š„ Duh, of course you should separate the art from the artist
Viva compartmentalization! You can blame the messenger while still enjoying the message. On why I dance to āIgnition (Remix)ā and watch "Rosemary's Baby" with a clean conscience.
š° This is the Rubesletter from Matt Ruby (comedian,Ā writer,Ā and the creator ofĀ Vooza). Sign up to get it in your inbox weekly.
When I read it, it almost sounded like comedy:
āShe was charged with criminal obstruction of breathing and blood circulation after an apprentice accused her of choking her for incorrectly tying off a bag of lettuce.ā
āFor the past 25 years Iāve been telling women if they allow themselves to be called guys, theyāll lose all their reproductive rights. I hate to be right.ā
"At conferences, there have been some heated exchanges over turmeric."
Turmeric? Damn, thatās spicy. Those excerpts are from āThe Herbalism Community Is at War With Itself Over Abuse Allegationsā (Vice), an investigative piece on āfamed herbalist and teacher Susun Weed,ā who allegedly abused her apprentices. (I dunno, āfamedā and āherbalistā donāt really seem like they belong in the same sentence. Also, spelling it āSusunā feels like a crime in itself.)
I asked an herbalist friend about the hubbub and she replied, āItās massively confusing. It comes back to the famous thought provoking question: Can we separate the art from the artist?ā My reply: Yes! The herbs either work or they donāt.
But then again, Iām a fan of separating artists from their art. Always have been too.
Flashback: When I was growing up, I learned you should never ask a girl if you can kiss her. You were supposed to be confident and ājust go for it.ā If you had to ask for permission, you had already failed. As a lifelong self-doubter, I hated that. I like asking questions. I like knowing if Iām invited to a party instead of just showing up unannounced. I would have loved to ask if it was okay to kiss a potential partner, but society advised me that was a path for losers.Ā
Then I watched Annie Hall. In the movie, Annie (Diane Keaton) and Alvy (Woody Allen) are on their first date when Alvy suddenly stops and says:
Listen. Gimme a kiss. Because we`re just gonna go home later, right? And there`s gonna be all that tension. You know, we never kissed before and I`ll never know when to make the right move or anything. So we`ll kiss now, we`ll get it over with and then we`ll go eat. Okay? And we`ll digest our food better.
Looking back at it now, it almost seems a bit crazy. The person who taught me this unforgettable lesson about consent wasā¦Woody Allen.
Fast forward to years later and the disastrous impact smartphones are having on kids. Stanford researcher Clifford Nass says, āFace-to-face contact is the best way to learn to read other peopleās emotions. Itās how kids learn empathy.ā Well, one of the first times I truly considered this notion was watching a comedy bit that went viral about bullies, empathy, and the importance of facial expressions:Ā
I think [smartphones] are toxic, especially for kids...They don't look at people when they talk to them and they don't build empathy. You know, kids are mean, and it's 'cause they're trying it out. They look at a kid and they go, 'you're fat,' and then they see the kid's face scrunch up and they go, 'oh, that doesn't feel good to make a person do that.' But they got to start with doing the mean thing. But when they write 'you're fat,' then they just go, 'mmm, that was fun, I like that.'
This thoughtful lesson on empathy and the need to monitor facial expressions was delivered byā¦Louis CK.
These lessons have stuck with me. Just because they come from people who are now on our cultural Do Not Fly list, I donāt feel like I should let these ideas go.
And ok, Iāll admit it: I still enjoy Woodyās movies and Louisā comedy. A lot. I know, I risk outraging the social media police by saying that. Iām supposed to have cancelled them (and people like them). Their art must be ignored now or else Iām complicit/part of the problem/morally inferior/insensitive to the victims/etc.
But I canāt get with that. I have and will continue to separate the art from the artist because I think thatās essential to appreciating art.
Plus, I donāt see how thereās really any other choice. See, I've spent my life around artists and, generally speaking, they're awful human beings. These are people driven to spend decades of their life honing a craft in order to garner the approval and validation of strangers. What kind of gaping wound does it take to choose that route instead of just, yāknow, being a kind, likable, decent person IRL?
And from what Iāve witnessed, the higher someone soars, the more likely they are to be fractured psychologically. Now, Iām not saying every great artist is an a**hole. Of course there are many exceptions. But many of the all-time greats reach those heights because theyāre narcissists trying to fill a hole. Frequently, the demons are the engine.
Part of this attitude comes from my first exposure to art, which was via rock ān roll. Rock fandom involved listening to people who were openly sinful. They were throwing TVs out of windows, banging teen groupies, and snorting everything in sight (including ants). Yes, ants. Hereās Nikki Sixx talking about Ozzy Osbourne in The Dirt.
I handed [Ozzy] the straw, and he walked over to a crack in the sidewalk and bent over it. I saw a long column of ants, marching to a little dugout built where the pavement met the dirt. And as I thought, āNo, he wouldnāt,ā he did. He put the straw to his nose and, with his bare white ass peeking out from under the dress like a sliced honeydew, sent the entire line of ants tickling up his nose with a single, monstrous snort.
