Tonight It's Government Funded: A Rhetorical Analysis of Manufactured Social Controversy and Government Funding of the Arts
Beckermann, K.M. (2013. Master's Thesis. Advisor: Dr. Mark Meister
Thomas Goodnight's definition of controversy offers an initial examination of Reverend Donald Wildmon and Reverend Pat Robertson's attack of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), initiating what is commonly known as the Culture Wars of 1989. Using their most reliable communication tactics, particularly direct mail and newspaper advertisements, Wildmon and Robertson attempted to garner support for their values by manufacturing controversy related to government funding of the National Endowment for the Arts. Together, they manufacture social controversy around two inter-related themes, one of morality, in which they argued Christians were being persecuted by the art community, and the other against federal funding of objectionable art, using photographers Andres Serrano and Robert Mapplethorpe as symbols of corruption. In addition to the initial attacks on Serrano and Mapplethorpe, my rhetorical analysis illustrates how Wildmon's and Robertson's rhetoric seemingly sanctioned the manufacturing of a social controversy regarding the Federal funding for objectionable art as a way to promote their pro-family and anti-homosexual agenda.
Read the full thesis here (this link will take you to a new site)
Read "My Art Story" regarding the National Endowment for the Arts.