Failures of Language

When we create a piece of visual art, we can generally agree that the artist's intentions become secondary to the reception of the audience. This isn't a new idea at all, and in linguistics it's called post-structuralism. Postmodern art was acted as a kickstarter to post-structuralist ideas, which is why so many people hold a disdain for it because, as Shane said, it forced "art" to adopt an "anything goes attitude". This idea is reinforced when we break an image down like we did today, with the image of the woman holding her boyfriend. Anything goes, no stress, don't worry, just look and react. I think that this is an important development and has a ton of good sides, but I just have to ask the question how the fuck do you convey meaning to someone? How do I tell you about point A without you inferring point B, C, D, purple, and rectangle? How do I guide you to an understanding of my thoughts when so much pressure is put on the idea that anything goes? Does this not promote laziness? Knee-jerk reactions? Mistranslations?

I was told I was racist today because I made the comment that the embrace the woman had on the man looked like a sumo grapple. Here's a picture to demonstrate my point:

The quick reaction to my comment was "Huh, sumo is an Japanese tradition, these people are Asian, James is just making this connection because he's thinking stereotypically and with a narrow mind."

Are you fucking kidding me? 

Additionally, the comment "Oh, it has to be Sumo, really, James?" Was met with an inflammatory, unhelpful, and antagonistic "Oooooh" by someone else.

If we are so limited by our ability to convey messages and meanings to one another, and we are all so quick to jump to outlandish, and unfounded conclusions about things (statements made in class and artworks alike), what motivation is there to speak when accusations such as racism are being thrown around without consequence?

I can't help but think that the attitudes and approaches we are so quick to adopt in terms of artistic critique and understanding also undermine our ability to understand one another.

I mean, why bother trying to understand the comment about the Sumo hold when you can just casually accuse a classmate of being racist?