The Federal Writers’ Project fueled the cultural ferment of the New Deal era

Re:The Federal Writers’ Project fueled the cultural ferment ... by bluetonium on Monday August 16, 2021 @09:38PM (#28205105)

"And yet it was built and defended, with the still-unpopular argument that writers are in fact people, and they need to eat, too."

I understand "freelance writer," or "professional writer" as definitions - but in the age of social media, is it accurate to still think of "writers" writ large as a contiguous defined class of special people separate from the general public?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:The Federal Writers’ Project fueled the cultural ferment ... by BuyMyBitcoins on Tuesday August 17, 2021 @12:25AM (#28206229)

>”the still-unpopular argument that writers are in fact people, and they need to eat, too."

I hate hate hate this kind of sophistry. I really wish English had a concise word to describe this kind of underhanded rhetoric.

I don’t think the federal government should be employing writers simply to employ people who write. Therefore, I do not think writers are people, and furthermore, they do not deserve to eat.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:The Federal Writers’ Project fueled the cultural ferment ... by tehjoker on Monday August 16, 2021 @11:22PM (#28205841)

Yes and no. Just like software, it's a craft and people that practice get better. Go meet a struggling writer and you'll see that for yourself. They produce, it's good stuff, and worse people get the good gigs by roll of the dice. Supporting people like that is great.

[ Parent | on HN ]