{"id":127638,"date":"2021-04-19T14:09:38","date_gmt":"2021-04-19T14:09:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/basicincometoday.com\/?p=10439"},"modified":"2021-04-19T14:09:38","modified_gmt":"2021-04-19T14:09:38","slug":"as-some-san-francisco-artists-get-basic-income-how-do-we-head-off-bad-faith-arguments-against-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/04\/19\/as-some-san-francisco-artists-get-basic-income-how-do-we-head-off-bad-faith-arguments-against-it\/","title":{"rendered":"As some San Francisco artists get basic income, how do we head off bad-faith arguments against it?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>Guaranteed income programs, no matter whom they support, must frequently battle the same zombie ideas.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/author\/lily-janiak\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Lily Janiak<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When the city&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/datebook.sfchronicle.com\/entertainment\/more-than-100-san-francisco-artists-to-receive-1000-a-month-under-new-pilot-program\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">announced last month that it planned to launch a pilot program<\/a>&nbsp;to give more than 100 artists $1,000 monthly payments for six months, my hope for all the performers I write about and love was tinged with worry. I frequently see a couple of bad-faith arguments in response to the idea of state support of the arts, and I didn\u2019t want them to hijack the conversation about a promising idea:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Bad-faith argument No. 1: Artists\u2019 work isn\u2019t real work, and if they can\u2019t support themselves in the market, their art must be mere hobby.<\/li><li>Bad-faith argument No. 2: If the city is sending unrestricted cash to artists, could any Joe Schmoe throw some finger painting together and become eligible?<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The latter is further complicated by the idea that I want Joe Schmoes to have all the access to finger painting that their little fingertips desire; that I believe in all the Joe Schmoes\u2019 potential to, one day, get so good at finger painting as to change the world with it, or at least change their own lives. My challenge, then, is to hold and articulate simultaneously two ideas that can seem contradictory: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>Everyone should have access to the arts as leisure, and some professional artists merit public funds for their art as work.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\" id=\"attachment_2865992\"><img src=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/sfc-datebook-wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/04\/MER9476e7ad14c81ab8010044d322303_janiakcol0418-1024x681.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2865992\"\/><figcaption>Dorian T. Warren, an expert on guaranteed income, says the concept faces bad zombie arguments that won\u2019t die.<br>Photo: Community Change,<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>When I shared my concerns with guaranteed income expert Dorian T. Warren, he reminded me of a felicitous phrase from New York Times columnist Paul Krugman: zombie ideas. These are bad arguments that just won\u2019t die, no matter how much data disproves them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re not grounded in evidence,\u201d says Warren, the president of Community Change and co-chair of the Economic Security Project, both nonprofits, and co-host of the podcast \u201cSystem Check.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u201cThey\u2019re grounded in mythology.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Guaranteed income programs, no matter whom they support, must frequently battle the same zombie ideas. Warren trots them out with a sigh: \u201cIt\u2019s going to make people lazy. They\u2019re not going to want to work. They\u2019ll spend it on drugs and alcohol.\u201d All stem from centuries-old prejudices that the poor are poor by choice or moral failing, and that they won\u2019t work jobs unless you punish or force them. Those prejudices mix with racial and gender bias, hence the persistent myth of \u201cthe welfare queen,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u201cIt really goes to core distinctions of who is deserving and who is undeserving of support, particularly support of the government, and that is related to fundamental notions of who belongs and who doesn\u2019t,\u201d he says. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cDo we think you belong in this political community we call the United States of America? If you don\u2019t, you don\u2019t deserve what the rest of us, who do belong, get.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That notion of belonging also applies to artists, whom our country frequently demonizes as some kind of \u201cother.\u201d It\u2019s a lot easier to say someone doesn\u2019t deserve to have their basic needs met if you make them out to be fundamentally different from you. It\u2019s a lot easier to say artists don\u2019t deserve a living wage for the TV shows you watch, and the music you listen to, if you write them off as weird or deviant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\" id=\"attachment_2865981\"><img src=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/sfc-datebook-wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/04\/MERf00f9fee740c2adbfb93f0f10f112_baybriefing0102_ph2-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2865981\"\/><figcaption>Lorrine Paradela, a single mother of two, is one of 125 Stockton residents receiving monthly cash disbursements, with no strings attached, as part of an attention-grabbing experiment on guaranteed income.<br>Photo: Yalonda M. James, The Chronicle 2019<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Data from a slew of guaranteed income pilot projects across the country might help weaken, if not defeat, some of these zombie ideas. In addition to San Francisco\u2019s program for artists,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/local\/article\/Oakland-to-launch-one-of-the-largest-universal-16045456.php\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Oakland<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/local\/article\/1-000-a-month-guaranteed-income-program-coming-16051268.php\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Marin County<\/a>&nbsp;both recently announced their own programs for people of color, and in 2019, the city of Stockton&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/politics\/article\/Can-500-a-month-change-a-city-Stockton-tests-14943872.php\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">launched<\/a>&nbsp;the Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration, a guaranteed income program for 125 city residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Stockton, preliminary results&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/static1.squarespace.com\/static\/6039d612b17d055cac14070f\/t\/6050294a1212aa40fdaf773a\/1615866187890\/SEED_Preliminary+Analysis-SEEDs+First+Year_Final+Report_Individual+Pages+.pdf\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">released<\/a>&nbsp;in March show that not only are these zombie ideas wrong; at times, they\u2019re backward. For instance, guaranteed income recipients were twice as likely to gain full-time employment as a control group, says Sukhi Samra, the director of SEED as well as the director of a new group, Mayors for a Guaranteed Income.