I wasnāt turning to these people for moral guidance. I was turning to them for rock. I dināt want them to be nice, I wanted them to make great music. The last thing I expected was for them to be role models.
But now, we want everything to be a straight line. We accept fluidity when it comes to gender/race/sexuality, yet morality has to be binary. And forgiveness and compassion must be extended to murderers and rapists, but artists who misstep are subject to forever banishment. It all feels a bit childish.
Obviously, itās simpler to view people (and their creations) as entirely good or bad. But thatās not how humanity works. The angelic/devilish sides of people are often wrapped around each other. And lives are frequently lived in ways that compensate for (real or imagined) deficiencies.
And letās be real, morally pious people tend to make art thatās boring and generic. Leo Tolstoy famously wrote, āAll happy families are alike, but every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.ā Well, thatās how I feel about over-the-top morality players and their Christian rock, Disneyfied, TED Talk, afterschool-specialesque entries into the canon. The best art frequently comes from messed up minds. Internal wrestling provides fertile soil for complex, nuanced creations. Like Kanye West says, "If you guys want these crazy ideas and these crazy stages and this crazy music and this crazy way of thinking, there's a chance [it] might come from a crazy person."
The problem is we know too much now. It was easier when things were more of a mystery. Take John Lennon. All you need is love, eh? Tell that to the wife he used to beat. Muhammad Ali was heroicĀ yet also lobbed vicious racial taunts at Joe Frazier. Thomas Jefferson owned slaves. JFK was hopped up on pills and sleeping with White House interns. MLKĀ plagiarized passages in his dissertation. Gandhi slept naked alongside young women in order to ātestā his commitment to celibacy.
They say, āDonāt meet your heroes.ā Well, donāt Google them either.
Good people do bad things. In fact, everyone does bad things. Itās up to us to filter out the content from the provider. The Catholic church may have committed heinous crimes, but that doesnāt mean the Golden Rule should be cancelled.
Instead of cancelling people, I wish we pushed them to admit, confront, and engage with their past behavior. For example, John Lennon put his shame into the lyrics of āGetting Betterā and wrote, āI used to be cruel to my womanā and āI beat her and kept her apart from the things that she loved.ā Lennon reflected on the meaning of those lyrics later:
I couldnāt express myself and I hit. I fought men and I hit women. That is why I am always on about peace, you see. It is the most violent people who go for love and peace. Everythingās the opposite. But I sincerely believe in love and peaceā¦I am a violent man who has learned not to be violent and regrets his violence. I will have to be a lot older before I can face in public how I treated women as a youngster.
It seems like John, well, got better. And even if he hadnāt, I would still listen to the Beatles. Viva compartmentalization! Itās the best way to handle the reality of human messiness. Iām still going to get on the dance floor when āIgnition (Remix)ā comes on. I might even beep beep and toot toot. And Iām going to sing along to āP.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing),ā watch āRosemaryās Baby,ā and read Harry Potter books. (OK, that last one is a lie. I have a no-dragon policy in my life and Iām pretty sure those books are chock-full oā dragons.)
Also, aiming for 100% moral purity requires an impossible level of policing. What are we supposed to do? Hire a private investigator to research the potential sordidness of any new artist we like? Of course not. So that means we only wind up policing/punishing the most famous artists while newer, unknown scumbags skate. Also, where are we drawing the line? Which transgressions are allowed/forbidden? Itās tiresome. When it comes to art surveillance, I choose blissful ignorance over joyless vigilance.
It all reminds me of Bill Hicksā advice to the āJust say noā set back in the 80ās: Either get over thinking all drugs are bad or get rid of your favorite music.
You see, I think drugs have done some good things for us. I really do. And if you don't believe drugs have done good things for us, do me a favor. Go home tonight. Take all your albums, all your tapes and all your CDs and burn them. 'Cause you know what, the musicians that made all that great music that's enhanced your lives throughout the years were rrrrrreal fucking high on drugs. The Beatles were so f*cking high they let Ringo sing a few tunes.
Just like great music comes from people on drugs, great art often comes from people who behave badly. Thatās life. I can blame the messenger while still enjoying the message. I can think slavery is bad and still celebrate the Declaration of Independence. I can think Bill Cosby is a monster yet still marvel at Himself. (The novacaine/dentist routine might hit a bit different, but Iāll deal.) Harvey Weinstein may be a scumbag but I still love Pulp Fiction. (And by the way, if you think heās the only producer in Hollywood whoās done immoral things, well Iāve got a NFT of a bridge to sell you.)
Others are free to consume/banish whomever theyād please. But I want art that comes from outsiders, misfits, and ne'er-do-wells. Of course, Iād prefer it if theyāre not truly horrendous people. But Iām not going to conduct a lifelong investigation into every person who writes a song, makes a joke, or directs a film I like. And even if they are/were a bad human being, I donāt need to divorce myself forever from their artistic output. The herbs either work or they donāt.
Quickies
š” āWe should warn you, these images are disturbing.ā I donāt know, they seem pretty excited whenever they say that. Like the Crypt Keeper introāing a new episode.
