You are presented with a big red button that says "do not push". There is nobody around. What do you do?

Context, context, context. Am I in a nuclear reactor or a recording studio or a hospital? All depends on what the thing's gonna do.

Metaphorically? Depends who it's attached to. As m'sweetie likes to point out, Scorpios often show we like you by picking on you...

Have at it.

Is all art political?

All art CAN be political... and even if it wasn't originally created so by the artist in question, it can still be taken and utilized in such a way by others, or perceived as political when it was never intended to be.

That old line about "in the eyes of the beholder" rings true here in ways people can't possibly conceive of when they're in the act of creating; something completely abstract can become associated with any issue and thenceforth seen to represent that issue, even when it originally had nothing to do with it.

Or, as the case of Springsteen's 'Born in the USA' and then-President Reagan showed, the point can be missed completely and the message becomes warped by those who don't understand, or choose to selectively interpret what they're hearing or seeing. Most of you are probably too young to remember what I'm talking about there...

Conversely there is also such a thing as trying too hard to make something a political anthem or theme...

Have at it.

Should music ever be political? What about literature or other forms of art?

Of course music is political. Soldiers have sang together since the formation of militaries, just as every protest movement has had its fight songs and pleas for peace. Music is how people try to unite one another to a specific way of thinking; is there any application MORE obvious than politics?

Punk and folk obviously led this trend (interesting juxtaposition, no?) but political rock has also been the trademark of heavy hitters like Neil Young, Midnight Oil, Springsteen and U2.

Political statements are in all forms of art, from books to street graffiti. It's the only way to get people to think about it.

Have at it.