The yin and yang of the world is demonstrated to me again, and again, and again.
I hate Christoper Hitchens. I hate his pro-war stance. I hate his Bush apologism. I hate the way he behaves when he is on television (boorishly drunk, most of the time).
Then, dagnabbit, he goes and writes a book in the Dawkins/Harris genre, with a viewpoint that I agree with.
I admit, I have a hard time separating the artist/writer/philosopher from the person. Anyone else ever hear what a complete asshole Miles Davis was? Or that Adolph Hitler was a dog lover? Yeah, me too. I boycotted Elvis Costello for about a millisecond back in the 80's when I heard that he was making anti-Semitic remarks. Then, well, then, you know what happens next... It's the fucking music, man. It's a slippery slope.
I guess we project "goodness" on the people whose art or whose viewpoints we admire...and dualistically, "badness" on those with whom we disagree or whose art we dislike. The whole need to create separateness and otherness is basically what's at the bottom of all conflict and violence. Isnt' it?
Well, with a sigh, I'm off to B & N to check out Hitchens. But I just want you to know, I feel like the caveman that bought Geico.
2 comments:
My wife once lived in the same building as Miles Davis. She said he bounced checks on all the local grocers (this is back when there were some) and they had his picture on their registers to warn the cashiers.
I reckon that one person's asshole is the other person's driven professional. It could be that he had to be what some folks saw as an asshole to have the success that he did as a black man in America. Or, I guess he could have just been an asshole. I hope not, though, because I names one of my kittens after him.
You are right, of course. We tend to want the people whose work we admire to be people we'd like, too.
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