I just saw that bastard Orson Scott Card come up again under the #sciencefiction hashtag. Now I'm thinking about how many great artists are horrible human beings, something I have been thinking about again and again, no thanks to the people who wrote some of the most awesome books, painted some of the most amazing paintings, took some of the most fascinating photos, sang some of the greatest songs ever, while treating their fellow humans like shit.
One thing that is obvious right from the start is that many of those people are men, although there are also a few women (JK Rowling, I'm looking at you). Many of those men have been horrible to the women around them, sexually harassing the models with whom they worked, abusing their girlfriends, just the things some heterosexual men do when they're drunk on fame and power and think they own women. Then there are the ones that have been using the media attention that comes with fame for spreading all kinds of hatred, like racism, homophobia, transphobia, nationalism, fascism, antisemitism, etc. While there are fewer of the latter, they're a much greater menace to society, unlike the former who are a danger to the women in their vicinity, bad enough, but more limited.
However, I can't just cancel anybody just because they're horrible people. If I like their art, then I like it. There is no reason why I need to give them any money though. I can listen to Marilyn Manson without giving that wanker any of my money, I can just torrent his entire discography for free. I can pirate all the ebooks by OSC or JKR and read them for free, knowing that I have not funded their campaigns of hatred against queer minorities. I can pirate everything by Neil Gaiman, knowing that he won't be getting a reward for sexually harassing au pairs out of my pocket.
And then there are those artists who are already dead, like Picasso. I could decide not to look at his paintings after learning how he treated women, but he can't do anything anymore, he's dead, and his paintings are still what they are, what they always were.
There are instances where you can't separate the artwork from the artist, of course. Sometimes a piece of art is also a propaganda piece, and even torrenting one of those is a bad thing since you contribute to its availability that way. But in cases where the art itself is just enjoyable, I won't tell you not to enjoy it because I still enjoy the writing and music and paintings and films of some really horrible people. All I'm telling you is, don't pay for a cinema ticket to watch that latest adventure from the Wizarding World written by Rowling, wait until there's a torrent and the watch it for free at home. Don't buy any Harry Potter merchandise. Don't buy any of the books. If you absolutely MUST have a hardcopy, find a used volume somewhere so JKR doesn't see a penny.
I didn't watch Ender's Game until the BluRay was out (which I didn't buy, but there was a high quality BDrip torrent). I didn't read any of his books until I found them on the Undernet channel #bookz. Orson Scott Card is a homophobic bastard who doesn't deserve anybody's money, but his books are still great, so if you like them, pirate them.
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Libros de Babel 📖
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