Artists and arrogance

Many people see artists as arrogant or elitist, even narcissistic. In my ex=
perience, artists have been the most welcoming and the most open people out=
 there. Fancy a total stranger going into a meeting of doctors and reciting=
 poetry. In an art school, I was welcomed and praised when I did just that.

I once ripped a hole in my pants while climbing a fence, then I stumbled in=
to a poetry reading in DC. They welcomed me. Would a bunch of lawyers, or b=
usinessmen, or engineers, welcome a person with a hole in his pants? Yet ar=
tists did.

Why do the artists have this reputation, and doctors or lawyers don't? Prob=
ably because fewer people in places such as America and Australia see use i=
n arts than they do in law or medicine, which means that sometimes artists =
have to blow their horn. When someone is seen as useless, he needs to do mo=
re to make a place for himself than when he is seen as useful; and doing th=
at can come across to people as chutzpah, narcissism or self-absorption.

I've known more arrogant doctors than arrogant artists. These people tend t=
o be of the conviction that because they've finished medical school they ar=
e better than the rest of the world. I've also seen this attitude among eng=
ineers, who tend to think that only they do important work in the world and=
 that everyone else is lazy or insane. Many scientists, military people and=
 businessmen also think that they are the most important people in the worl=
d. I have known no artist who thought that art was the only important thing=
 in the world, but I have known many engineers, military people and busines=
smen who thought that their profession was the most important profession in=
 the world.

So no, artists are not more arrogant than an average person. Certainly ther=
e are arrogant artists; but artists come nowhere close to owning arrogance.=
 Some artists are arrogant, some are not. Same with everyone else. It is ti=
me to stop equating creativity with arrogance and allow it to do its job of=
 making the world a more beautiful place.