Issue144

jhr_hitUID: 2540810

TOPIC: ISSUE144 - "It is the artist, not the critic,* who gives society something of lasting value."

*a person who evaluates works of art, such as novels, films, music, paintings, etc.
WORDS: 553
TIME: 00:45:00
DATE: 2009-2-9 17:47:42

Art, in its broadest meaning, is the expression of creativity or imagination. It is the artists who create arts. However, when it comes to the question that is the artist or the critic who gives society something of lasting value, it may let me deluge in deep thinking. Of course, artists create arts, but it is the critics who select the valuable one from their own perspectives, even not all proved reasonable.

To begin with, arts are of crucial significance in the history of mankind and in the developmental and the advancement process of our society. And artists as the creator of them, of course play a vital role to leave these treasure to the world. It is Claude Monet's
Sunrise that let us go into a impressionable world and give us more imaginary space; it is Beethoven's symphonies that excited us and purify our sole; it is Anderson's fairy tales that accompany us to grow up and let us believe the truth, honest, and beauty in the world. Through these arts, such as painting, music, literature, sculpture and so on, our temperaments are edified and we get more understanding of our society.

However, nowadays, with the development of science and technology, there are more and more types of arts and more people take part in these fields, so we are facing with more arts.
At this time, critics go to their position. A critic's evaluation of an art serves as a filter, which helps us determine which art worth our time and attention. For example, there are thousands of movies created each year and the price of the tickets is often very high. Instead of judging which one we should choose, we can ask the critics for help. They are the specialists in this fields, they see so many films that they can easily distinct the valuable ones through their experiences. Another example is music, when we are listening to the music with another kind of language, we do not know much about their cultures or backgrounds, asking help from some critics is still a good method. Moreover, the critics can give a feedback to the artist in order to help them improve themselves and create more valuable arts.

Undue emphasis the function of critics is not appropriate, because the critics do not always know what they are talking about, and may undermine some valuable arts. Since different people have different opinions towards the same art, they may common on arts through their own interests, angles, cultures, backgrounds or subjective perspectives, which is not fair to the artist. For example, some critics who is too old to accept the art created by the youth, saying their literatures have too much description of sex and violence, and also some musicians who is in favor of classic music may feel upset with the R&B or the country music. In addition, some artists may not be accepted by the contemporary critics. Beethoven's early listener dismissed his symphonies as causing their ears hurt and Van Gogh was condemned as a pagan image unsuitable to his country.

In sum, not all the critics can give society something of lasting values, but through their feedback, we can see the arts more clearly, and as times went by the value of the arts are always affirmed by the critics.

jhr_hitUID: 2540810

TOPIC: ARGUMENT14 - The following appeared in a memo from the owner of Green Thumb Gardening Center, a small business serving a suburban town.

"There is evidence that consumers are becoming more and more interested in growing their own vegetables. A national survey conducted last month indicated that many consumers were dissatisfied with the quality of fresh vegetables available in supermarkets. And locally, the gardening magazine Great Gardens has sold out at the Village News stand three months in a row. Thus, we at Green Thumb Gardening Center can increase our profits by greatly expanding the variety of vegetable seeds we stock for gardeners this coming spring."
WORDS: 440          TIME: 00:30:00          DATE: 2009-2-9 17:47:42

In this memo, the owner of Green Thumb(GT) Gardening Center recommends that they should greatly expanding the variety of vegetable seeds they stock for gardeners this coming spring in order to increase their profits. It seems reasonable since the owner cites a national survey that may indicated that many consumers were dissatisfied with the quality of fresh vegetables and points out that the gardening magazine Great Gardens has sold out at the Village News stand three months in a row. However, I find this recommendation logically unconvincing in several respects.

First of all, national survey cited by the owner only demonstrate the circumstances nationwide, but the owner do not provide any evidence to substantiate that GT can typifies the whole nation. Perhaps, GT is near a country or town and the supermarket there can get fresher vegetables than anywhere else, so the consumers are very satisfied with the high quality of fresh vegetables available in the supermarkets. Or perhaps people there prefer meet than, and do not care more about vegetables. If this is the case, the owner can not convince that people there do not satisfy the vegetables in the supermarket.

Even if people there can typify the nation and were dissatisfied with the vegetables in the supermarket, it does not mean they will plant them themselves. They may buy them in other shopping mall, or even if they want to plant, they may have no place or no time. Without ruling out these possibilities, the owner can not justify that people who are not satisfied with the vegetables will plant them themselves.

The owner also unfairly that people who bought the gardening magazine Great Gardens like gardening or even plant something themselves. It is entirely possible, the magazine also includes some interesting contents or some beautiful pictures witch attracts the eyes of the reader. Or perhaps, there is a activities made by the magazine and the present is very attractive to the customers. Even they buy the magazine because they are really interest in gardening, they may just plant some flowers or plants witch has no relationship with our business.

Finally, profit is a function of cost and revenue. If GT increase different kinds of seeds, it must increase the cost, and people may not buy all of them, them may choose only some kinds and give up others, so they may not be profitable.

In sum, to better support the recommendation, the author should provide further evidences to prove that people there would like to plant vegetables themselves, the cost for increasing the kinds of seeds is not very high, so GT can be profitable.