š” I've never bought an essential oil so I dispute the name.
š” The original browser history is a personās bookshelf.
š” People pretend they're not prejudiced but then they find out I'm a white guy who once travelled to Thailand alone and they make A LOT of assumptions.
š” This Russian "Z" thing is kooky. These Russkies really just gonna paint a "Z" on all their tanks, uniforms, and whatnot? It's like the solution Michael Bay would come up with to show whoās the baddies in an action movie.
š” The past couple of weeks have been the best advertisement ever for nuclear weapons. Those babies are like a Get Out of (War Crimes) Jail Free card. Starting to think I should grab a couple, just to be safe. Etsy?
š” All this crypto fever and sports gambling mania are signs of inequality and desperation. They're akin to playing the lottery. It's not wise, rich, educated people who buy scratch-off tickets; it's broke people who no longer feel in control of their own destiny.
š” The thing about politics is it's so damn boring. Just endless vitriol and tribalism that accomplishes nothing. Our lives were so much more interesting when people couldn't care less about it. Now the most toxic, boring subject is how many people define themselves. Blech.
(A bunch more quickies below for paid subscribers. Topics include Coachella, accounting, science, CNN, ski bums, microbrews, and more.)
Standup
5-spotted
1) "When you get too isolated, you can go crazy." A decade ago, two black artists were quoted in GQ talking about pressure, self-sabotage, & what happens to black genius in this country. Feels worth resurfacing considering Will Smith/The Slap (subject of a recent Rubesletter). Oh, and the two black artists having the discussion were right there for all that; it was Chris Rock and Questlove.
[Chris Rock:] "D'Angelo. Chris Tucker. Dave Chappelle. Lauryn Hill. They all hang out on the same island. The island of What Do We Do with All This Talent? It frustrates me."
I tell Rock that Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, the drummer for the Roots and one of D's closest collaborators, has ticked off much the same list. Questlove has a theory about what happens to black geniusāwhat he calls "a crazy psychological kind of stoppage that prevents them from following through. A sort of self-saboteur disorder." Rock says he understands.
For a black star, Rock says, "there's a lot of pressure just to be responsible for other people's livesāto be the E. F. Hutton of your crew. Everything you say is magnified. I mean, street smarts only help you on the streets. Or maybe occasionally they will help you in the boardroom, but boy, you wish you knew a little bit about accounting." There is pressure to be original but also pressure to be commercial, to make money, to succeed. Sometimes the two run at cross-purposes.
[Questlove:] āWe noticed early that all of the geniuses we admired have had maybe a ten-year run before death or, you know, the Poconos," he says. "That renders [DāAngelo] paralyzed. He said he fears the responsibility and the power that comes with it. But I think what he fears most is the isolation"āthe kind that fame brings.
2) Writer Anne Lamott: āI am going to be 68 in six days, if I live that long. Iām optimistic. Mostly.ā
So what does that leave? Glad you asked: the answer is simple. A few very best friends with whom you can share your truth. Thatās the main thing. By 68, you know that the whole system of our lives works because we are not all nuts on the same day. You call someone and tell them that you hate everyone and all of life, and they will be glad you called. They felt that way three days and you helped them pull out of it by making them laugh or a cup of tea. You took them for a walk, or to Target.
Ā Also, besides our friends, getting outside and looking up and around changes us: remember, you can trap bees on the bottom of Mason jars with a bit of honey and without a lid, because they donāt look up. They just walk around bitterly bumping into the glass walls. That is SO me. All they have to do is look up and fly away. So we look up. In 68 years, I have never seen a boring sky. I have never felt blasĆ© about the moon, or birdsong, or paper whites.
It is a crazy drunken clown college outside our windows now, almost too much beauty and renewal to take in. The world is warming up.
3) The late English culture writer Mark Fisher on āthe slow cancellation of the future.ā
The slow cancellation of the future has been accompanied by a deflation of expectations. There can be few who believe that in the coming year a record as great as, say, the Stoogesā Funhouse or Sly Stoneās Thereās A Riot Goinā On will be released. Still less do we expect the kind of ruptures brought about by The Beatles or disco. The feeling of belatedness, of living after the gold rush, is as omnipresent as it is disavowed. Compare the fallow terrain of the current moment with the fecundity of previous periods and you will quickly be accused of ānostalgiaā. But the reliance of current artists on styles that were established long ago suggests that the current moment is in the grip of a formal nostalgia, of which more shortlyā¦Thereās an increasing sense that culture has lost the ability to grasp and articulate the present. Or it could be that, in one very important sense, there is no present to grasp and articulate anymore.
Chuck Klosterman says this theory on time was a significant influence in how his latest book, āThe Nineties,ā was written. āIt feels like everything is changing constantly, and yet at the same time, it doesnāt necessarily feel like itās moving forward,ā Klosterman says.
(More āSpottedā quotes below for paid subscribers re: Alan Watts, Ram Dass, Mariupol, and Bill Maher.)
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to The Rubesletter ā¢ by Matt Ruby (Vooza) to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.