If you're an artist disgusted by the parlous state of civil society, you've got four moves on the table. All four come with perils. You can do as Jersey City creators have done and meet aggression and unpleasantness with a smile and a bouquet of flowers. You'll be modeling a nobler way of being, but you'll probably be called a bringer of a plate of cookies to a knife fight. You can give into his despair and indulge in acts of escapism, but you'll win no badges of courage that way. You might resolve to exaggerate and satirize the threat and court the risk that his audience will miss the point and think you've capitulated to your adversaries.
