Jun
12
Artists? Who Needs ‘Em!
Posted by: sammy | June 12, 2011 | 6 Comments
Update: Thank you Tyler for pointing out the link doesn’t work anymore! To view the interview, use the following links:
I urge you to view both parts, it’s lengthy but worth it to get a full grasp of the interview.
(click photo to see source)
Words don’t begin to describe how utterly at loss I was while watching the SUN TV interview between Canada’s foremost interpretive/modern dancer Margie Gillis and Canada’s Sun TV “journalist” Krista Erickson.
To view the interview, click here .
As an aspiring journalist and as a human being, this interview not only offends me but also puts be somewhere between a protest and a rage blackout.
Enlighten me here, I’m just a cultural philistine. – Krista Erickson
There are art forms that I don’t understand – abstract art… I don’t get it. Modern dance … I don’t get it. Does that mean that it is any less art than any other form comparatively speaking? No.
This interview between Krista Erickson and Margie Gillis is quite possibly the most ridiculous think I’ve ever seen. Not only was Gillis’s interview wrought with snide remarks and a downright disrespectful and ignorant attitude it made me lose a little hope in journalism everywhere. To me, an interview like this should be informative, teaching the audience about Gillis’s field, maybe actually giving her a FAIR interview, not a 21 minute attack ad. This was worse than watching O’Donnel and Hesselbeck argue on the View… at least Hesselbeck knew when to shut up.
“We are, I thought a compassionate society; I don’t think that anymore. No we are good at masking things, we are good at not taking responsibility now.” – Margie Gillis.
This quote by Gillis says a lot, and Erickson’s attack on her for it just proves Gillis’s point. This entire interview proves her point. Erickson’s continual attack on Gillis about arts funding is honestly heartbreaking. We has human beings share art collectively throughout every culture. It is something that marked us as uniquely human during human prehistory.
What I want to know, is how Gillis’s quote on compassion relates to the loss of soldier’s lives? I think Erickson needs to pick up a dictionary and look up the definition of compassion, because she is severely lacking in it. I feel like at any moment, Bush, Bill O’ Reilly and Beck are going materialize out of the thick neo-Conservative vapour forming around Erickson’s perfectly coiffed, blonde hair. To draw a dichotomy between soldiers losing their life in a (pointless) war and people “dancing on a stage” is one of the most condescending remarks I think I’ve heard in an interview on Canadian television. Not only does it belittle the arts community, it belittles the sacrifice of soldier’s lives. I feel like I’m watching “How to be an ignorant neo-Conservative 101” right now.
“why should tax payers be in the business of subsidizing something that is not profitable?” – Erickson.
Hold up, hold up. What did that lady just say? Mommy, make the lady with the pink lipstick go away, she’s scaring the logical through process out of me. This is like saying “Hey why are tax payers subsidizing welfare payments because we all know those no good for nothing poor people just free load off of us anyways.” Right, right, I forgot that that in Canada we are just a bunch of dirty socialists. How dare we care for those who need help, how dare we care something that enriches lives such as art? how dare I allow the allocation of my tax paying dollars to go to a logical woman, such as Gillis, who carries through this interview with poise and grace, as opposed to what? having my tax dollars go into the pockets of privately owned, rich corporations? Right, I see your logic here Erickson, burn the artists while your at it, burn the books too. This isn’t philistine, this is barbaric.
(On a side note, I would like to point out the dramatic pen throw by Erickson at the 12:39 mark. Mature Erickson, mature.)
I want to know the logical correlation Erickson tries to draw between the government giving subsidize to art and the government deciding what is art and what is not… I am so confused? I also love who Erickson tries to put words in Gillis’s mouth by saying that the funding is divided out by a “group of cultural elites.” Right, right… so artists are not supposed to decided where the funding for arts is supposed to go? Who is?
I digress. This interview is an abomination to journalism and journalistic integrity. Erickson as an interviewer embodies an air of arrogance I’ve never really seen before. I now understand why she jumped from the CBC to Sun TV. I would love to draw a correlation to this and the Conservative government, but I do not even think Harper would stoop this low. I cannot believe that Erickson would go to a level as calling Gillis’s art form an “interpretive dance – thing”.
As Gillis stated, the arts are the crux of the community, it gives and allows people to create and speak through a form that is much larger than words. This interview was quite honestly one of the most offensive and demeaning things I have observed.
I would rather fund Gillis’s dancing than fighter jets.
Comments
6 Comments so far
SunTV is a disgrace to Canadian journalism, and is worthy of the title “FOX News North.
You said that the Conservatives wouldn’t stoop that low, but it’s worth mentioning that Harper’s former aide heads (or headed?) the network. There was also some licensing controversy if you want to look into it.
correction: Sun News Network.
Thank you for sharing such an eloquent defence of the arts: I didn’t know about Margie Gillis before but find myself in deep admiration of her grace and passion in the face of such disrespectful and unkind behaviour.
Sigh. All the petition-signing against Fox News North didn’t result in much, did it?
Allow me to quote Sir William Osler: “One of the first essentials in securing a good-natured equanimity is not to expect too much of the people amongst whom you dwell.” I think this quotation ought to apply as much to Fox News North as it does to any other issue which we view with discontent. This, however, doesn’t mean that we should remain voiceless and placid in the face injustice. Good for you for bringing about this discussion.
I agree with your article, however I disagree with my fellow commentators above: freedom of speech entails hearing views from all sides- whether it is what you agree with or not! That is what makes us grow as a society. The moment you want an entire news network shut down for its opinion, you are entering the world of communism (which I had the personal experience of living through, and which brought me here to Canada). I am a conservative and yet I do not agree with the interviewer’s behaviour- don’t stereotype the entire right into one bundle.
The interview’s link is broken now 🙁