Over the centuries, people ask what art is for. It can seem to be a waste of time and effort to have a talented, fully-grown adult smear paint on a canvas or scribble musical notation on paper instead of growing food or tending to the sick. Art (and science) supporters have defended these indirectly beneficial activities by saying things like “people don’t live by bread alone” and “look at these benefits that have come from pure research and NASA and related explorations of space. I recently read in the Annoyed Librarian blog (snippets of the latest on my own blog page) that a councilman in a town struggling with budget issues complained that the local public library should not be buying fiction. When we are trying to keep the bridges and roads in repair, he asked, why are we spending money on fairy tales and lies?
The usual answer is that art builds our appreciation of the world and keeps us aware of our humanity, our feelings and our connection to all of humanity, past and present. Scientific research, historical research can both open new understanding and awareness of issues, dangers and possibilities we would otherwise not know.
My friend and I got into a discussion of Burmese pythons in the Florida everglades, clearly far from Burma. It’s people again. Somebody bought one of the giant snakes and found it too much trouble and too expensive to feed mice to. Hey, why not release the damned thing into the swamp and forget about it. I guess several people had that idea. “Snake in the Grass” by Larry Perez tells the story of first, the mystery of what was in the “river of grass” and then what to try to do about the increasing numbers of the 15 to 30 ft. constrictors. We were told in the Everglades that the Florida panthers and the bears were not to be found there anymore since the pythons had eaten up all the prey. A few people release unwanted pets into the Glades and Zip! Some interesting species disappear as a result.
The friend came back with the story of Big Bertha and molybdenum. The Germans were happy with the performance of their giant cannon except that it overheated often and had to be cooled too frequently. They needed to add the element molybdenum to the metal used to make a giant cannon. A Colorado man owned a molybdenum mine but could find no market for the stuff. One day, before America had entered the war, German representatives showed up and offered to buy his mine. No sale! They were told by the bosses to take his stuff by force but the British got wind of the story and told our government. Troops surrounded the place and protected it. Surprise! A part of Colorado is suddenly under scrutiny and military protection out of the blue.
He had also heard that the horrible fights between the Rwandan Hutus and Tutsi was purposely triggered by people who knew how to do it so that they could harvest a rare metal suddenly in great demand in the manufacture of cellphones. First, nobody cares or takes notice and then suddenly: Surprise! Big problem!
The world changes all the time and can change very quickly and unexpectedly. Art can warn us of emerging issues, challenges and opportunities. Take this book, for instance: “The Reformed Vampire Support Group” by Catherine Jinks. Had you given a thought to the likely emergence of reformed vampires? To the need for support groups for them? What are the special civil rights and treatment options for reformed vampires? Scary, huh?
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Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety
