Blog #7

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A quote from Peter Singer’s essay, Famine, Affluence, and Morality, showcases this mindset perfectly: “Suppose you saw a child drowning in a pond: would you jump in and rescue her, even if you hadn’t pushed her in? Even if it meant ruining your clothes? It would be highly controversial to say ‘no’ – and yet most of us manage to ignore those dying of poverty and preventable disease all over the world, though we could easily help them.” (Southan) From the viewpoint of Effective Altruists, artists, even those trying to help the world, are wasting their time and resources while thousands of children drown. It sounds good on paper, however, it’s actually wrong, because most problems have some basis in society and culture. If somebody creates art challenging a problem in society-racism, sexism, homophobia, and any other kind of injustice- they are actually addressing the root of the problem: society. If this were to be applied to Peter Singer’s allegory, it would be like an artist creating art that encourages people not to leave their children unsupervised, or to help any drowning children they see. It doesn’t matter how many laws are created to deter discrimination in work, housing, education, legal jurisdiction, and otherwise-nothing will change if the attitudes of people in society do not change, and the only way to do that is through art.  

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The art of Titus Kaphar will likely educate people about the biases of classical works, but other artists work to combat more modern prejudices. Yinka Shonebare MBE is an artist that has been working on art that can challenge people’s assumptions about different cultures. Essentially, the main idea of his art is that every culture is just as valuable as another, that no culture is superior to any other. He was raised in Nigeria until he was 17, when he moved to Britain, so his works often involve merging classical European paintings and sculptures with traditional African colors and patterns. By doing this, he aims to show that African art and culture should be valued, just as European art and culture is now. In an interview with the New York Times, he stated that “Art is a very powerful tool. It can communicate with people in a way that will actually make them more receptive to whatever the artist might be exploring, as opposed to the artist being angry and shouting at people. That never actually works: People become defensive.”(Shonibare MBE) In this way, him and Kaphar have similar goals: to change people’s mind for the better through their art. 

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The art of Titus Kaphar willl likely educate people about the biases of classical works, and other artists are working to combat more modern prejudices. For example, Yinka Shonibare MBE is an artist working with classical European paintings and sculptures, combined with traditional African colors and patterns. He also has the goal of changing people’s minds, and of changing culture, for the better. Each artist has a different goal, and a different reason for doing so. However, Effective Altruists typically believe that artists like Kaphar and Shonibare are completely replaceable. In their words, “In equation form, Your Apparent Good Achieved minus the Good Your Counterfactual Replacement Would Have Achieved equals Your Actual Good Achieved.” (Southan) Since EAs think artists are, by nature, useless, they are by nature, replaceable. However, I would argue that artists trying to change society are actually very useful and impactful. They have the power to change people’s minds on things, and therefore, the power to make them act. Someone who sees Kaphar’s work may think more critically about the classical art they see, and someone who sees Shonibare’s work may come away feeling that African cultures are worthwhile and interesting, just as European cultures are. If that kind of change happens with enough people, then society can really change for the better. 

Most of the larger changes I’ve made so far in my essay were adding Peter Singer’s pond allegory, adding EA’s concept of replaceability, and changing the parts about Shonibare to be more concise. I’ve mostly used the parts in The Little Seagull about starting new paragraphs, which I used to break up a paragraph that was too long after I added the pond allegory. It has been useful so far, and I will continue to reference it as I edit and revise my essay.