Raise the Hammer

I’m no connoisseur of punk music, so am grateful to the article for informing me about how important Teenage Head was to their genre. I don’t think that I appreciated it very well after reading the initial article in the Spec last week.

It seems to me that there are two issues. The first is whether art is a legitimate public expense; and the second is whether Mr. Venom in particular is worthy of a public expense, and in particular a $200,000 expense, to commemorate him. I suppose this article is trying to address both issues.

The title of the article is “Hamilton Should Commemorate Important Local Artists.” Not everyone agrees with that statement. There are some people who think that no art should ever receive public funding, and that art and the recognition of some artists is so subjective that there’s no fair way to do it. And there is the Tall Poppy Syndrome we can suffer here, too.

I wouldn’t know what irks people most: that it’s Frankie Venom (wife abuser, musician in a genre that only appeals to some people), or that it’s any art at all. I bet a lot of them don’t know themselves. Until we know which we’re talking about, it would be hard to convince anyone. I suspect a lot of people are being a bit disingenuous when they say that Frankie is objectionable to them; really, they would not want any statues built, ever.

The only disagreement I really have with this article is this:

“This misplaced concern for tax dollars exists in spades in this city. We are prepared to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on the Aerotropolis, but a $200,000 proposal to recognize part of our culture draws public ire in a single weekend.”

Of course, concern about tax dollars ear-marked for something that one likes is always misplaced. We all know that. But if this argument is equal to say “hey, it’s only $200,000, and if it’s OK to waste on ABC, certainly it’s okay to waste on XYZ,” I don’t think that’s a very meritorious argument. Any project should stand on its own, and you won’t win support from me by saying that you think it’s less wasteful than something else. I don’t care for this “drop in the bucket” (or drop that evaporates before reaching it); your bucket could overflow, and not a lot of people would realize that it’s the sum total of a huge number of drops.