The Artist and the Man

[KEND]

The METOO phenomenon has raised some interesting dilemmas for the politically correct. Who should we not listen to or look at. Personally as a general rule I separate the artist from the man or woman. I am not about to give up watching old woody allen movies, or stallone/mel Gibson movies, or 'the usual suspects[spacey]/ In Canada the conductor of the montreal philharmonic is not given credit when they play on the radio because of 'indiscretions'. Of course this is not new, after WW2 many german artists were blacklisted if they had stayed in Germany and wagner was hardly ever played. Opinions?.

[Steve James]

Political correctness is a buzzword. I don't think that being ethical is being politically correct. But, I agree that it's silly to comb through the records of artists to decide whether or not he or she was a domestic batterer, sexual harasser, etc, and then refuse to listen anymore. I will listen to my favorite blues artists, even though more than one was a convicted murderer. I listen to some artists I know were racists. I will listen to Wagner even if he was an anti-Semite. Afa the Woodman, he reminds me of Jerry Lee Lewis who married his 14 year-old fist cousin. Great balls of fire, what's a country boy to do? Some heroes are revered for being rebels.

Otoh, there are situations where I won't buy, watch, or listen to a work of art because it benefits a political system with which I disagree. It's completely subjective because, for ex., I didn't watch the movie "The Gods Must Be Crazy" while the system of apartheid existed in S. Africa. However, I know full well there are human rights abuses in the PRC, but it doesn't stop me from watching one of their movies. I'd probably never know of the director or actor's past actions.

Shucks, R. Kelly wrote "I Believe I Can Fly."

[Trick]

Stopped watching Hollywood movies a couple of years ago I thought I thought it had all just become superheroised, don't know how it is nowadays and are not interested to find out. And with the meeto movement the western movie industry it does feel it has been more "in the face" politicalized. The "wester" movie industry seem now in a short time focus more on the industry than the entertainment, hope that it last a short time. Nowadays I mainly just watch movies coming out of east Asia, I find them entertaining.