Hard disagree. Humanity flourished when we had the free time to think, play, and create instead of just hunting and gathering all the time. Language, collaboration, imagination all grew thanks to art.
Culture doesn't exist without art.
The rest of that column is basically "mosquitos", blegh. Maybe we can get some birds to eat them.
This is from a religion textbook, teaching what Adam named these things in the garden of eden. Interestingly we get the word "fuck load" from this passage in the Bible:
"And Adam named the bees what he did, and so a gathering of them became a fuckload as Adam saw how many bees there were, and was pleased."
Not NPR, that's writing and journalism, which id argue is definitely an art.
Have fun with 500 versions of Alex Jones though.