Legitimation

When asked what it means to be legitimate, most people will respond with the idea that legitimacy means that one is right. But what is "right" in relation to "legitimate?" Everyone thinks they are right for whatever reasons those may be, and they are correct. However, at the same time, nobody is correct. Short of the scientific method, that is.

In the art arena, legitimacy is an ever-present and never-ending argument of validity. Each form of the arts has their own requirements or conditions as a way of saying that something is legitimate in their fields, but even those occasionally get blurred the moment something new and innovative enters claiming that it is a form of visual arts or theatre. We have stage productions that use movie projectors exactly like movie houses during scene transitions; we have visual artists who are showing their video works within normal commercials aired on the television during the stations prime time hour instead of in galleries; we even have someone putting rotting animal parts inside a glass box and calling it a sculpture. And every time, someone somewhere is asking how is this legitimate, arguing that it is because of this reason or that it is not because of that reason. And they are right in their opinion, but at the same time, neither of them are. This makes the possibility of being legitimate in art nearly impossible in the current time and place that the art is presented in. This also makes any effort to be right or correct in anything outside of science and logic a pointless endeavor. Then again, sometimes science and logic can also incorrect.