Ask Lemmy

I read/listen/watch my Harry Potter books and movies that I've had for 20 years because it basically kept me alive when I was in the closet and it's a big part of me but also fuck JK Rowling.

If the content itself doesn't reflect the creator's shittiness, yes, but I won't pay for it.

The production and distribution of much media means that it's practically impossible to avoid.

I try to avoid media when my consumption of that media significantly benefits bad people, and there is a reasonable alternative.

For example, I don't consume Harry Potter content because fuck jk Rowling. She is a key creative and a key beneficiary of consuming that media. There are alternatives within that genre I can read instead.
But I do use audible, despite them being terrible, because that's where my collection is and thats where new releases are.

I try not to. It becomes a true guilty pleasure.

Nope, because the contributions from my viewership just promotes their horrible immorality/views and helps spread them by giving it attention. If I find out someone s a MAGAt or other country's equivalent I drop them like a bad habit. I have no desire to help promote their line of thinking, even if the content is benign, and social ostracizing is the only real tool I have. I have stopped watching artists, youtube channels, and such because eventually said person's views come into focus. Any support of them also promote harm to people I care about because they may be likely to support candidates that'd hurt them.

I'm too tired to really spend my time being too correctional on what I should or shouldn't enjoy based on the actions some people do. It really depends. Ian Watkins is an exception, a horrible person, who made it easy for me to drop everything Lostprophets-related.

I still listen to Disturbed, because there's way too many songs I like from them. I don't have to care about David Draiman and I don't, because of what he did.

I will still enjoy Harry Potter, because I believe the universe is bigger than J.K Rowlings to where, anything she does or says will not knock down my enjoyment of that universe. I can and will ignore her existence.

If I know someone is a terrible person, I can't enjoy their work. Besides not wanting to financially support them, I like to put myself in an author's, actor's, writer's shoes when I watch/read stuff.

That said, I don't purposefully look into people's lives; I'm not into celebrity gossip. But sometimes a person is such an outlier or just so vocal about it that it's unavoidable.

Yes, all the time. Any behind-the-scenes stuff isn't even on my radar.

I try not to. If they have shitty political takes or real criminal stuff at least.

A lot of the time, if they're the writer or director, it shows though in the media.

I don't have the time or energy to go through the lives of every single person involved with a game/show/movie I want to enjoy to see if anyone involved has problematic views. Like I'm going to see Project Hail Mary this weekend. If someone tells me at some point Ryan Gosling said some dumb shit while drunk or the book the film is based on has racist symbolism, I honestly don't care. I'm watching and judging the film filled with hard work done by tons of different people.

I try to avoid giving them more relevance, but I do occasionally revisit through means that don't give them money. I hate Dave Mustaine's guts, so I have the best three Megadeth albums downloaded (Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?, Rust in Peace, Countdown to Extinction).

generally, no.

and if I do, I make sure not to share/promote it

There are a lot of fair-minded takes in this thread which is surprising for me since this is lemmy where I've actually seen someone tell another person they are a piece of shit for even talking about Harry Potter lore.

Once I think a creator is a bad person, depending on what they did, I have trouble enjoying their stuff.

There are a ton of comedians, for example, that have done varying degrees of bad things that I just can't listen to anymore. Louis CK, Cosby, any of the podcast bro comedians that got Trump elected, etc are all out. When I hear them perform it is all I can think about.

Same with bands, writers, etc. I just have a nagging feeling in the back of my head reminding me the person is shitty.

It varies.

I often give the example of HP Lovecraft. I'm a big fan of his stories and the Cthulhu Mythos. But it remains that he was a huge racist. How do I reconcile the two?

First, an author's works are separate from the author themselves. Second, in Lovecraft's case, he was a product of his time and upbringing. And third, and importantly in his case: he's dead. He has no ability to change beyond his passing in the 1930s. People can and do change all the time. If Lovecraft were around today he might have become to most left-leaning person in the world, but he never had that chance. There were indications, late in life, that he might well have changed.

But, he didn't. It remains that he was a racist in life, that will never change, and because of it there will always be people uncomfortable with his work. That is understandable, and I won't try to convince anyone that they should ignore it.

Depends, but generally yes. It's just too hard to screen all creatives for purity, some people are only good at one thing, but so good at that one thing. So if you don't let them do that one thing, it's like there's nothing left of them that is good. I probably won't give them my money, but as far as reading or listening to their stuff, enjoying their art, yeah I can. Can admit they are good in at least one way, if they are.

