“Art Aimed to Shock” (one of the most unsettling articles I have ever read in Newsweek) fails to answer the questions that it originally evoked in me.

Aliza Shvart’s induced-miscarriage display is one of many works of art crafted to stir up a storm. Well, mission accomplished! This piece with the “aim to shock” has undoubtedly created controversy; people are quickly taking sides on the debate whether banning the art is or is not in violation of the right to free speech. On a strictly moral level, driven by my love for animals and people, I would side with banning such art in a heartbeat. Although, looking at it from a more liberal perspective, I would want the art to be permissible only because it is a basic right that we possess as citizens. Whatever message the artists were trying to communicate, they should be protected under law.

The fact is that censorship always defeats its own purpose, for it creates, in the end, the kind of society that is incapable of exercising real discretion.
-Henry Steele Commager

The article also reflects on the idea that banning the piece deterred others from formulating their own thoughts on the issue. It did not grant individual people the choice to accept it or reject it. Through an ethical outlook and a liberal lens, I see two different approaches emerging from the same problem and because of it, I don’t know where I stand.

Judging people you don’t know for things you don’t understand is just really stupid.
-Ellen Page

Labeling a person’s rectitude as best or worst is a complex process, simply because people are not…well…simple. I guess you could say possessing feelings of hatred towards Blanche was justified in the initial scenes of “A Streetcar Named Desire.” Although, as the story went on, feelings of sympathy and understanding more closely resembled my attitude toward Blanche. What may have appeared to be vanity every time she sought a compliment was probably her need to feel loved after being hurt by so many men. Maybe her tendency to lie was just her way of coping with reality.

Now, the relevance of judging people at first glance is undeniable. We all do it and we all have had it done to us. I found a how-to wiki titled “How to Stop People from Judging You Just because the Way You Dress.” The message of the how-to wiki applies to more than merely exterior appearances.

My favorite step would have to be:
step 5. Kill them with kindness :]

“Every flower must grow through dirt.”
- Anonymous

My lack of inspiration has driven me to an inflexible hated for writing. My only consistency in this skill is my flagrant regression in it.

I knew I was going downhill when I would erase my printed thoughts, only to find my finished product as a reflection of my initial ideas on paper. Trying to attain “perfection” only taught me how to waste time. I started to see my failures in the success of my peers. The absence of my motivation excited the only thought in my mind: where do you get it?

After reading Flight by John Steinbeck, I noticed the intricate setting he paints with mere words.

“About fifteen miles below Monterey, on the wild coast, the Torres family had their farm, a few sloping acres above a cliff that dropped to the brown reefs and to the hissing white waters of the ocean. Behind the farm the stone mountains stood up against the sky. ”
-John Steinbeck

Obviously, his writing was inspired by his own experiences – what he saw, felt, tasted, heard, and smelt.

I guess you can’t entirely lose or get inspiration, you just have it. Maybe inspiration is revisiting a time and reminiscing about a person or place. Despite the form it takes, it is in you… like a flower budding from the earth.

Children will watch anything, and when a broadcaster uses a crime and violence and other shoddy devices to monopolize a child’s attention, it’s worse than taking candy from a baby. It is taking precious time from the process of growing up.
-Newton N. Minow

How could tiny ten-year-old bodies conjure up inexplicable amounts of aggression fueling a plot like the one presented in Not Child’s Play?

It’s one of those stories you feel compelled to tell the people around you. In my case I would simply read the first two sentences providing the gist of it.

Parents nationwide are reacting with shock to news reports that a group of 8- to 10-year-old kids in Waycross, Ga., were so mad at their teacher that they apparently planned to knock her unconscious with a glass paperweight and stab her with a steak knife.
-Karen Springen

The author’s interview with a child psychiatrist, Elizabeth Berger M.D. explored possible causes for such effects. Of course the issue of violence in video games and television was not left out. Though aggression depicted through media may contribute to such hostility in reality, it doesn’t mean it is the sole reason. After all, violence is literally ancient history; just look at the Bible. Berger suggests personal problems with the family or one’s hardships at home are the driving forces behind such aggression. She refers to childhood as the progression toward self-control eventually enabling people to repress violent behavior. To address the opening quote, newscasters do not usually have such young audiences that are genuinely interested in the crime reported to them. And in this case, the only thing depriving kids from childhood are the bars that could possibly confine them.