I only meant that the US has now given up even the
pretense of interest in the arts and culture. Of
course, the USIA was the (semi-autonomous) propaganda
arm of the State Department. It has now ceased to
exist as a separate unit. As you yourself point out,
not all the artists or writers promoted by the USIA
benefitted directly; nor were all these artists and
writers necessarily in sympathy with American foreign
policy, overt or covert. The USIA also promoted some
plain old "cultural exchanges," which may have gone
some distance toward fostering understanding among
artists and writers from different cultures.
Pen
Mark Weiss wrote:
I'm not sure what this means. Wasn't the USIA always
part of the state department? Did anyone ever think
that it had a disinterested concern for the arts?
At 04:07 PM 8/22/2000 -0700, you wrote:
>The USIA has recently been merged with the State
>Department, just to make sure everyone knows
Americans
>are no longer interested in the arts, but only in
>striking trade deals.
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