The argument that all art must exhort us overlooks the needs and desires of those who are already engaged, and what fuels them, and what the larger work of building a society concerned with justice and compassion might be. What I found memorable in Weschler’s essay was the idea that it’s not necessarily the representation of injustice or suffering that might encourage someone to engage or help someone like the judge sustain that engagement. Art that is not about the politics of this very moment may reinforce a sense of self and society, of values and commitments, or even a capacity to pay
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