Re: (long) Respectable artists my <ahem>

["Ronald W. Garrison" <rwgarr@intrex.net>]

peter wrote:

> 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

...You raise a deep and very troubling question, and one that can't
easily be put away. I can only add two comments that really add
anything:

1. When I have to draw a line through a gray area, as sometimes I must,
it's easier to overlook transgressions of a private, personal
nature--such as drug use or an illicit affair--and harder to overlook
things like advocacy of odious political positions (e.g., the Frank Baum
example) which, almost by definition, are much more cold-blooded and
calculated, and therefore less excusable. (Of course, Ted Bundy's acts
were private and un-political, too, so obviously the significance of the
crime matters too).

2. The Frank Baum example you raise is an example of where people will
want to just dismiss your objections as "political correctness". I tend
to find that the "political correctness" bit comes up again and again
whenever you're trying to put something in front of people that they
don't want to see. Don't you find that too, in your experience?

--Ron

--
http://www.intrex.net/rwgarr/