[Opinionated Blowhard]

The comparison between Fonda and Wagner raises an interesting point. In my prior post, I said my opinion is that we shouldn't ban OLD artists because of their views. The reasons are practical. Morality and thinking evolves. If you go back 100, 200, 500 years, you will be able to find a view held by an artist that is repugnant today but which was common at the time. Sadly, hatred of Jews is one view that was common for centuries in the West. Wagner wrote pamphlets condemning Jews but 250 years prior to him, mobs went around killing any Jew in sight.

I am very willing to avoid modern artists who hold repugnant views because I don't want to enrich them. Thus, I won't pay to see a Jane Fonda or George Clooney movie. I won't buy certain musicians’ CDs, I won't buy certain writers’ books, etc. That is because I think their current political views are disgusting.

[miss marmelstein]

I don’t believe in banning artists at all. Wagner was a genuis, no denying and I love his music - although some of it does drone on a bit. Fonda was a fair actress who gave one or two decent performances in film and coasted for the next 30 years. The New York Times actually has a HIT piece on her today, btw. Check it out, you’ll enjoy it.

Please read some of the writings of Wagner on the Jews. They are stomach-churning. As this article points out, after Wagner’s death, his awful wife Cosima attempted to bail Hitler out of jail (forgot about that one!) and had her grand kiddies dandle on his knee. The whole creepy family were Nazis!

It’s the ultimate paradox, isn’t it?