I recently read a comment in a social media thread that ran "Many artists are monsters in real life," as a response to the ongoing debate concerning abusive people who are artists, and where or not we, as a society, ought to continue celebrating the work of artists who's crimes come to light.
"Many artists are monsters in real life."
I had to step away from the thread so that I would not get drawn into a flame war with a pack of trolls. But. At the risk of playing Captain Obvious, let me just tie on that cape for a moment and shout into the void that "Many PEOPLE are monsters in real life."
As an artist, myself; I am sick to death of our culture's need to separate the artists from the rest of the pack. I'm exhausted by this culture's demands that we be mad, wild-eyed geniuses --irascible, depressed, manic, depraved, and my personal favorite: Starving.
Artists represent a cross-section of humanity. Like any other group of people, some of us are Brilliant, and some of us are Boring. Some are Deep, some Shallow. Angry and Joyful. Angels and Demons. Activists, and Criminals. And not simply one or the other, but often both, many all. All at once. We are human beings, just like the rest of you.
This is a sensitive subject to me, especially because I was raised within a fundamentalist culture (another cross-section of humanity) where I was brought up with the understanding that artists are "Lazy. Selfish. Evil." That the arts are a vain, and a sinful , pursuit. Sinful. And that went double for women artists (How dare they step out of their assigned roles in service to The Men. How dare they discover, and use, their own voices!). Fundamentalists use and abuse women and children, ruthlessly and in the name of their god. It would be easy for me to label them all "Monsters" and mentally move on from them. It would also be childishly reductive, and cruelly dismissive. It would not help the women and children who have been and are being abused. It would not help the abusers, who obviously need help of some kind, if they can justify behavior like that to themselves.
Throwing the word "Monster" at an individual, or at a group, does about as much good as throwing around words like "Lib-Tard" or "Snowflake" --It makes you look lazy and snide. It doesn't encourage the thoughtful debate or the concrete actions that make the world better. It doesn't absolve you of YOUR responsibility, YOUR contributions, to the human race, of which you are a part, and in which, even your smallest actions have consequences for us all.
At the end of the day; we are all human beings. Even the ones we don't like. Even the ones we despise. At the end of the day, your attempts to separate yourself as somehow 'more human' from a group you deem as 'less human' --your attempts to dehumanize others only betrays, and advertises, your own personal lack of humanity. We need compassion. We need education. We need thoughtful debate.
We need to hold Artists to a higher standard in the same way we need to hold Politicians to a higher standard. Doctors. Lawyers. Police. Clergy. Bakers of Wedding Cakes. You. And Me. We level up together, or not at all.
"Many artists are monsters in real life."
I had to step away from the thread so that I would not get drawn into a flame war with a pack of trolls. But. At the risk of playing Captain Obvious, let me just tie on that cape for a moment and shout into the void that "Many PEOPLE are monsters in real life."
As an artist, myself; I am sick to death of our culture's need to separate the artists from the rest of the pack. I'm exhausted by this culture's demands that we be mad, wild-eyed geniuses --irascible, depressed, manic, depraved, and my personal favorite: Starving.
Artists represent a cross-section of humanity. Like any other group of people, some of us are Brilliant, and some of us are Boring. Some are Deep, some Shallow. Angry and Joyful. Angels and Demons. Activists, and Criminals. And not simply one or the other, but often both, many all. All at once. We are human beings, just like the rest of you.
This is a sensitive subject to me, especially because I was raised within a fundamentalist culture (another cross-section of humanity) where I was brought up with the understanding that artists are "Lazy. Selfish. Evil." That the arts are a vain, and a sinful , pursuit. Sinful. And that went double for women artists (How dare they step out of their assigned roles in service to The Men. How dare they discover, and use, their own voices!). Fundamentalists use and abuse women and children, ruthlessly and in the name of their god. It would be easy for me to label them all "Monsters" and mentally move on from them. It would also be childishly reductive, and cruelly dismissive. It would not help the women and children who have been and are being abused. It would not help the abusers, who obviously need help of some kind, if they can justify behavior like that to themselves.
Throwing the word "Monster" at an individual, or at a group, does about as much good as throwing around words like "Lib-Tard" or "Snowflake" --It makes you look lazy and snide. It doesn't encourage the thoughtful debate or the concrete actions that make the world better. It doesn't absolve you of YOUR responsibility, YOUR contributions, to the human race, of which you are a part, and in which, even your smallest actions have consequences for us all.
At the end of the day; we are all human beings. Even the ones we don't like. Even the ones we despise. At the end of the day, your attempts to separate yourself as somehow 'more human' from a group you deem as 'less human' --your attempts to dehumanize others only betrays, and advertises, your own personal lack of humanity. We need compassion. We need education. We need thoughtful debate.
We need to hold Artists to a higher standard in the same way we need to hold Politicians to a higher standard. Doctors. Lawyers. Police. Clergy. Bakers of Wedding Cakes. You. And Me. We level up together, or not at all.
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