Art and society - a two-blade sword

The beauty, yet the horror of art are the freedom of speech and thought that stands behind it. An
artist is both a creator and a mirror that reflects in his own original way the realities of his time. In the
Antiquity, Plato supported that art itself must be a reflection of the world of Ideas, not of this world which
has deformed the true meaning and appearance of things. But artists, on the other hand, refrained
themselves to reflect on their art such philosophical, yet unrealistic ideas. Moreover, the focus that art of
any kind kept in its boundaries has been the reality itself and the way in which they, as artists, could
response to it and influence others to think free and wide. Anyhow, let us not forget that this step forward
was often viewed as a threat to the political, social and clerical institutions. Looking into history, one of the
most pertinent manners in which art was counter-attacked by art was the period of Renaissance and
Baroque, when the church produced massive art just to minimize the popularity of the teaching brought by
the new homo universalis concept.
There can be identified two types of art approaches towards society problems. The first one can be
greatly noticed in the famous painting of the republican Frenchman douard Manet, Execution of
Maximilian. This approach reveals the political oriented art that either comes from a great patriotism or
from a great admiration or disapproval towards the leaders. Maximilian is a French duke left alone in
Mexico after the civil war and who was finally executed together with his two generals. This deed of
defiance inspired Manet to paint this "modern barbarism" painting (Stevens 10). The political message
seems to be clear out in this painting, although it ignores the true social realities that were obvious in
Mexico. The outmost desire was to represent the event from the French point of view and not from a
legitimate and impartial one. The painting is composed of three main groups of characters: the
executioners, the spectators and the victims. The spectators might seem scared because one system is
falling and another one is rising without any connection to them. On the other hand, the relationship
between the victims and the murderers seems a little strange. The executioners look bored, knowing that
this is the 'right' thing to do, as they are soldiers and their life depends on executing the jobs given. The
figure that impresses us the most is Maximilian. He wears a Mexican hat, has a pale dead-like color and
expresses all the tragedy of his situation. Maximilian looks "psychologically distanced and insignificant,
that the six men do not even point their rifles in the direction of the executed". (Brombert, 217) This sense
of serenity is somehow awkward and it was gained after re-paintings of the canvas. The scene represents
both the tragedy of the moment, but also the vision of a new and uncertain future. In all the details of the
canvas "violence co-exists with contemplation" (Stevens 44), the painting being the expression of the
French authorities that are always calm and have things under control, like Maximilian does, and the
Mexican rebels who want to change something, but lack both the experience and the vigor.
The second approach addresses social problems, such as poverty, discrimination, hate, day-by-day
life. This type of art tries to educate people in the sense of tolerance, kindness and also it wants to analyze
the main issues of our society and the cause of the events. Probably one of the most popular and
widespread work of art of this type is Moiss Kaufmans Laramie Project. The play deals with the most
vicious thoughts of humans and the highest feeling of compassion all gathered around the murder of a
young college boy, Mathew Sheppard, from the University of Wyoming. The murder shocked the entire
community, so Kaufman and his theatre band decided to go in that small town and talk with the members
of the community in order to find out their thoughts, feelings and impressions related to this event. It is
indeed a very complex play, based on 400 testimonies and interviews. Such events bring in front of
everyone beliefs, values and prejudices that once were taboo. Kaufman presents a holistic image and he
does not favor either of the sides of the story. The way in which he decides to present the story is close to
the reality and it has a great sense of credibility just because it is based on true interviews that are often
quoted in the play. Anyhow, this contemporary play aroused comments and objections and the obvious
question of why should it be played. The idea of hate crime terrifies the U.S. and as a result of this murder
and of the play and movie produced after it, the government itself decided to include in the law, this type of
murder that should be treated differently and punished accordingly. As Mr. Cope underlines in an interview
the "Laramie Project" is a play "about ignorance and fear. This play can teach us to be more respectful, less
threatened by what we don't understand. To shy away from material because it's provocative is to deny the
greater good.'' (Klein 1)
Comparing somehow these two approaches that are intended to change the face of society, the
social approach is for sure the most successful one, not only because it reveals certain taboo subjects, but
also because it requires an immediate reaction and response. While the political views can be different, the
social values should be unique and powerfully promoted through any type of art. Nowadays, art should not
be viewed as the number one enemy that can influence only the few chosen ones, but the powerful ally that
changes the life of many and restores long-lost values.