Usually if the person who made something is a massive piece of shit, that just puts me off it entirely. For example, Rurouni Kenshin might be considered one of the best animes of all time, but I cannot watch it without thinking about the fact that the guy who made it had so much child porn. Sours everything the fucker touched

Like, maybe I could learn to separate the art from the artist, but.. why would I? There's already more art than I could ever consume made by people who don't jerk it to kids

Yes. I don't often buy media so I haven't yet tested if I would give them money, but I hope I wouldn't.

Yes, I think it's okay to enjoy whatever it is you enjoy so long as doing so doesn't harm others or yourself. I also think it's important to be mindful what it is that makes you feel like there's a moral quandary, and it's also worth considering if the media you're consuming is the work of a group of people or a single individual.

For example, I really enjoy the movie Chinatown, but Roman Polanski is a piece of shit. I don't think his shitness diminishes the quality of the movie because it was acted well by Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway; the writing is incredible as is the cinematography; and credit where credit is due, Polanski directed the movie masterfully. He's still a child rapist piece of shit though.

It's very difficult for me. But also I realize if you look closely enough at most any artist you can find something disgusting about them, so I don't look into it in the first place. Like I used to love r. Kelly, but after learning about his past with Aaliyah and the whole situation that landed him where he is now, I haven't purposefully listened to his music since.

Idk, maybe I'm a bad person and lazy but I like enjoying things and I have learned over the years that sometimes, ignorance truly is bliss.

Every physician in the world uses Nazi data collected using the corpses of Jews. Most anatomy books uses drawings mad by Nazis. Just the swastikas have been airbrushed out. The data collection was never repeated.

If I find out about the artist before consuming any of the art, I will generally try to avoid it.

But if I already enjoy something and find out, I'll usually keep enjoying the thing. Occasionally I won't be able to, but I haven't fully figured out where the rules are yet. I think part of it is if the art is directly related to what/how they were a bad person. For example I can still enjoy ruroni kenshin, because it has pretty much nothing to do with what the creator was caught with

I can usually separate art from the artist, given that the media in question doesn't reflect their opinions/isn't influenced by their actions.

I struggle with it and am hypocritical about that.

Roman Polanski was convicted of a terrible crime, but I appreciate his work.

Weinstein’s production company made many of my favorite movies.

Kevin Spacey played some of my favorite characters.

EDIT:

And then there is Bill Cosby and OJ Simpson. I love the Naked Gun Movies and both are pure gold on screen.

Bill Cosby’s Chicken Heart routine is so fucking funny it was making me laugh my ass off until the mid 2010s.. Now I when I ever I see the album it just makes me sad….

In significantly smaller amounts, but yes. No Hitler ate sugar.

I try not to enrich creators who are bad. Like Polanski and Weinstein and Whedon and Besson and Rowling and Gaiman. I might watch/read old stuff, but I'll avoid spending any money on it.

Then there's people who aren't rapists and abusers and virulently homophobic but are still not great. I'm thinking YT creators who pull dumb and mean pranks, or just revel in the more negative aspects of human nature. I don't watch them, but mostly because I don't enjoy that sort of content. It makes me depressed and sad. Since I don't like that sort of content anyway, it's hardly an effort. Same with MAGA bro podcaster types; I don't enjoy that garbage so "boycotting" it really just means going about my life per usual.

No. If I have problems with a creator, publisher, etc., I'll stop consuming. If I previously purchased and own some work (i.e. an album from a band that turns out to be shitty), I will still sometimes engage with that, but no new money is going to them.

Not quite on topic, but I was never able to hate the situation with Werner von Braun. Space technology, both real and imagined, has always been an inspiration for me. It embodies the dream of aspiring to more and greater, can lift us humans above our roots as clever tool using animals. The science and technology is a great investment as it pulls every part of society forward toward a better future (and I know some of y’all will come to bad-mouth this, but se la vie).

Werner von Braun developed rockets for the nazis, and I believe was responsible for the V2s that caused death and destruction in the UK. And it’s a root that has developed in some of the worst of humanity. And the us government brought him over, let him avoid any prosecution, used his work and let him build on it. But the us civilian space program brought us the dream, the challenge, the inspiration with his help. I am fine with that.

My feelings on the situation are pretty much inline with his treatment in “For All Mankind” and I even feel somewhat sad for him.

Yes, I choose to watch news from all oulets.. for better or worse

It depends. The artist being a bad person doesn't automatically make the art bad. But I also don’t want to support bad people. So, relevant questions to me are: Is the artist still alive? Do they profit from my consuming their work? Do I promote them perhaps indirectly? The answers will be different for e.g. Lovecraft vs. Rowling, or rereading a book I already own vs. convincing my book club to buy new copies.

Yes. It's like eating meat.