I didn't really vote against my beliefs because I said I don't have a definitive view on the subject. You added to what I was going to just write about how other forms of art get to people since my first reply was mainly focused on political art. However, nothing you that you presented makes my statement "absolutely ridiculous." I didn't just assume that millions of people don't read or watch something to learn about an issue, but the majority is going to a source that they already have a predisposition towards. You're not wrong with what you say, but it doesn't discredit what I said.

EDIT: I didn't see the part you wrote about intent the first time and I do disagree with that. The intent of the artist cannot be stripped away from the work when discussing it. No matter how general the intent of something is, it is still at the center of why every artistic choice was made in the work, and to say intent is not an issue makes the original question meaningless because there is no art without intent.