Everyone's an Artist

Writing is most probably the most common form of expression, next to, of course actual vocal expression. Hence, alternate to vocalizing one's disagreement with a political or social climate, one can always write it down and post it on a blog. The beauty of the internet means that it can be done with relative anonymity while still getting your point across to millions.

Notwithstanding the fact that your blog may be viewed by a total of zero people (unless you're a little savvy with internet marketing), never before has the potentiality existed for one person to reach so many millions of people. Never before could a man in Uganda make known his thoughts so far and wide and garner support for a viewpoint or, even, a fad. Of course, this can be abused, but those abuses (whether in the form of internet garbage, spam or "Nigerian Lotteries") can be easily overlooked when it comes to the point of the good effects that can be created via the internet. But, for argument's sake, let us just hypothesize what would have happened if Jesus or even the early Catholic church had access to such a broad medium as the internet. Needless to say, our world would look very different.

This is not a new hypothetical proposition, however. Countless internet devotees have, no doubt, made such suggestions and the internet has been the forum for many varied conversation topics for years. But harnessing that, and using that energy for good rather than evil, I think is the trick. You only need to type in something derogatory on a search engine to know what I'm talking about (I will not specifically name them here given, how the internet works, it would only garner more support for them). As well as being a gleaming light in our culture, the internet also casts its beams incidentally on some pretty morally base nooks and crannies or our society. But, these debased nooks are merely well planned and executed distractions to the purpose of life and communication. They will always be there, true. But the busy ones among us will ignore them, being more interested in the art and business of living.

I think an artist has a purpose greater than their bank account, although that is no reason they should be poor or struggling. An artist (particularly a writer) can upload, type, show almost anything at all on the internet and it is now time for them to jump on these lines of communication with vigor and tenacity, but wholesale. Communication lines (like the internet, book stores, magazines, etc.), are, after all the conduit by which any artist gets his/her voice heard or pictures seen. The time is nigh, then, to get onto blogs, websites, etc., and type and upload your points of view, your experiences, your prophecies, etc. ad infinitum. Sure, there are people doing it already, but far out of proportion to how many of us there really are.

You will note one important thing in all of this, too: anyone can do it. Which would, as a corollary, mean that anyone has the potential to be an 'artist'. Or, rather, is an artist. See, 'artist' is merely a self-consideration. You either 'think' you are or 'think' you're not. It's not a club, but (to quote an old, overused cliché [sorry]) a 'state of mind'. There is so much that can be done; actually, there is so much that has to be done to really 'change the world' (yes, sorry, again. Quoting another old cliché, I know), because, it really does need changing!

Artists, after all, are the movers and shakers. The dreamers of dreams; dreams that, at some stage, become the future. If you count that we are, all of us, to some degree an artist, that's a hell of a lot of moving and shaking.

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Anthony Santoro