"Three Uses of the Knife"

I agreed with this article until it got close to the end. My problems with it began with the assumption that by trying to change another's perspective, you are seeing yourself as better than your audience, which I disagree with. I firmly believe that you can change someone while being no better than they are. We are all broken people, and just because this broken person is showing another broken person the way to life doesn't mean that he is any better than the other.

I think that the message of this article is dangerous because it works to try to convince us that art that changes us is just manipulative. I simply refuse to accept this, because I have been positively changed by art in my life in ways nothing else could.

It is expression first and foremost, and obviously making propaganda and passing it as "art" is not acceptable behavior. But infusing your own personal beliefs into what you create is simply inevitable, for good or bad. We must not convince ourselves that this is bad, because when we do that, not only will our art suffer, but society will as a result of losing the ability to receive deeper messages through art.