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And An open question: How ignorant do we believe the public to be and how much "training" do they need to respond to the visual arts.
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I have an observation. I recently took a trip with my daughter through the northeast. Part of this trip was by train from NYC north alongside the Hudson river. Another train took us along the coastline of Connecticut. Neither of us had seen this beautiful country. The interesting thing to me is how differently she and I responded to this "visual" stimulus. I am jerking around from one side of the train to the other afraid that I might miss some aspect of this terrific view. My daughter, a bright 17 year old, read four large novels during the course of our trip. While all this captivating visual stimulation was moving past our train she chose to read. I relate to the world through images. Most of what I know has been absorbed and interpreted through my eyes. Most of what she knows has come from verbal or written stimulus.
There is, I believe, and it may well be the majority, a huge percentage of the human race that can never grasp why we must relate to the world the way we do. They go through the motions and they make nice but they don't understand how or why we choose to observe instead of listen, to draw pictures instead of make conversation. Obviously both can function effectively but it can cause problems.
I don't think that I could be trained to act otherwise nor do I believe we can train the other side to switch.