How Art Made the World

This five part series hosted by British Professor Nigel Spivey examines how man made art and how art made man human.

Although I have not been able to see all five segments -- thank goodness, it is on PBS, which means I eventually will catch up with it -- I found it enlightening and disturbing.

The fifth segment, entitled "To Death and Back," deals with representations of death in some native cultures of Mexico, Mezo-America and South America. Of those cultures, perhaps, the Moche are the most disturbing. Like the Aztecs, they engaged in mass slaughter. However, their art seems to deal wholly with violence and killing.

Dr. Spivey seemed to imply that the art served as balm to make murder acceptable to the population.

I have been upset by some of the so-called reality shows on television and, to date, have limited my discussions of them to members of my family.

None of us have watched these particular shows. However, we are outraged that contestants are made to eat spiders and insects.

What effect does "entertainment" like this have on society to your mind?