Sources:
Stevens, Mark. "The Imperial War Museum". New York Magazine . 5 Nov. 2006.
Brombert, Beth Archer. "Edouard Manet: Rebel in a Frock Coat". Boston: Little, Brown, and Company,
1996.
Klein, Alvin. " In 'Laramie Project,' Theater Takes Dare". New York Times. 23 Sept. 2001
 Solving problems the issue of our generation

More than ever before, in the past years, humans as individuals or collectivities are faced with the
greatest amount of problematic situations and now more than ever there is a quest to develop new ways and
manners to cope with life. No succeeding in such quests might even cost us the lost of our identity and
balance in the middle of a rushing society that not only encourages the best, but tends to eliminate anything
that is proven to be the weak link. But the fact is that weak links have to survive in one way or the other,
struggling for existence and for reaching the standards of our social and economic life. Like anyone in
great difficulty, people try to get the best out of a situation and not to give up so easily. From yoga to gain
quick money programs, from costly psychological treatments to holidays in exotic places, various
individuals try to find various ways to overcome their issues.
When given a certain strategy to solve problems, people can choose between two very popular
approaches that might seem to some extent the unique manner of solving issues. The ones that promote
these methods tend to think they have exclusivity in the area and their approach is viewed as the one and
only solution. Nevertheless, experience shows us that these two approaches and not only similar, but also
inseparable in real life. The first method is considered to be the positive thinking approach while the
second one requires more supposed involvement and it is known as the action method.
The first approach regards people as potential increasers of their perception of themselves and of
the way this influences their further behavior. As Steve Brunkhorst mentions in his well-known article
Setting High Personal Standards, the ones that view themselves as winners tend to set high standards for
dealing with problems ( Brunkhorst 16). When we come across issues like, whether it is fair or not that
some things happen to us, the right thinking can set us on the right track. It is believed that the wrong
approach of unconsciously giving up the fight comes from the wrong patterns of thought. For example,
there is the well-known image of the half full or half empty glass of water. The issue itself is not the water
inside the glass, but how we perceive the glass itself from our perspective and even from the circumstances
we are in. The positive perspective can make the difference. But positive thinking is not acquired instantly
through reading an inspirational book or following the basic 10-step strategy, but by developing a day-by-
day full understanding of what is going on inside our life and appreciating reality from the opportunities it
indulges, not through the sorrows it might bring. The high standards of thought and living that we establish
at a certain moment in life, as being our guideline, can eventually lead us to success. But what must be
taken into consideration is that not simple thought can change our life. It is true, what we think can have a
great influence on how we act, but let's face it without any acting our good intentions can only be useful to
pave the road to our own hell.
 The concept of positive thinking is brought further on in our daily life through a complex pattern of
choices and actions. After the problem was identified and inside our mind we achieved to overcome it,
another logical, yet difficult step is to be followed. Each one is invited to actually change something in the
way of acting accordingly to the new positive thinking gained. If the thoughts are not sustained by actions
than it is in vain to try reaching a goal that you never believe in. In the first chapter of the Online Self-Help
Book, the two scholars Mark Dombeck and Jolyn Wells-Moran dedicate more half of the book to the
actions that must be completed in order to have success with your self-helping process. They mention that
to avoid taking action on problems is useless because nothing happens when you do this except that your
thoughts go round and round. ( Dombeck, Wells 4) It starts by changing your behavior mood, knowledge,
relationships, motivation and finally when all these are renewed, the process of creating a self-help plan
can begin. Of course, self-help does not imply the lack of the items of advice given by our most dear and
competent ones.
The design of a self-help plan is probably the best solution when it comes to solving problems. Such
an action plan is efficient because it does not give us all the answers right away, but because it lets us
identify and admit the fact that we are dealing with a problem and we need to get out of it. The plan is
focused on our needs and it is the reflection of exactly the things we have identified as the solution to our
personal and particular problem. There can be backtracks or hesitation when it comes to following step by
step the management strategy that we have imposed. But here is the key of solving problems, we must
understand to ourselves and therefore we shall know better all the weak and strong points we have. An
action plan teaches us who we are, develops us and moreover fills us with the joy that we can do it on our
own.
There are the little things that we do when it comes to solving problems that matter and also there
are the great issues that make us better and more competitive. However, problems should not be regarded
as dead-end, but as new and complex opportunities to move forward and to learn something new as days
pass. The secret is not to look back but always to stay focused on the good that is about to occur.

