Today, many like Karen Armstrong, acknowledge the significant role art plays in a community. Throughout her essay, Homo Religiosus, she argues that art, much like religion, has the capability to allow one to temporarily forget and transcend their daily struggles, and rather focus on an ideal future. Maggie Nelson’s essay, Great to Watch, questions how society relates to the world and through what can we do so. Nelson opens her text with a discussion of Sister Helen Prejean, who proposes in her memoir, Dead Man Walking, ignorance was a major obstacle that paused social and moral progress. Prejean was convinced that exposure to a world crisis will inspire others to help make change. Nelson rejects this. Rather, Nelson accepts Armstrong’s belief
…show more content…
This distraction creates a “dreaded proliferate state that leads to dazzlingly high numbers of cell phone related car crashes each day, or that leads otherwise progressive professors to shake their heads in despair as their students text each other under the classroom table” (Nelson, 310). It is this distraction that interfere with one ruminating about serious issues. Instead, she claims that “images have the power to cause injury,” in such a way that could potentially harm society’s social and moral evolution (Nelson, 305). It is especially this idea of rapid image flow that is an “exceptionally poor means by which to contemplate” worldly struggles and social conundrums (Nelson, 304). These videos and images do not properly highlight and report on the full extent of the problem, and thus society becomes misinformed. Additionally, these clips and images that we quickly notice as we scroll by (to watch a cute animal video instead) generates an issue for Nelson. She argues that internet surfing becomes “shaped by the do-I or don’t-I-want-to-watch-this question…” (Nelson, 304). This not only desensitizes the situation to the viewer but also puts social and moral justice in the hands of a “one-click decision” (Nelson, 304). However, …show more content…
Instead of fixing a problem that is taking place in a foreign country, we take precautions to ensure it is not happening in our society. So, we become distracted from the problem at hand. Nelson goes on to state that “in a cultural moment defined by image flow, the question of what one should look at” can “lead to cul-de-sacs, red herrings, or distractions fatal to the primary issue at hand” (Nelson, 304). More specifically, Nelson claims that this image flow is creating a negative distraction and causing one to forget about the real global crisis. And while Armstrong admits that art produces a “timeless dissociation from every concern and requirement,” she doesn’t suggest that this is a negative thing (Armstrong, 2). It is often necessary to transcend daily struggles and to envision a better life. This temporary transcendence can motivate and inspire one to ultimately try and establish change. When one sees a great piece of art, they are transported to an image of an improved lifestyle. But when they are brought back to the real world, they may become depressed from the reality of their life. Not wanting to be depressed, they become driven to create a superior world. Armstrong adds that art is “an attempt to construct meaning in the face of relentless pain and suffering” but can also “evoke an anxiety in such a way that the community is forced to confront and control it” (Armstrong, 5). Particularly, Armstrong is
This distraction creates a “dreaded proliferate state that leads to dazzlingly high numbers of cell phone related car crashes each day, or that leads otherwise progressive professors to shake their heads in despair as their students text each other under the classroom table” (Nelson, 310). It is this distraction that interfere with one ruminating about serious issues. Instead, she claims that “images have the power to cause injury,” in such a way that could potentially harm society’s social and moral evolution (Nelson, 305). It is especially this idea of rapid image flow that is an “exceptionally poor means by which to contemplate” worldly struggles and social conundrums (Nelson, 304). These videos and images do not properly highlight and report on the full extent of the problem, and thus society becomes misinformed. Additionally, these clips and images that we quickly notice as we scroll by (to watch a cute animal video instead) generates an issue for Nelson. She argues that internet surfing becomes “shaped by the do-I or don’t-I-want-to-watch-this question…” (Nelson, 304). This not only desensitizes the situation to the viewer but also puts social and moral justice in the hands of a “one-click decision” (Nelson, 304). However, …show more content…
Instead of fixing a problem that is taking place in a foreign country, we take precautions to ensure it is not happening in our society. So, we become distracted from the problem at hand. Nelson goes on to state that “in a cultural moment defined by image flow, the question of what one should look at” can “lead to cul-de-sacs, red herrings, or distractions fatal to the primary issue at hand” (Nelson, 304). More specifically, Nelson claims that this image flow is creating a negative distraction and causing one to forget about the real global crisis. And while Armstrong admits that art produces a “timeless dissociation from every concern and requirement,” she doesn’t suggest that this is a negative thing (Armstrong, 2). It is often necessary to transcend daily struggles and to envision a better life. This temporary transcendence can motivate and inspire one to ultimately try and establish change. When one sees a great piece of art, they are transported to an image of an improved lifestyle. But when they are brought back to the real world, they may become depressed from the reality of their life. Not wanting to be depressed, they become driven to create a superior world. Armstrong adds that art is “an attempt to construct meaning in the face of relentless pain and suffering” but can also “evoke an anxiety in such a way that the community is forced to confront and control it” (Armstrong, 5). Particularly, Armstrong is