Art: Force-Fed Expression?

For as long as I have been alive, I have been interested in and, to an extent, obsessed with the world of art and artistry, the creativity, orginality, and innovation associated with it, and, at the lowest level, the politics circling around it. The visual arts; including paintings, prints, drawings, sketches, etchings, ceramics, scuptures, architecture, watercolours, etcetera; written arts, including newspapers, magazines, novels, novellas, plays, poetry, etcetera; performed arts, including music, dramas, comedies, tragedies, dances, movies, television, etcetera; the miscellaneous arts, including cooking, athletics, games, and a plethora of subjects I can't name, simply because I don't know of them, are all intriguing and interesting to me, and I take pleasure in studying and learning about them. But, above all, one thing which has always been perfectly clairvoyant to me is that it is all, and I mean everything I just named and alluded to, are recreational endeavors which are not mandatory to survive, and do not always need to be taken to heart.
A musician, dipping into the shallow pool known as shock value, throws on a g-string, leather corset, and blonde wig and wiggles his ass around stage, screaming profanity and sexual innuendo at a pace unimagined to those above the age of sixty, backed up by distorted, out-of-tune guitars, basses, and heavy, thumping, programmed drums. The mainstream media crys havoc and blasphemy, the churches damn him to Hell, the teenagers bang their heads and gyrate along to his music, the academics shake their heads and return to their pompous, classical, accepted music, parents rage on about how evil he is, so on and so on. The only thing I can think is, "Wow, that's pretty stupid and pointless," I shrug my shoulders, and move on, past that silly, immature stageshow. Why am I so apathetic? Because, I realise, he is just doing what he wants, and that has no impact on me, who I am, or what I think, if I don't let it. If you don't like what someone does, ignore it, unless it's a crazed reject from art school raising an army in the name of an organization known as the "Third Reich," you don't have to worry about him coming to your house, dragging you out back, and blowing your face off for not appreciating what he's done.
Art, no matter what form, conveys a meaning, emotion, or message to the exposed, whether or not that meaning is remembered or contemplated is up to the man or woman seeing, hearing, feeling, or smelling it is up to that single individual. A painting of the Virgin Mary surrounded by vaginas, or a depiction of Christ on the cross on a canvas smeared with elephant dung, or a toilet turned on its side and entitled "Fountain," are all legimate facets of some artists imagination, which he has decided to express to the public in a chosen fashion. While many disagree with the ideas or opinions displayed, that does not mean it's necessary to start a Holy Crusade to tear him down, nor is it necessary to ruin his business. If people voluntarily decide to give this man money for his art, so be it, that is their decision, completely irrelevant and detached from our own lives.
Respect, taste, and class are all subjective terms defined and enforced by society to its offspring, from birth. When someone fails to grasp, or purposefully shuns, the definitions put forth by society, it can lead to a number of results, ranging from mass homocide to angry, satirical performances on stage mocking the American Flag or Capitalism. It is my own personal philosphy that as long as you are not directly interfering with somebody else's life, somehow, then, well, whatever you are doing is fine. Murder, theft, and rape, obviously, do tend to "interfere" with someone's life, so I don't condone it. Writing dialogue to be spoken by an actor on stage, in a theatre somewhere, to be seen by 'goers attending the performance by their own whims, does not interfere with anybody's life by force, therefore, it should not be condemned as treachery or ungood. Ambiguity would arise in cases of parades in the streets, signs posted on property outside of your own, and loud speeches made from windows, I'd imagine, but, unfortunately, unless violating laws, people are free to do whatever they want while traversing about, in America. IF you let their words or messages get under your skin, practice ignoring the world, I'm a trained professional at it, it comes with time.
To be continued, at a later date...

Adios.

Currently Playing Song: Mr. Bungle - Legend of Zelda (A song not performed by System of a Down.)
Quote of the Moment: "Gaming is not expression, so it is not protected by the First Admendment" a paraphrase of Judge Limbaugh's ruling in the a case of the St. Louis Judicial system.