"Anything worth doing is worth doing right."

BLOG #2

Second reading experience:
When reading the essay a second time, compared to the first time, I found I took a less defensive approach. I agree art may not do anything to directly reduce world suffering, but I do maintain my stance that it can bring awareness to it. Art that holds important messages are more valuable than the materialistic mumbo-jumbo art that we tend to see more frequently as they explain. Taking a second read I noticed they used examples of art that did have a positive impact but also showed how it may have adversely affected the subject. This isn’t something typically discussed, every action as an equal and opposite reaction. I also realized they discussed that this is something they mainly do towards people who are in the positions of privilege, and ultimately they’re right about one thing. When you’re in a place of privilege, you should use it to improve the lives of the people who do not have that luxury, otherwise it is kind of morally corrupt. “Decoding the text” indeed did provide a positive impact on my understanding of the text. I realized there were words that I thought I knew but in reality when I re-read it I had no idea what they were referring to. Re-annotating the document was not as easy as the first annotation, because here I had to really look at the things that I may have just washed over, like the smaller details. Ultimately my stance has shifted slightly, if everyone could adopt a key ideal away from this it should be to do more than you’re doing now. There is so much more we could be doing for the world around us. So perhaps don’t take measures as radical as the EA’s but start small, something is better than nothing.

1 Comment

  1. elishaemerson

    It sounds like your second reading helped you read the text with less emotion and more care for detail and nuance. I LOVE that you picked up on this: “This isn’t something typically discussed, every action as an equal and opposite reaction.” It may be useful to explore all the other acts (beyond art acts) that have unintended consequences.

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