Re: (long) Respectable artists my <ahem>

[peter <pietr@earthlink.net>]

Karen Newcombe <kln@staralliance.com> wrote
 
> The truth is that being a talented, highly recognized artist does not mean
> you are a likeable, all-around joe.  

Very true.

> Many great painters, writers, poets,
> musicians, singers are notoriously crotchety, unpleasant, have bad personal
> habits, and some few of them are just not very nice people.

This is again true. But, we as a a race have the advantage through
"media" of seeing these individuals many years after they have passed
and we as sympathetic and empathetic beings reach for a "deeper
understanding". Generally, these artists at their moments of brilliance
in "their" time, had no appreciation from their peers and nations, they
were mostly shunned.

> "Respecting someone as a person" does not has one bloody iota of anything
> to do with how or why I might appreciate their work.  

> I have immense appreciation for the brilliant works of Herodotus, Sappho,
> the scribes who wrote down the Song of Solomon and the Psalms, but we'll
> never know a thing about their personal lives, and it doesn't matter at all.

As an artist myself, I have always tended to agree with your statements,
Karen.
But, in recent years I have grown to change my
perspective...drastically.

Let me try to illustrate a clear, concise example.

We must begin by agreeing that "Knowledge is Power". For instance, most
people did not know that many innocent dolphins were dieing to provide
canned tuna fish to consumers.
Once people had that knowledge they used it to make a decision not to
put their "energy"(money, thought, time, etc.) into that product. Again,
just an example.

Let's go to the creative process. Any machination or creation from the
self is a part of the self. Yes?

My specific example is that of L. Frank Baum who wrote " The Wizard of
Oz". 
A cute, children's story accepted by the masses.

What is generally not mentioned about the author of The Wizard of Oz, is
that he was the head editor of a weekly South Dakota Newspaper for quite
some time (circa 1870-1890) before he moved to Chicago and wrote the
famous movie.

An even lesser known fact is that Lyman Frank Baum was a RACIST pig who
advocated MASS MURDER openly in his position as editor of that local
weekly.

To briefly summarize (and you may be able to find these articles on
microfiche at you local library)-

Frank Baum used his position as editor in South Dakota to advocate the
GENOCIDE of all remaining Native Americans. He basically said that what
the government did at Wounded Knee in 1890, the mass slaughter of women,
children and elders was all that remained to be done to control these
savages who would not sit still and relinquish their world to the white
man. He spoke often of the destruction of this race of people in order
to stabilize the midwest for farmers and such.

I personally put him up their with a few unnamed villianous, evil and
narrow minded humans who have advocated MASS MURDER to suit their own
ends.

Baum was a RACIST. Plain and simple. I personally think much less of his
wonderful
tale knowing this. I don't want to glamorize the machinations of such a
person in the press or to my son.

An apology to all those people and their ancestors who have been
insulted and hurt
by this man's deep hatred are in order, and have yet to be realized.

My point is that any energy which we give to an artist and his/her
creation is further fuel to feed the "spirit" of that creator and the
creation. Be it creative or destructive.

Wagner (the NAZI composer) is another example of a genius who advocated
MASS MURDER.

There are so many artists who express the human condition without being
destructive.

Whatever energy we put into a creation becomes part of that creation.
With the knowledge, our intentions and deciscions become POWERFUL. I
choose to support creation.

Just my 4¢ (inflation and all)

Peter


"Any energy that is FOR or AGAINST war, IS war."
				-J.Garcia 1967