Sources:
Brunkhorst, Steve. "Setting High Personal Standards". EzineArticles 22 Feb. 2005: 16.
Dombeck, Mark; Wells-Moran, Jolyn. "Online Self-Help Book". MentalHelp 26 Jun. 2006: 4.
Topic: Responce To Blaming City Teachers For Student Failures

Carving Individuals - The Ultimate Goal of a Teacher

Often viewed all over the world as the last ring in the chain of the society, this humble species
starting to disappear day by day, the teachers, are not only underpaid and sometimes overworked, but also
seen as the blaming goat of everything that goes wrong in the system. The students are often evaluated only
as robotic being that should know every law of physics and every rule of grammar, but not evaluated on the
real basis of their beings.
The so-called failure of the students can mean a weak score in standard test or a poor grade during a
test paper. Everyone should know and remember the time when they were students and had bad days and
good days or even simply they have that simple reluctance towards a subject, just because his mental
structure was opposite.
Trying to understand better the situation in with schools are involved now, let us refer to a statement
that was delivered by a non-US teacher in an emotional article he wrote for Indian Express. He sees his life
as poured into the field of education, receiving in return a rich harvest of bright students who remember
their teacher. (Mavinkurve 2) Truly a teacher's goal should be to form humans with character and value.
Education is more than the simple transmission of data and numbers. If it does not include the character's
shaping of a person and the kind of mentality one will possess after finishing school, education is just a
plain method to get across a message without a structured content. Teachers should mold characters, not
robots.
The success of a teacher depends on his experience and on his natural-born abilities. Everyone can
judge, but few can perform the job. There are often parents protesting that a teacher can not control their
child, but the issue does not concern the education received at school, as long as the parents themselves are
not able to control the child at home. In many cases, it happens that even if a teacher strives to take his
students on higher levels of knowledge, the child can not overcome the education received at home and the
attitude inherited from his parents.
Teachers' tenure might seem something unconceivable for a businessman, but it is in fact a measure
for protecting the teacher to some extent. There are students and students and the teacher cannot be held
responsible if one student is not capable of more. The goal of school is not to get everyone at the same
level of performance, but to get the best from each student. The strange thing is that the best from one
student may not be the best that certain tests want it to be. A teacher is efficient if he or she succeeds in
motivating the student strong enough to make him overcome his level and be as good as he can. Not
everyone gets to be the President, but everyone needs to get out from school knowing that he can do his
best and succeed in his limits.
Besides this misunderstanding of evaluating the teacher's performance, tenure fights for the right of
the teachers to be good teachers, even if they might be viewed by the students as persons that try to make
them study more than they think it is comfortable. There are cases when a good teacher was dismissed from
a class, because the students felt somehow frustrated that they had to study a lot in order to get high grades.
In these circumstances, the teachers are not blamable. On the contrary the fact that you cannot fire someone
just because he tries to get the best of you and you are too lazy to work means a true certainty that things
are on the right path. For the ones that still believe that tenure is a lifetime security for the ones that
misbehave and refuse to do their job, they should search the historical facts from 1972, when the first
teacher was dismissed, and until now. It is said that an average of 50 teachers a year are fired from their
job. The conclusion could be that there is a great amount of control inside the system and a teacher cannot
do whatever he wants without being responsible for the actions.
Molding young characters is a mission of a lifetime. The entire success of a nation depends on this.
The way the young generations are carved can be the most accurate prediction scale for the future of a
country. If teachers are not valued for who they are and what they do, sooner or later, this category of
devoted men and women, who master the destiny of our children, will perish and along with it any hope for
a normal and humane society. Bringing up new generations of children whose values are not crime and
drugs, but understanding, prosperity, unity and tolerance should be our mission. It is not only about the
teachers. Educating a child involves the entire society: from the resources given by the government, the
schools' management, teachers' abilities and parents' support. It is not about who gets the higher score, it is
about who gets the higher character.

