Hey Pandas, Are You Able To Differentiate Between A Terrible Person And Their Art? Is It Possible To Only Celebrate A Person’s Achievements? (Closed)

I have been thinking about this since I responded to a different post about Mike Tyson biting Evander Holyfield's ear during their second fight. I loved Iron Mike, but even I could not defend him after that. Is it ok to love Mike Tyson the boxer even if he is a terrible person? Not a Michael Jackson fan, but this comes up every time with him. I know most of us rightfully cringe when we see a movie was produced by the Weinstein Company. I admire the work of many otherwise reprehensible people — Roman Polanski, William Golding, John Lennon, Lawrence Taylor, Johnny Depp to name a very few. Is it ok to like them despite what they have done?

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I've done this as 2 sections. The first is an answer to your question. The second addressing the Mike Tyson issue:

There is no right answer to your question.
If a person killed 50 babies to save the planet of 8 Billion people, would they be a hero or and evil piece of crap that murdered 50 babies?
Personally I think that it's important to acknowledge the whole story. For example, Axel Rose, He was a real piece of racist s**t, but man can he write a song!
Some people are incapable of looking past the bad, so always expect backlash from someone.

I was thinking about the Mike/Holyfield thing myself the other week, and my take on it is that it occurred during a professional match. That means he broke the rules of his chosen sport, and should be disgraced for doing so.

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Donkey boi

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Pink Floydian Panda 3 years ago (edited)

Thank you. I suppose it does need to put into context, consider the severity of the wrongdoings, and ask if the good they have done outweighs the bad. I remember reading a book by Kermit Washington, the basketball player who sucker punched Rudy Tomjanovich while he was running down court at full speed causing severe facial and spinal injuries that were life threatening and still cause him nightmares to this day. Washington kept asking the question "would you want to be judged on the worst 15 minutes of your life?". Well, no. But my worst 15 minutes did not almost cause someone to die. I suppose we all have to answer the question individually and make peace with your decisions. But I am really interested in how other deal with the issue.

1point

Character matters a lot more that talent or skills.

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deletemyaccount

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Yep. I still listen to the Eagles, Michael Jackson, most country music, but I don't necessarily agree with the artists, I just appreciate the music.

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Rage of Aquarius

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I think it is possible to only celebrate one's achievements.
For example:
My best friend has this theory that Disney are communists because they filmed near a Chinese concentration camp. How the heck does that correlate but whatever lets just say they are. If they were really supportive of communism, they would do something about it. I think all the good movies they make outweigh the bad, so ye.

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Outlawzen

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You're gonna run into this you're entire life. Some of the people you admire right now, who appear to be clean and wholesome individuals are going to get some skeleton uncovered years later.

You can try to separate the person from their craft and that choice is yours to make. I grew up loving Bill Cosby not knowing what he had done. I had bought his newest DVD before I found out about the legal stuff that started coming and I was horrified that someone I looked up to and admired did what he did. Does his comedy still make me laugh? Yes it does. The man is hilarious, but I personally don't listen to it anymore because of what he did.

When you're looking at someone like Weinstein, there is more at play than just a stand-up comedian. The movies produced by Weinstein weren't just about him. There were more companies involved, actors and an actress's that might not have been directly affected by him. The profits those movies still earn today go to others too. In that instance it would be harder to separate the person from the craft because he wasn't directly responsible for every second of the movies. Still enjoying those movies doesn't make you a bad person because there were hundreds, if not thousands of people involved in making it if you look at every person attached to the film.

Personally it boils down to you and your decision on what you feel okay with. I think we all get a little overwhelmed with the entire social ethics that pop up. There's only so much social ethics you can apply to your personal life and some of those social ethics will contradict each other.

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