There are more than 4.7 million refugees that have fled from the war in Syria, 783 million people that don’t have access to clean water, and famine levels are at an all time high. If only there was a way to keep the media focused on these crises. Oh wait, there is! The answer is art. This powerful tool of expression definately has the ability to create change because it can raise awareness, change the way people think, and also encourage people to act. Art has the ability to raise awareness because it can be made by anyone. The abundance of art makes it more powerful due to its availability and scope. If more people create art that is related to a certain issue, more people will start to become aware of it. Artist and photographer from China,
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Some may argue that art cannot express an idea since it has no context, such as that of Neil Postman in his book, Amusing Ourselves to Death. Postman argues that “unlike words and sentences, the photograph does not present to us an idea or concept about the world, except as we use language itself to convert the image to idea” (Postman 82). While he somewhat does have a point, I believe art can a lot of the time go beyond our limits of language. It is a universal tool of communication in which conforms to no language barrier. It indeed express ideas because photography for example, can show the viewer a real, vivid image that language can only …show more content…
Slacktivists as author Olga Khazan calls them, explains in her article “UNICEF Tells Slacktivists: Give Money, Not Facebook Likes” that liking and sharing things on Facebook for example does not really do much. While these slacktivists might only share or like a poster or page, they themselves might not do anything else in terms of donating money, but someone else who sees what they shared might very well do something other than like the post. It is this sharing of provocative art that fuels the efforts of making a change. Perhaps the person who sees the post the slacktivist shared might actually be a PR for a large company that is looking to expand its business and name. The PR might not have much money, but chances are, the company he works for does. This results in companies donating money not only to look good, but too also get publicity. How? The answer is, since they donated money, the company name will now likely become a partner which means it will appear on the main website for the organization accepting donations. By doing this, companies save millions of dollars that otherwise would’ve been spent on public advertisements. It is a little shameful, but the people in need get help, and the companies get publicity so no one really
Some may argue that art cannot express an idea since it has no context, such as that of Neil Postman in his book, Amusing Ourselves to Death. Postman argues that “unlike words and sentences, the photograph does not present to us an idea or concept about the world, except as we use language itself to convert the image to idea” (Postman 82). While he somewhat does have a point, I believe art can a lot of the time go beyond our limits of language. It is a universal tool of communication in which conforms to no language barrier. It indeed express ideas because photography for example, can show the viewer a real, vivid image that language can only …show more content…
Slacktivists as author Olga Khazan calls them, explains in her article “UNICEF Tells Slacktivists: Give Money, Not Facebook Likes” that liking and sharing things on Facebook for example does not really do much. While these slacktivists might only share or like a poster or page, they themselves might not do anything else in terms of donating money, but someone else who sees what they shared might very well do something other than like the post. It is this sharing of provocative art that fuels the efforts of making a change. Perhaps the person who sees the post the slacktivist shared might actually be a PR for a large company that is looking to expand its business and name. The PR might not have much money, but chances are, the company he works for does. This results in companies donating money not only to look good, but too also get publicity. How? The answer is, since they donated money, the company name will now likely become a partner which means it will appear on the main website for the organization accepting donations. By doing this, companies save millions of dollars that otherwise would’ve been spent on public advertisements. It is a little shameful, but the people in need get help, and the companies get publicity so no one really