I'm pretty sure she wasn't the first to say it. I've seen religious tracts which proclaim that all fiction is evil because it's all lies, and heard non-religious people say that giving fiction to children is bad because it teaches them to believe in untruths. It's a hard argument to refute, because looked at in that way it's true. Of course it loses some of its punch when those people lie themselves (how does that verb decline? I am economical with the truth, you prevaricate, he is a liar?)...
Is there a need for professional creators (I'm using the term to include all forms of communicative art, not just the limited writing)? I think there isn't, there are so many amateurs who can do it. There is a demand, yes, but then there is a demand for all sorts of things which aren't actually necessary, because they are wanted or (as you said elsewhere) so common now that people expect them as a 'right', and in particular they are wanted "right now" rather than "when they fit it in with their regular work". I can think of several people I know who create music and visual art as well as writing without pay whose works I enjoy as much and more than most of the professionals in the field. I'm writing in the journal of one of them *g*...
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Is there a need for professional creators (I'm using the term to include all forms of communicative art, not just the limited writing)? I think there isn't, there are so many amateurs who can do it. There is a demand, yes, but then there is a demand for all sorts of things which aren't actually necessary, because they are wanted or (as you said elsewhere) so common now that people expect them as a 'right', and in particular they are wanted "right now" rather than "when they fit it in with their regular work". I can think of several people I know who create music and visual art as well as writing without pay whose works I enjoy as much and more than most of the professionals in the field. I'm writing in the journal of one of them *g*...