What Can We Do Without Government Funding? Well, a lot, actually...

by Somer Leathern

Resources are available for minority public broadcasting that extend beyond the need for unnecessary federal funding...

Portrait of Donald Trump

Trump Administration Budget Cuts

The current issue with the Trump Administration budget cuts of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and the National Endowment for the Arts will affect culturally diverse broadcasting. 

Such public broadcasting stations include Native American radio and television channels that are used for cultural events like tribal meetings.

The argument regarding this hot spot is split two ways: the budget given to CPB helps spread cultural and other diverse media that otherwise would not receive substantial funding. 

It is also a preservation method for important Native American traditions and history. However, others argue that the government should not be involved in public broadcasting to the extent that it now is.

The Threats to Minority Public Broadcasting

Portrait of Sioux Indian in 1908

The current issue with the Trump Administration budget cuts of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and the National Endowment for the Arts will affect culturally diverse broadcasting. Such public broadcasting stations include Native American radio and television channels that are used for cultural events like tribal meetings.

The argument regarding this hot spot is split two ways: the budget given to CPB helps spread cultural and other diverse media that otherwise would not receive substantial funding. It is also a preservation method for important Native American traditions and history. However, others argue that the government should not be involved in public broadcasting to the extent that it now is.

Ideologies in Tension

In a historical perspective, these opposing viewpoints mirror the ideologies in tension of the 18^th and 19^th centuries, specifically the implications of liberalism vs. conservatism.

Liberalism

From an 18^th century liberalism view, funding for Native American media is part of universal human rights, that the Native Americans have a right to receive funding for reasons of cultural media sharing. 

Utilitarianism 

However, in the 19^th century viewpoint of liberalism, a utilitarian society would deem that funding for Native American broadcasting does not benefit the majority, solely the minority group of Native Americans, and therefore funding should be pulled.

Conservatism 

Conservatism of the same time period would argue that if the Native Americans were part of the lower social hierarchy as Social Darwinism advocates, then they would be “naturally selected” out of the funding for their broadcasting; this would be their failure of social survival and therefore it would be unnecessary to provide them funding.

Digital Culture Sharing

In a digital civilization, the importance of connectivity in ethnic cultures is incredibly important. Where imperialism essentially separated the Native Americans from their home lands, the digital age allows for the connection of Native American culture and increases their sphere of influence. Almost all political, ethic, or religious groups thrive on the media that they produce and the Native American groups who receive federal funding for public broadcasting are no different.

Image Credit: Portrait of Red Bird (Public Domain Image via Wikimedia Commons)

Why Disney Channel... Just Why?

• Something Big: How Donald Trump Became President- When I found out that Donald Trump was running for president while I was on my mission, I was genuinely shocked. As I saw some bits and pieces about his campaign from other people and from the news, he was very much painted as being incompetent and unfit to run the country, especially with his impassioned declarations about building the wall. Along with that, many A-list celebrities were actively speaking against him. It really seemed as though everyone was against him. Because of that, I was truly shocked when I woke up and my parents told me that he won and was now the president of the United States.
• Something Broken: The Music Industry- It's no secret that the music industry/entertainment industry isn't perfect. Many people have come forward saying that music execs pressured them to act a certain way and do certain things and others have talked about their record label not promoting their music as much as other artists. Now obviously, greed is a big motivator behind the actions of a lot of these people taking control of the artists' images and style and whatnot. However, what I don't understand is how this industry managed to become so successful when these issues are well known by the general public.
• Something Artistic or Man-Made: The Fourth Halloweentown movie Return to Halloweentown- Okay, I'm still coming down from the spooky high of Halloween, so please bear with me. If you had a good childhood, like I did, then you probably grew up watching Disney Channel, including all of the movies in it's iconic Halloweentown franchise. However, if you've watched the fourth and final movie Return to Halloweentown, you've probably noticed that it has some issues. Number One, they replaced Kimberly J. Brown, who played the protagonist Marnie Piper, with actress Sara Paxton (pictured above, in the film). Disney, I don't care what you tell me or have other characters say, THAT'S NOT MARNIE!!! Number Two, why was Witch University never mentioned in any of the previous movies? If it's as big of a deal as it is for Halloweentown, why couldn't there have been a line casually mentioning it in passing, or something? I have many more questions and I could talk about this for hours, but you get the point.
• Something Mysterious: How is Tori Kelly Not More Famous?- This question literally keeps me up at night sometimes. For those who don't know, Tori Kelly is an incredibly talented singer, a vocal queen, who is extremely underrated. Some of her previous songs have performed decently well on the music charts, but she is still relatively unknown by most people. How is it that is amazing woman, with the voice of an angel, is still not big, when she is capable of doing things like this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aLPCbJJL2M (you're welcome).

Image Credit: http://halloweentown.wikia.com/wiki/File:Marnie_Cromwell-Piper.PNG Public Domain