The presence of a never-sleeping, always-hungry mass media beast may have a lot to do with the current bumper crop of high-visibility activists in the arts. In the years before all-news cable channels and the internet, artists who wanted to get involved may have figured that their efforts would be best concentrated behind the scenes. But in an age when getting your message in front of the public is all too easy, the allure of putting one’s face on a political cause is apparently all too tempting.