my art-postive soapbox (inspired by Jamaal May)

In the land of far, far away, in the country of "i'm glad that's not me" there are people being jailed for writing. For writing poetry, for making art, for expressing creativity. Being jailed because what they say could change things. Could rearrange things. And this because creativity changes things. It's more political and reflective than a man standing at a podium speaking at you in the form of empty promises. It's more political than voting. Because art hits you, it involves you. It hits you in the face, in the heart, and in that pink part of your brain that can change you. Here, in the United States of America, we, as writers and artists, are not put behind bars for making art, for writing.
But we are jailed. We are prosecuted as poets, as painters. Our professions and passions are silly, trivial, and not to be taken seriously. The mass of minds have been shaped to believe this to be so. But this, this is not the case. We have been jailed because our superiors in this land of the free are afraid of what our art can do. What our art can accomplish. What our art can change. It's not the kind of change that will happen by laws, by a number of votes or through violent acts. It's a gentle change. A change where people care less about what the government has to say and more about what their neighbor has to say. Creativity can change things. Art will change things. Writing will rearrange things. Take yourself seriously. You are changing the world.