ly promoted by the Germans as an illustration of the advantagesrnand benefits of a happy collaboration between the occupiedrnand the “civilized” occupying army. Suddenly thernplayfulness turns deadly earnest. Here, then, is the danger ofrncaricature: like any art, it can be put to evil use. Politicalrnphilosophers, from Plato onwards, have assumed a simple correspondencernbetween viewing art and a life formed by thernviewing of art. The poets told fables of the gods’ immorality;rnthey must therefore be banished from the city, lest they corruptrnmorals. Such a simple correspondence is indeed possible.rnStylization and caricature, even the merest generalization,rncan lead to dehumanization.rnThat is the danger of art. Art generalizes. The artist aims atrnrecognition, at the moment when the viewer says “Aha” andrnunderstands what the artist is representing. To do so, he mustrngeneralize. Generalizations, stock types, folk and fairy-talernheroes and heroines, stereotypes, caricatures, beauties andrnbeasts are but markers on a continuum. If we ban generalizationrnon the grounds that it may be used immorally, we banrnall art. Art necessarily abstracts something from reality. It isrntherefore, as Plato said, less than reality, a copy of a reality,rnwhich is itself a copy, a flickering of shadows on the wall. Butrnthe Neoplatonists would counter that art captures somethingrnof the archetype that may not be clearly visible in the reality itself.rnThis is not to say that art and morality are divorced fromrneach other. Art, even great art, can be used for immoral purposes,rncan be a fleur du mal that should be restricted or suppressed.rnHowever, the solution to the misuse of good art byrnevil intent, whether high art or caricature, is not to banish it,rnbut rather to school the viewer in a doctrine of moral law andrnphilosophy in which art has its place. Both the Beautiful andrnthe Good are necessary to the life of society. That way the caricaturesrnthat are crude, vicious, and intended to inspire hatredrnare dismissed with disgust or scornful laughter, like therngraffiti on rest room walls.rnAnd here is our quarrel with the enforcers of the politicallyrncorrect in art, who have once again banned Huck Finn andrnNigger Jim from the schoolroom. Because of the politicalrnhatefulness of the “n” word, schoolchildren are to be robbed ofrnthe acquaintance of two of the most sympathetic characters inrnall of American literature. Politics, the willful grasping ofrnpower, is the ultimate measure of art in the minds of these deconstructors.rnLocke believed the antidote to the misuse of liberty is morernliberty. The best antidote to the misuse of art, high or low, isrnmore art, so that the aberrations are lost in a sea of valid andrncompelling explorations of reality. crnLoveliest of Treesrnby John SeniorrnAnother Winter on my head,rnI gaze out at the storm with dread,rnwatching as the snowflakes fillrnthe dish upon my windowsill,rnlike the birds who search for crumbs,rnscared of everything that comes.rnThe young behind me at the fire,rnhave come to honor and admire,rnas if by these they would get somernof what they think is my wisdom,rnpraising me as if it meantrnendurance were accomplishment.rnHow could they understand the fearrnthat, take or leave a crumb or year,rnthere won’t be more than four or five,rnthat they are keeping me alive,rnas freezing age, wind, ice and snowrnbreak the brittle cherry bough.rn24/CHRONICLESrnrnrn