darklittlestories:

philosopherking1887:

darklittlestories:

bumblebums:

I literally couldn’t care less if we lose good bands and good movies if it means outing sexual predators. Let it all fall apart if that’s what it takes to stop allowing these disgusting people safe places to abuse their power. Fuck your favorite movies, fuck your favorite tv shows, fuck your favorite albums. Stop defending bad people because they make good content.

The thing that drove this home for me was when someone (it was deep in a Twitter thread about Louis CK and I can’t find credit, so this is paraphrased) asked, “How about we mourn how much content we were deprived of by people whose careers were stalled by or who were silenced by predators?”

I still reserve the right to do both. Disillusionment is hard and I see no reason to pretend otherwise.

Oh yeah, I don’t mean to act as if I’m not shattered about having favorite works poisoned by toxic artists. (George Takei has BROKEN my heart; he’s the hardest for me.)

This isn’t easy. It’s just that it’s more important to me to see abusers outed than to enjoy entertainment. That statement just helped me keep my focus.

I’m also going to go out on a limb and say people don’t have to stop liking the original Star Trek. It was still groundbreaking and progressive and even philosophically interesting (if a bit ham-fisted with the moral at times). People don’t have to stop liking every movie Kevin Spacey was ever in or (if it were even possible) every movie ever produced by Harvey Weinstein. Feel a twinge, sure, let it cast a shadow over your enjoyment. But the participation of a morally corrupt person doesn’t have to completely “poison” the work for you. In many of these cases, the real creative direction was coming from elsewhere. But I also don’t think you now have to hate every movie ever made by Woody Allen. The ones that try to defend old men preying on young women, yes, turn away from those in disgust. But Annie Hall is still fine (as far as I remember).

As always, I stand in defense of moral ambiguity. Acknowledging the problems with a work or its creators doesn’t have to mean slapping a big red PROBLEMATIC™ label on it and consigning it (and everyone who continues to like it) to the flames. If you personally are incapable of continuing to enjoy these things because of the moral problems, that’s fine; do what’s best for you. But don’t condemn others for continuing to see the value in a work of art despite the failings of its creators. Condemn people for denying or attempting to excuse the failings, but not for separating the value of the art from the virtue of the artist.