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She attributes that finding to two factors: \u201cWhen you give people $400 or $500 a month, and it\u2019s reliable, not only are they able to do the tangible, physical things, like put gas in their car to get to the job interview, but they also have increased mental capacity for goal-setting,\u201d she says. \u201cWhen you\u2019re experiencing poverty, and each paycheck\u2019s dollar is accounted for in terms of which bills it\u2019s going to pay, you just don\u2019t have the mental capacity to plan for your future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Take all the time our artists spend on hold with the unemployment office, all the brain space they exhaust checking their bank account to make sure they don\u2019t overdraft between freelance payments, all the bureaucratic hoops they jump through to make sure they have health insurance between gigs. Why, in the richest country in the world, do we demand artists waste so many of their resources? What if they could instead spend that time and energy composing a new symphony? Or dreaming up a new artistic form altogether?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\" id=\"attachment_2865969\"><img src=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/sfc-datebook-wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/04\/MER893b790f64bc3b60604be5dd22b9e_utopia1020-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2865969\"\/><figcaption>Chris Steele in Cutting Ball Theater\u2019s \u201cUtopia.\u201d Steele is among those applying for San Francisco\u2019s guaranteed income program.<br>Photo: Nic Candito, Cutting Ball Theater<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In Bay Area theater, even artists at the pinnacles of their careers make minimum wage or less. For many, $1,000 per month would help to remove food and housing insecurity. Preliminary data from SEED shows that program recipients experienced not just less psychological difficulty, but less physical pain than a control group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>San Francisco theater maker, drag queen, makeup artist and Poltergeist Theatre Project co-founder Chris Steele is applying to the city\u2019s guaranteed income program partly for those reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAll of the times that I haven\u2019t been able to rise to the occasion of my art have come from the fact that I have to do so many exhausting things in order to just have a roof and food and be able to live,\u201d Steele says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u201cThat kind of stress, that kind of constant anxiety not only changes your DNA, but it is just antithetical to the spiritual and mental place that you need to be in to create art.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\" id=\"attachment_2865974\"><img src=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/sfc-datebook-wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/04\/MER1ed7011c042ceaeebf05ad1070564_julie0814-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2865974\"\/><figcaption>Poltergeist Theatre Project\u2019s \u201cThe Julie Cycle\u201d creators and actors Britt Lauer (left) and Chris Steele in San Francisco.<br>Photo: Paul Kuroda, Special to The Chronicle 2019<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Guaranteed income is different from other social safety net programs in that there are no strings attached. Once you\u2019re enrolled, you don\u2019t have to prove anything to keep it and you can spend the money however you want. In Stockton, Samra says, recipients spent their funds on groceries, rent and utilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The concept is built on trust, Warren says. We don\u2019t demand corporations spend their subsidies or tax breaks in a particular way, so why do we treat the poor differently?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u201cThat means you don\u2019t trust me,\u201d he says, putting himself in the place of a welfare recipient, \u201cand that means you don\u2019t respect me, and that means I have no dignity.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Distrust comes from a scarcity mind-set, a sense that resources are scarce and we\u2019re all competing with one another. And who is it that helps us shift to an abundance mind-set? To see the world as full of wonder and possibility and joy?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s artists. What a coincidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><span class=\"has-inline-color has-cyan-bluish-gray-color\">_____<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To see original article please visit: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/news\/sf-launches-guaranteed-income-pilot-program-for-130-artists\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/news\/sf-launches-guaranteed-income-pilot-program-for-130-artists\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/basicincometoday.com\/as-some-san-francisco-artists-get-basic-income-how-do-we-head-off-bad-faith-arguments-against-it\/\">As some San Francisco artists get basic income, how do we head off bad-faith arguments against it?<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/basicincometoday.com\/\">Basic Income Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"syndicated-attribution\">This post was originally published on <a href=\"https:\/\/basicincometoday.com\/as-some-san-francisco-artists-get-basic-income-how-do-we-head-off-bad-faith-arguments-against-it\/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=as-some-san-francisco-artists-get-basic-income-how-do-we-head-off-bad-faith-arguments-against-it\">Basic Income Today<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Guaranteed income programs, no matter whom they support, must frequently battle the same zombie ideas. By Lily Janiak When the city\u00a0announced last month that it planned to launch a pilot program\u00a0to give more than 100 artists $1,000 monthly payments for six months, my hope for all the performers I write about and love was tinged [\u2026]<\/p>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/basicincometoday.com\/as-some-san-francisco-artists-get-basic-income-how-do-we-head-off-bad-faith-arguments-against-it\/\">As some San Francisco artists get basic income, how do we head off bad-faith arguments against it?<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/basicincometoday.com\/\">Basic Income Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1529,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5257,5570,870,5561,5562,5559,6151],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127638"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1529"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127638"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127638\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":127639,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127638\/revisions\/127639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}