Comments
God_in_my_Bed t1_j54a4hx wrote
Sounds like a page from the Edward Bernays play book.
Theeclat t1_j5315w5 wrote
Did you look this up due to BTB?
big_papa_geek OP t1_j57vm7y wrote
Oddly enough, no. I saw it linked elsewhere and then I listened to the episode the next day. Just one of those things
Theeclat t1_j58fs7i wrote
Cool!
Vaeon t1_j52swil wrote
Money laundering! Money laundering as far as the eye can see!
big_papa_geek OP t1_j52wsbo wrote
Probably, because what else are you going to do with all this cocaine money?
But also the CIA ( and also businessmen like Rockefeller) just thought it was good business.
“For two decades after World War II, Iowa prospered on donations from conservative businessmen persuaded by Engle that the program fortified democratic values at home and abroad: It fought Communism. The workshop thrived on checks from places like the Rockefeller Foundation, which gave Iowa $40,000 between 1953 and 1956—good money at the time.”
Aromatic_Wave t1_j52v3en wrote
How?
big_papa_geek OP t1_j52vg1c wrote
“Bennett argues that "Paul Engle, the workshop’s second director, a do-it-yourself Cold Warrior" is mostly responsible for molding Iowa's literary legacy. And he did by soliciting funds from the Farfield Foundation, which "was not really a foundation; it was a CIA front that supported cultural operations, mostly in Europe, through an organization called the Congress for Cultural Freedom." That was just the beginning.”
Aromatic_Wave t1_j52vptr wrote
Interesting - thanks!
Thoth_the_5th_of_Tho t1_j53hxtb wrote
The idea was to fund art in a diferent style than what the soviets made. The Soviets had a 'socialist realism' style, so the CIA boosted abstract and stylized art, so the Soviets would look dated.
Although it's more likely that the Soviet's stifling, top down system made artistic expression and change difficult, causing them to look dated regardless of what the CIA did.
Stswivvinsdayalready t1_j566qle wrote
This is my hometown and I've known people involved with the program in various ways over the years, but I never knew this. I will have to plumb this rabbithole a bit.
HPmoni t1_j56hc2k wrote
Hell, during the depression, US government funded art.
Art funding tends to require a political reason.
plague681 t1_j53ke8t wrote
Good.
Fuck Communism.
Consistent_Ad_4828 t1_j53ryd6 wrote
Ok boomer
twonkenn t1_j53t1pb wrote
Not sure I understand why that's regulated to boomers. Is it to be assumed that younger generations think communism is good?
Consistent_Ad_4828 t1_j53u1uo wrote
That’s quite a logical leap; it’s possible that boomers are particularly susceptible to anti-communist ideology without any implication that younger generations are pro-communist. That said, I believe there is some evidence that Millennials in particular have shifted further left with age.
darkage72 t1_j54if3f wrote
Tell that to Eastern Europe, see how far it gets you.
Consistent_Ad_4828 t1_j552qi5 wrote
Sure, read for yourself. It’s a pretty mixed result.
plague681 t1_j53v41r wrote
hur dur
Consistent_Ad_4828 t1_j53vc4p wrote
Ah, the wit I expect of a boomer.
plague681 t1_j53ve2b wrote
Stay mad, breh
Consistent_Ad_4828 t1_j53vy7c wrote
Oh yeah, I’m livid “breh” lmao.
Gemmabeta t1_j53h7p8 wrote
The CIA and the State Department funded a lot of modern American artists like Jackson Pollock to counter Soviet's Socialist Realism art.