We all wish it could, but it can’t. I have a favourite example. One of Picasso’s greatest works, Guernica, was made shortly after the bombing of the town of Guernica in Spain by Franco, the fascist dictator and friend of Hitler’s. Picasso read about it and created this antiwar masterpiece from the images in his head. Afterwards, we had the bombing of Dresden, Nagasaki, Hiroshima and then 9/11. So if that scale of greatness can have no effect whatsoever, we need to realise the limitations of art and music.
“During the Vietnam War, which lasted longer than any war we’ve ever been in – and which we lost – every respectable artist in this country was against the war. It was like a laser beam. We were all aimed in the same direction. The power of this weapon turns out to be that of a custard pie dropped from a stepladder six feet high.” -Kurt Vonnegut