iii comments on The moment I heard that Noam Chomsky is on the Epstein list 🤦🏼‍♀️😢

[–] iii@mander.xyz 2 points 10 months ago* (4 children)

It's becoming very difficult to live if you can't seperate a person from their work.

[–] LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world [S] 0 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (3 children)

Ah. Ok. So I've heard that Jeffrey Epstein was a brilliant financier. Should we admire him as a whole human for that, and completely disregard his illegal indiscretions?

Thank goodness Noam Chomsky is 96 years old now so these recent Epstein revelations cannot do much harm to his marvelous reputation since he is near his end. But otherwise should we admire him as a whole human for all of his genius contributions and completely disregard his ride-or-die loyal friendship with Jeffrey Epstein? He even acknowledged that he was aware that Jeffrey Epstein was messing with teenage girls all along, and it didn't even bother Chomsky one bit! 🤦🏼‍♀️

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[–] iii@mander.xyz 0 points 10 months ago* (2 children)

I'll write it down as if I was talking to a 6 year old, because it sounds like your mental development might have stopped there.

Try to follow these 3 steps, OK?

Think of the artist: Imagine a person who makes something, like a painting or a song. This person is called an artist.
See the Art: The artist makes something beautiful, like a colorful picture or a fun song. This is called their art.
Two Different Things: The artist and their art are two separate things. Just because someone made a painting, it doesn't mean everything about that person is good or bad.

Did that help you understand? Or are these steps confusing? Do you see that your comment was extremely dumb?

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[–] LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world [S] 1 point 10 months ago (1 child)

I know you're still thinking about preserving Noam Chomsky's good name when you say all that.

Now go back and reread everything you wrote but apply it to teenage-raper Jeffrey epstein. Oh never mind that he raped teenage girls. He was such a brilliant financier. Which shall we remember him by? Both equally? But doesn't one bad deed overpower all the good?

Good people go to prison for doing one bad thing. It happens all the time. Should we set them free because they're good at philosophy or art or accounting?

In my personal life, my dad committed suicide in 1996. I was a Daddy's girl and I loved him and we had such a good times all the 21 years I was in his life but every time I think of him there's a darkness that overshadows it all because he committed suicide and that overshadows everything and I wish it wouldn't. One moment of him killing himself overshadowed his 46 years of productive life & people loved him. Yes one bad thing can indeed overshadow an entire life of good. Can you put that into perspective?

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[–] Acamon@lemmy.world 1 point 10 months ago

I understand being angry or disappointed at Chomsky or anyone else for being involved in this horror show. I don't think anyone is saying we should "preserve his good name" or ignore any terrible things he did or condoned.

But if you respect his work as a linguist (I don't, I think he had a good insight, but is extremely overrated and his disciples cling on to his ideas in a very unscientific way) you can do that while disliking him as a person. If you agree with his political analysis, you can do that even if he murdered someone. His moral failings don't change the content of his work. If Epstein was actually a great financier (rather than just a crook and blackmailer), and that's something that you care about, then sure respect his finance skills.

If someone's personal failings upset you, and that spoils your enjoyment of their work that's completely understandable. There's books and music that I can't hear the same now I know more about their creators. But you're not under a moral obligation to hate the art because the artist is awful. And as the original commentor said, in the modern world it's becoming an essential skill to cultivate.

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