I won't be Woebegone

I believe that everything a person sees, hears, smells, touches, or tastes affects the brain (and, potentially, behaviour) in some way. There's been some support for the idea that violent media has a negative effect on youth. And that emotionally-charged images are better remembered – and reinforced over time – than emotionally-neutral images.

Well, I prefer not to take chances. So I chose not to go see Woebegone: Pets and the Darkness of the Human Psyche. Tiny portaits of maimed pets painted on piano keys. Creepy oil paintings depicting abuse of a cat and greyhounds with their ears cut off.

I guess it's important for the artist, Dana Holst, to memorialize these animals (or their real-life equivalents) and to point out our primal nastiness. But is it important enough for us to add it to the data in our brain?