Opinion | Art Isn’t Supposed to Make You Comfortable

“Only the greatest art,” Murdoch noted, “invigorates without consoling.”

Rather than appreciating Grayson’s artistry, or allowing myself to simply be entertained, I spent the rest of the show focused on, dissecting, every lie he told.

Acting, politics, and sports have become, as they were in Nero’s reign, interchangeable. In an age of images and entertainment, in an age of instant emotional gratification, we neither seek nor want honesty or reality. Reality is complicated. Reality is boring. We are incapable or unwilling to handle its confusion. We ask to be indulged and comfort

They tend to be more comfortable in the role of jeremiad—warning of lost humanity, warmth and wisdom—or playfully pulling apart the strange dynamics of networked relationships, rather than offering even a fuzzy route to a better future. But that is probably exactly what we should want and expect of art.