edward: The post's main objection to Kickstarter funding of arts projects is that they're not *worthy* of being funded. There's absolutely nothing in this post that suggests that charity or arts funding shouldn't exist, it's that the author has placed him/herself in the position of sole judge and jury for what's appropriate to fund.
At the same time, I could argue that someecards' mugs, T-shirts and other gewgaw is completely pointless and it's an actively immoral act to waste money on such frivolous materialism until every last hungry person is fed and every last child is educated.
Now, Edward, what you are saying at your core is that, unless someone has enough resources to turn their art into a business, they're a bum. There are a number of objections I have to this idea but I won't unpack them all here. All I'll say is that your argument of "earn money or fuck off" is fiercely dangerous: not everything that earns money is good and not everyone who creates is good enough at marketing to make a living at it. -
Edward | 01/21/2012 flag |
Excellent copy for this post, even if Matthew disagrees because he fails to see the difference between working for funding and engaging in high-class panhandling.
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Matthew | 01/21/2012 flag |
You're right. The arts are useless and I, for one, won't donate one red cent to anyone's creative pursuits because, as you so wisely point out, that would somehow harm other people. And Lord knows there's never been a work of art that brought greater attention to the world's problems!
It's time that we learned that doing nothing is preferable over doing anything, so long as our actions may be viewed by someone, somewhere as frivolous or misappropriated.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go roll my eyes and sigh loudly behind people in the grocery store who aren't buying what I think they should buy.
