I'm waffling here about lack of empathy in people

Don’t disdain what other people do in art. Striving for excellence is a great thing, but it’s not a battle that should be fought without some thought and empathy. If your perspective is valid surely the other side can be brought around to agree with a bit of subtlety and logic.

Plus, if you look at history, it’s probably not a good idea to go around offending people. It’s easy enough to create opposition by stating your case too forcefully, and artists - while often dysfunctional - are very effective people and exceptionally committed to whatever they do. Imagine a world where Hitler had received less criticism and more support from his peers, perhaps becoming a successful artist or at least feeling better about other people. Then again, he might have been going to be offended no matter what. However, given the behaviour the ‘art world’ is known for, it would be worth a shot to go back in time and try a little empathy. He might have turned out only slightly disgruntled.

It’s interesting that we get this bit of Hitler’s history to think about. I have a tendency to think that art is a release for many problems and that if he had ended up an artist his manifestos would have been about colour theory (... hmm, but what to do about Pol Pot).

Art is very like religion in the way its proponents often only allow themselves one way of seeing things. There is no one way to do anything – assuming there is will only make other people feel resentment. Empathy and not taking yourself too seriously is the way, People.