Here's an interesting article in Stereogum's "Haunting the Chapel" series, featuring ex-black metal bugaboo Varg Vikernes AKA Burzum.
The interviewer, in his introduction, tackles the question of whether it's OK to appreciate art made by those whose views one finds to be reprehensible.
How do you deal with this? Do you avoid TS Eliot, Wagner, Disney because they were Nazi swine?
Here's the interview. Latewirers chime in below with your cro-mag degenerate drool, please.
Sat Mar 20, 2010 7:36 am Separate the artist from their art work. Is the material itself reprehensible, does the work stand on it's own merit, and can you live with what benefit the artist will get from you consuming their work?
Filosofem87
Sat Mar 20, 2010 8:46 am Perverse goon, Burzum is great, you are suck
vikingWarrior
Sat Mar 20, 2010 8:54 am I'm going to eat your @#$%ing spleeb
Sat Mar 20, 2010 11:06 pm I know, that bastard Vikernes is like Wagner or something. You hear th' tune on Pandora or whatever, and you're like "oh this isn't bad..." and then you see who it is and you're like "G_D DAMN IT IT'S THAT $%^&!@ NAZI AGAIN" On a similar note, they play Wagner on Phoenix' public radio station KBAQ and I'm always like "uh dog you played Mendelssohn like ten minutes ago..."
Re : separation of artists' views from their art : I know what you mean and agree in principle -- for example, I avoid Vikernes and similar Nazi creeps. I listen to Busta Rhymes (who has pretty strong Nation of Gods and Earths views that are pretty negative toward white people) and Capleton (who, like many Rastafari artists, takes a very dim view of homosexuals) -- even though I find their respective politics to be very offensive indeed. Likewise, I know plenty of folks who will listen to Wagner knowing full well what vile ish he represented.
Requiring oneself to consider th' personal politics of th' artist before consuming their art is a slippery damned slope. __________________
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