John Curall-Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction

I found the reading this week to be very interesting. The author seems to be saying that the art work is diminished by this reproduction because as it is reproduced it takes away from the quality and spirit or "aura" of the original by taking away some of its uniqueness. Yet at the same time he seems to be saying that the art work is also expanded by this process in the fact that in reproducing it the art work can reach more people. I think these questions come down to the way in which we have been trained to think in a Completely free market capitalist society where we are more worried about "ownership" than benefits of connecting with and inspiring others. In my opinion, a true artist should be more worried about getting his or her message out to as many people as possible rather than worrying about how "special" their piece of art work is. I think art should be about connecting with people and inspiring thought and discussion.