Bob Ross, an artist known for his show “The Joy of Painting,” which aired in the 1980s and 1990s, is having his paintings auctioned off by American Public Television to raise money for public TV stations after President Donald Trump’s cuts to public broadcasting funds.
This sequence of events is an absolute tragedy. Ross stood to help teach people across the world how to paint and express their emotions through art. The auction’s purpose reflects the issue of the removal of government-funded educational services, such as educational broadcasts.
Shows like Ross’ provided valuable knowledge to the general audience about how to paint. The job of these public television stations was to help educate people of all ages. Trump’s funding cuts have also affected shows as iconic as Sesame Street, which has caused them to make significant budget cuts.. The fact that Ross’ paintings are being sold to fund public broadcasters, such as educational ones like PBS, shows that the Trump administration wants an uneducated America.
Trump has gone so far as to label PBS as “liberal propaganda.” This is an outright degradation to everything these establishments have stood for. Trump does not want people to have bipartisan ideas. He wants to rewrite government-funded educational programs into conservative propaganda. He wants the masses silenced.
These funding cuts will eliminate shows that have educated many. These paintings that were auctioned are meant for his family and the people to see, not the highest bidder. Ross helped educate people through his passion for painting — a love that helped to make artists, even 20 years after his passing.
Ross wanted people to be able to create and enjoy art. This is the beauty of what he did; everything came at no cost to the public. John Kowalski, president of Bob Ross Inc., has said that Ross would say, “You don’t want my paintings. You want to create your own and hang them proudly on your wall.” The defunding of these programs takes away vital education from the public. It also takes away pieces of history created by Ross. Trump continues to strip public education from Americans, demonstrating a desire for an uneducated population and the intentions of tainting the legacies of PBS and Ross.
