Dewey: Second Question

How would your life be different if art was more censored (like in Plato’s “utopian society”) or if it was vastly limited and dry? Almost like how the Puritans viewed art? Would this change your life entirely? Would you still be alive?

Simply put: I would not be alive without art. Art is my life. I am a writer, composer, artist, actor, and slew of sub-artistic fields. Art is what allows me to understand the humanly insane world around us and how humans act the way they do. I would not want to stray away from this form of the truth, as I see it. I think it is truly a crime for art to be censored, especially in the 2000 year era. I do not think censoring art makes a population any better--it just makes the government worse and more under the assumption that what they are doing is good for the people.

   If art, specifically literature, was written in a Puritan, dry format, I do not think I would be an English major and a writer. I would not have the influence and the previous ideas of great writers for how to write well and emotionally. When I write, I want to show people how they feel and that I feel the same way. I would like my writing to be understood and to, at one point perhaps, help those who read it in their own lives.

   Without the free form of art I compose and create in now, I do not think my life would be the same at all. I would be a completely different person. I might turn completely cognitive and be a different type of person, maybe harsher and more stoic. Without a venting system that art provides, I might not be able to communicate well with people because I would be upset a lot of the time.

   However, this whole idea is again hypothetical and only probable if things were as such. But there have actually been times throughout history where art is suppressed and made dull and so I think we can learn from those times. My first question proposes a completely altered state of the world, this question puts forth the idea of things that have past and I am trying to put myself into that point in time. I do not think I could handle it.