Sources:
Mavinkurve, Aishwarya. " A teacher's mission". Indian Express. 7 April 1999: 2.
ASILOMAR - A STEP FORWARD
 The recombined DNA made its way through 30 years ago and it allowed one of the most

monumental displays of common sense the science world could have ever seen. The possibility of

exploring, combining and experimenting with genes brought the scientists to a sudden moment when they

had to rise up the question whether what they were doing was ethical or not and if it could have great

influence on life on Earth as we know it for so long. In this context of uncertainty a handful of scientists

decided to make a stand and to organize the Asilomar conference, a conference never heard before. This

conference gathers along scientists, lawyers, health experts, governments representatives and many more.

Maybe for the first time in history scientists had the extreme courage to admit that they have to

confront themselves and to analyze thoroughly if what they were doing was good or bad. The voluntary

moratorium was observed and taken into consideration when we view the storm it created in the science

world. On the other way the moratorium created the excellent basis for the conference and also to get

enough time to analyze and debate the consequences of every action.

One of the main concerns from the point of view of the critiques was that such experiments will

cause unexpected and hazardous fatalities in the labs. Anyhow it was proved that no such things occurred

and the demagogic fears were unrealistic. As this problem has been settled in time, the Asilomar conference

was further criticized for not taking into consideration the legal and the ethical side of the problem. As we

might see from the moratorium itself issues like these were themselves the cause of the problem, but some

might have suggested that they were not the main preoccupation of the scientists. Ignoring on the whole,

the negative voices that always appear once in a while to every good deed or intention, the moratorium, its

lifting up and finally the conference itself was of great benefit.

The first step was gaining the public trust and approval. As scientists were sometimes afraid to

come and confront freely the public society, in this case this kind of approach was beneficial. The fact that

the people in general were informed about the discovery and its way of working gave everyone a sense of

assuredness and everyone felt secure and trustful. The initiative was successful because the scientists had

the courage to rise and issue even against themselves. The important thing was the massive presence of
mass-media, nearly 10% of the participants at the conference. This thing gave a sense of comfort and of

transparency as the members themselves could criticize or approve what was going on. The president of

Princeton University, Harold Shapiro underlined that "There are no important risks that scientists alone can

assess. Scientists can make a great contribution, but they can't decide alone." (Barinaga 1585) Probably

Asilomar was the unique moment when scientists were not marching alone.

Nowadays another important issue is raising and we have to determine if we can apply the same

strategy. The problems that we deal with today in the field of science are believed not to be able to be

handed in the same way as the recombinant DNA was. The lack of success of such approach might have

multiple causes. Firstly, the news of recombinant DNA was such a powerful shock that something had to be

done and everyone needed to reach a compromise. Now all the issues are on the table and as a second part

in this process we can see the economic interests, not the scientific ones. Nowadays, it is not about the fact

that science had to move on and people have to reach a consensus for everyone's sake. In today's world,

whether the research on some issue is done or not depends exclusively on the political decisions of the

moment, on the pressure put on the decisional factors, not on the wellness of people.

Asilomar was great for its times and it still remains the manifest of a free world where we can get

along for our own sake. Even if today admitting a problem and asking for an all-together solution seem like

a fantasy, the society should again return to the basics of its common-sense and skip the unwanted political

and economical reasons and interests. Maybe the public as it is seen today should not give such importance

to the materialistic and egotistic side of the story. Science is not the bad ugly monster; it is rather an area of

interest led by people that can eventually lead us to a better life, to a better future. Stand-ups like the one 30

years ago, should be taken into consideration regularly and the public should be informed about the new

progress in life. Probably there is also the mistrust of the scientists towards making public their work and

discovery, but this is the only way for humanity to stay together. Most likely the problem is overcoming the

natural fear of the other. But as we can see, we are not afraid of the future as we are afraid of our fellow

beings. Another Asilomar-like conference could mean the turning of the science world to where it has
emerged, the people.

Sources:

Barinaga, Marcia. "Asilomar Revisited: Lessons for Today? Science, Volume 287, Number 5458. March

3, 2000: 1585.