I don't like to think that people are basically ANYTHING. So many people are so many different things...it's hard to believe that one thing can encompass the whole of humanity. People do tend to move for selfish reasons, in some way or another, but, to quote Beth, when a man jumps in front of a gunman to keep a child from being struck, he is not thinking at that moment what a great hero he will be, but rather working on a spur-of-the-moment desire to save an innocent life - at least, that's how I would view it. So perhaps humans are not basically bad or good...we were, after all, given free will by God. Maybe we have to make ourselves into something basically good or evil. I don't know...I do like to believe in the general redemptability of the human spirit. Maybe I'm just babbling.
As for "art"...what do you define as "redeeming"? I don't know...my favorite band can be very dark and dirty, and somewhat offensive at times, yet I believe it's some of the most beautiful, artful work I have ever heard. Yet...some dark things do go too far...I don't know, there are so many sides to this arguement.
And as for "knowing" things...I will leave the end to Jhonen Vasquez, since I am already babbling on for far too long, and since what he says pretty much sums up my opinion: "How lovely it would be to KNOW something. Well, perhaps 'lovely' is the wrong word for indisputable knowledge, but the sensation would surely be an interesting one, to say the least. Human beings are described as 'creatures of reason' - this in no way means that the reasoning the mind allows itself to be sustained by, in order to function in the world, in order to keep from slipping off it, is indisputable. Information seems to function as the ultimate placebo (so long as we feel it is worth something, we allow ourselves to continue living our lives by it). To say one 'knows' something is deceptive, for, what they really seem to be doing is trusting in a concept, an ideal, all the while never truly knowing the object being referred to, but trusting in the explanations fed to them in association with that object. It's like never, honestly, seeing something, rather only using our eyes to see the colored light bouncing off of its surfaces...but, then again, what do I know?"
Sorry for this. I felt philosophical. ^_^ Do forgive me.
Just my opinion...I could be wrong
As for "art"...what do you define as "redeeming"? I don't know...my favorite band can be very dark and dirty, and somewhat offensive at times, yet I believe it's some of the most beautiful, artful work I have ever heard. Yet...some dark things do go too far...I don't know, there are so many sides to this arguement.
And as for "knowing" things...I will leave the end to Jhonen Vasquez, since I am already babbling on for far too long, and since what he says pretty much sums up my opinion: "How lovely it would be to KNOW something. Well, perhaps 'lovely' is the wrong word for indisputable knowledge, but the sensation would surely be an interesting one, to say the least. Human beings are described as 'creatures of reason' - this in no way means that the reasoning the mind allows itself to be sustained by, in order to function in the world, in order to keep from slipping off it, is indisputable. Information seems to function as the ultimate placebo (so long as we feel it is worth something, we allow ourselves to continue living our lives by it). To say one 'knows' something is deceptive, for, what they really seem to be doing is trusting in a concept, an ideal, all the while never truly knowing the object being referred to, but trusting in the explanations fed to them in association with that object. It's like never, honestly, seeing something, rather only using our eyes to see the colored light bouncing off of its surfaces...but, then again, what do I know?"
Sorry for this. I felt philosophical. ^_^ Do forgive me.