Bend Over Atlanta

[Mauser 98K]

OK .. here's the way it works:

Steve learns to weld.

Steve would rather be an artist than working in a machine shop

Steve obtains some scrap metal and starts welding it together in odd shapes which he declares to be art.

Steve can't find anyone who will voluntarily pay for the piles of scrap metal he has welded together.

Steve changes his name to Stephano and drops his last name.

Still nobody will buy Stephano's art, though there is one Buckhead matron who has taken a rather prurient interest in some of Stephan's other talents.

The Buckhead matron allows Stephano to place a pile of scrap metal in her garden and begins to refer to it as a sculpture.

Buckhead socialites, after encountering Stephano's "sculpture", and desiring to pander to the matron's artistic tastes, decide that Stephan is being greatly wronged because nobody will pay him for his artistic efforts.

The buzz among the Buckhead social set is heard in the halls of the Atlanta City Council and the arts community.

A sense of anger builds that we have yet another artist in our midst who simply cannot manage to find a willing buyer in a free market environment.

Stephano and his backers become increasingly frustrated with the lack of respect the great unwashed have for his artistic talents.

The arts community -- which, by the way, won't buy any of Stephano's art either -- tells Atlanta's political leaders that Atlanta simply cannot survive or be considered a world class international city unless Stephano's "art" is displayed citywide.

A plan is hatched to use the police power of the Atlanta city government to fun the purchase of Stephano's piles of junk.

The city seizes money from residents and writes some fat checks to Stephano for more artwork.

Stephano, no longer needing to service the needs of the Buckhead matron, tells her to find another cabana boy.

Atlanta residents wake up one morning wondering when someone is going to come along and remove those piles of scrap metal someone left in their neighborhood overnight.
This scenario, or something very close to it, is playing out in Atlanta right now. A task force appointed by the Mayor has determined that Atlanta needs a cultural investment fund in the amount of at least $10 million that will provide money to artists, arts organizations and what it refers to as "cultural organizations." The suggestion is that there should be a tax on businesses operating in Atlanta to provide the funds. The story in this morning's Atlanta Journal-Constitution says that "Many of those who work in the arts in Atlanta said they hope to see some progress on arts funding soon."

At this point you shouldn't need a translation of that quote from the AJC. But then again, many of you went to government schools, so I'll provide that translation for you. Many of the people in the arts community in Atlanta remain frustrated by the fact that Atlanta residents will not voluntarily pay for their art. So, of the Atlanta residents won't voluntarily buy their art, the government should step in and make them buy the art by seizing their money and transferring that money to artists and arts organizations.

And what about this idea of placing a special tax on Atlanta businesses? What we have here is the arts community taking advantage of the ignorance of our government-educated residents. They know that many people think that if the tax is placed on the businesses this means that the rank and file Atlantans won't be paying for the art. Sadly, they're possibly right. Our education is so pathetic that most people can't noodle out the fact that all taxes paid by businesses are passed on to the consumers of whatever service or goods they sell.

When I was driving from the Charlottesville, Virginia airport into downtown Charlottesville yesterday I noticed many piles of scrap metal scattered around the local highways and biways. No ... seriously. I did! I learned later that this is all from a taxpayer-funded program called "Arts In Place." You should have heard the shouts of approval from the audience at the Charlottesville Omni ballroom last night when I made a less-than-complimentary comment about this "art." Then I wake up this morning to see that the welfare artists in Atlanta are after even more of our money.

BOHICA!

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[Hellfighter]

sounds like SF Calif (sin city) younger days when they had the art craving.

a city needs artwork to showoff to the world, but it should come from their own people who put into it or build the artwork from their hearts. not meaning to steal money (taxing the liven hell out of them) to make it ether!

i seen a artwork in Miami city fl public streets area. it was junk some person sold it to the city for 25 million and the fools paid for it too.

all it was a 3ea steel-beam twist up sky wards with cross members in it, stand like 50ft high and cover a area on the ground like 6ft.

any weirder could have made it as will for 600.00 USD. new metal's and wielding it together.