Now that federal funding for NPR and PBS is gone, and Stephen Colbert has been cancelled, it's useful to remember that people of integrity have always taken more news, music, video, and visual arts cues from the underground. That is not to say that mainstream culture is devoid of anything interesting. We will continue to hear Tiny Desk Sets and World Cafes from time to time. It's also true that news heroes like Rachel Maddow and Amy Goodman can get things wrong.
But arts on the edge and news made for the samizdat community have been giving people sustenance for more than a century. Perhaps the arts and news we find best will make their way back to the mainstream in a future era. For now, be proud of Do-It-Yourself culture. Support DIY house concerts, small labels, and news distribution that relies on verifiable facts (no conspiracy-theory podcasts, thank you very much). Samizdat culture lives. The underground is alive and well.
