• tetris11@lemmy.ml
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    7 months ago

    If you’ve never paid a dime and have no friends to recommend music to, then you’re not supporting the artist. Just enjoy the art.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      I don’t know that I would agree. Bill Cosby was undeniably a brilliant and very funny comedian, but I wouldn’t be able to enjoy his art now even if I pirated it. I know who he is.

      So I think the only way I could just enjoy the art of a band that were all Nazis was to be ignorant of that fact.

      • tetris11@lemmy.ml
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        7 months ago

        As someone who has been betrayed by people who love me, I’ve come to the realisation that it’s hard to boil down one horrific aspect of someone’s character as their whole.

        Everyone, even those who have slaughtered children, has some tiny aspect of themself that is good – and as a good relativist, I define good as someone contributing some aspect of themself to something that is greater than themselves.

        When I listen to Michael Jackson’s Earth Song, I don’t picture him fiddling with kids, I hear the sentiment of his words in that moment contributing to the green movement in which he inspired a new generation of activists (some exaggeration here, but you get what I mean).

        Michael Jackson doesn’t mention himself in his songs, he talks about other things and weaves stories that resonate with me on some level. In those moments, it doesn’t matter who wrote those sentiments, I’m just happy that someone did and that they exist.

        • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          Everyone, even those who have slaughtered children, has some tiny aspect of themself that is good – and as a good relativist, I define good as someone contributing some aspect of themself to something that is greater than themselves.

          So put Hitler’s paintings on permanent exhibition in a Berlin art museum?

          When I listen to Michael Jackson’s Earth Song, I don’t picture him fiddling with kids

          All I can say is that it’s pretty much the first thing I think of when I hear his voice no matter how much I used to love his music.

          Michael Jackson doesn’t mention himself in his songs

          Pretty unusual for a musician, wouldn’t you say? Most musicians (and comedians like Cosby) make their music personal.

          it doesn’t matter who wrote those sentiments

          The person behind the sentiments absolutely do matter. If Trump says that rape is wrong, it’s very different from E. Jean Carroll saying rape is wrong. Because he’s a rapist and she’s a rape victim.

          • tetris11@lemmy.ml
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            7 months ago

            So put Hitler’s paintings on permanent exhibition in a Berlin art museum?

            If they’re genuinely good, and contribute to world of Art as whole, why not? It’s not like people don’t listen to Wagner. My guess is that his works are lackluster and have made very little impact in the art world.

            All I can say is that it’s pretty much the first thing I think of when I hear his voice no matter how much I used to love his music.

            I guess you and I are wired different then. I’ve never paid much attention to the artist when I was developing my music tastes. It was always “I like this song” instead of “I like this whole album”.

            Pretty unusual for a musician, wouldn’t you say? Most musicians (and comedians like Cosby) make their music personal.

            I’m unsure what the accusation is here.

            If Trump says that rape is wrong, it’s very different from E. Jean Carroll saying rape is wrong. Because he’s a rapist and she’s a rape victim.

            Show me the works of Trump that I can bend my knee and call him a master in a craft. Point to his degrees in sociology and political science that I can listen to his expert views on societal matters.

            • root_beer@midwest.social
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              7 months ago

              So put Hitler’s paintings on permanent exhibition in a Berlin art museum?

              If they’re genuinely good, and contribute to world of Art as whole, why not? It’s not like people don’t listen to Wagner. My guess is that his works are lackluster and have made very little impact in the art world.

              Dalí’s work is revered, and, while he didn’t partake in genocide, he was a Francoist ghoul who shouted “¡olé!” at the assassination of his friend Federico García Lorca by Nationalists.

            • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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              7 months ago

              I guess you and I are wired different then. I’ve never paid much attention to the artist when I was developing my music tastes. It was always “I like this song” instead of “I like this whole album”.

              Considering musicians usually put great care into constructing an album, often around a theme, many which tell a specific story, I’d say you’re wired differently from the people whose music you listen to as well.

              But your criterion seems to be “any atrocity an artist commits can be ignored as long as they are good enough at it.” So what determines the level of artistry where we can forgive an atrocity? Is it based on number of Grammy wins or…?

              • tetris11@lemmy.ml
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                7 months ago

                Some put great care into them, others just stick a bunch of related songs onto an album and hope for the best. Pink Floyd’s Animals is a terrible album full of tonally conflicting themes, but Sheep is one of my favourite Floyd songs of all time. You can pick a berry from a bush without having to scratch yourself on the brambles.

                So what determines the level of artistry where we can forgive an atrocity?

                If they have inspired derivative works, that are pro-humanist. Picasso was a horrible person, but his depiction of the Guernica definitely stirred a few minds to the atrocities happening at the time.

                • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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                  7 months ago

                  I see, so if I take a Hitler painting and satirize it so that it becomes a pro-humanist work, that makes his own work at a level of artistry where we can forgive his atrocities.

                  • tetris11@lemmy.ml
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                    7 months ago

                    (I think at this stage in this somewhat friendly argument you are deliberately misconstruing my words)

                    No, someone being good does not make up for them being bad, but the good action alone can be admired by its own merit, and measured by the acts of good it inspires.

      • Omniraptor@lemm.ee
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        7 months ago

        yeah i dislike the comic because it normalizes/encourages obsessively investigating the creators of your media to find out if they’re Nazis. You should read about the author for its own sake because it’s interesting, not feel compelled to do it.

    • prunerye@slrpnk.net
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      7 months ago

      The classical music world has been through this before, with Richard Wagner. Orchestras in Israel wouldn’t play his music for decades, but eventually, even they relented. It’s good music. Well, I mean, between the boring halves of hours, anyway, it’s good music.