>One thing that Kurlansky points out, which I'd never thought of
>before, is that among western republics the u.s. is almost unique in
>that there isn't one artist, author, composer, or philosopher on our
>currency.
Beth Ditto, from Searcy, Arkansas and the greatest female Arkansan BBW punk singer ever to host a British talk show, says:
[....]
"When you see buildings that are so old and so beautiful and they're preserved, you grow up with an appreciation of art," says Ditto. "That simple ethic doesn't exist in the United States. That's embedded in their culture. The first thing that gets cut in the U.S. is always art funding, and that is going to play a big hand in how we treat artists and how we treat society. Think about Jools Holland, Jonathan Ross. There's nothing like that here. There's nothing like a Jools Holland show (Later with Jools Holland) that's based solely on music where you would get six acts in a room on primetime television. You would never get that in the U.S. because we don't prioritize."
[...]
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