Do you want another hit? I have plenty of influence left.

"But the truth is that with artists pulling on one side and corporations pulling on the other, the loser is the collective public imagination from which we were nourished in the first place, and whose existence as the ultimate repository of our offerings makes the work worth doing in the first place."- Jonathan Lethem

People write to influence, draw to influence, dance to influence, speak to influence, sing to influence, play music to influence, skate to influence, surf to influence, paint to influence and many other actions just to influence the people around them. Influence is a major part of being human, we take from others in order to give back. Most of our actions are us trying to influence other people with our ideas and motives. The corporations are trying to take the art we are given to make a little bit of money. When I say a little bit of money I really mean a lot of money. This isn't to benefit the masses but to help a few people get rich. What Lethem is trying to say is we are all influenced by other people whether we admit it or not. When someone "gives" their art to society we should all be able to use the ideas and concepts they have worked so hard to give us. This idea of a give and take relationship is collective public imagination. It is the collection of all our ideas and achievements. We should have easy access to collective public imagination so creativity and the imaginations of our youth can grow to new hieghts. The corporations are making it harder and harder to access this. The artist are battling to influence us and the corporations are trying to limit our use of these influences. The reason art is worth doing is the satisfaction of knowing other people will use it to grow and expand. We have to take a step back and ask ourselves what is more important, fame and money or a more beautiful world? The decision is all yours.