I heard on the radio last night that one of the government spending lines that Republicans have in their sights is the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Of all of the areas in which the federal government spends money I was hard-pressed to think of one that contributed more to the intellectual life of people starting at the age of two and continuing their whole lives. Or, to put it as succinctly as I did at the moment, “WHAT?!”
And so today when The Dead Milkmen popped up on my mp3 player singing of the joys of learning from PBS in Born to Love Volcanoes it seemed appropriate for me to point out both that “Beelzebubba” was their best album and that even people as purposefully low-brow as The Dead Milkmen love public broadcasting and the shows that help educate people, often about things they didn’t even know were fascinating.
So let this serve as my notice to legislators that they should leave PBS and NPR funding along (and please don’t force Click and Clack off of the air!) and as my post for today. Let me know what you think, either of the song or of the allegations that public broadcasting has too liberal a slant to deserve federal dollars.
Categories:
punk
If you listen to the lyrics to "Born to Love Volcanoes," I'm not so sure that it really supports your (and PBS's) cause:
"Intellectuals are phoning
To a land called PBS
Some old man is droning
In a land called PBS
Maybe he needs my money
More than a bunch of pregnant teens."
I actually think it nicely frames the argument AGAINST PBS: our country is beyond broke and we simply can't afford to provide free entertainment to privileged white people.
Anyway, we may disagree on the merits of publicly funded broadcasting, but we're definitely on the same page re: Beelzebubba--clearly the Dead Milkmen's masterpiece!
Ah, perhaps "love" was the wrong term to use in this context. What I should have written was "are familiar enough with". They're arguing that the high-brow programming and pledge drives take money away from more down-to-earth giving. But there's a lot more to PBS than those two facets. I'm happy to agree to disagree on that topic, though.
Thanks for your comment and your support on the merits of Beelzebubba!