Is it Okay to Admire Certain Horrible People?

[JagermanXcell]

Oh yes it is.

H.P. Lovecraft may have been a racist asshole, but I looooove everything about the genre he created and the writings that came with it (His method of writing got me into pursuing a bit of a knack for writing). I absolutely adore reading his writings on cosmicism, the Elder Gods, his deep philosophical themes on the purpose/purposelessness of our existence among larger unknown forces. It's all endless fascination that I can't possibly think about ever dropping.

He as a person wasn't perfect, none of us are, which is why you should never let a person's cons cloud your judgement of their quality workmanship.

 

[Dizchu]

Agreed in full on Varg. The music of Burzum is sublime, even if the man behind the music is something of a twat.

Megadave have sucked pretty hard for quite awhile now. I think they're way past their prime and should have hung things up ages ago. In their prime I would have taken them any day over Metallica or Anthrax (but not Slayer).

The worst band I know of in terms of lyrical content is Arghoslent who are full-on white supremacists. Unlike bands like Burzum, Kataxu and Nokturnal Mortum their views are tightly interwoven with their songwriting and it actually makes them unenjoyable for me. That's "the line" for me. I can't listen to a band that openly supports slave trade.

 

[BathorysGraveland2]

The worst band I know of in terms of lyrical content is Arghoslent who are full-on white supremacists. Unlike bands like Burzum, Kataxu and Nokturnal Mortum their views are tightly interwoven with their songwriting and it actually makes them unenjoyable for me. That's "the line" for me. I can't listen to a band that openly supports slave trade.

No great loss. Arghoslent are boring as all fuck. Truly their dull music is a far worse travesty than their beliefs.

But yeah, people hype up their riffs as being absolutely amazing but I've never been able to see it. The riffage just sounds really dull to me every time I've tried to get into the band. Perhaps I'll give them yet another chance later on given their (purely musical) reputation.

 

[KissingSunlight]

I was thinking about this recently while I was reading an article about Bill Cosby while a Michael Jackson song was playing in the background. I know that sounds like a joke, but it actually happened. Finding out what has happened in their personal lives doesn't change the work that they have created. The comedy routines that Bill Cosby has done are still funny. The songs that Michael Jackson have done are still catchy. As people, you would not want to have anything to do with them. You can separate art from the artist. The problem a lot of people have is that they put the artist upon a pedestal. Thinking they are above reproach. I think liking anybody so much that you actually believe that they are infallible is a bad thing. Everybody is flawed. You need to compartmentalized public personality from their personal transgressions.

 

[ZeroFarks]

You can admire a person's work but not necessarily the person him/herself.

Agreed, and IMHO Wehrner von Braun best encapsulates this concept. Without him no NASA, no moon landing, etc. Was also Hitler's lackey & designed the "V" weapons that killed thousands in England. Just one 1500+ others brought over under Project Paperclip.

Generally speaking there is broad spectrum concept of separating a Professional opinion and a Personal opinion. I've worked with a lot of people who were good at their jobs, and I acknowledge this even though I couldn't stand to be around them. Likewise, I've met a lot of people that I've liked as people who were otherwise useless in a work environment.

 

[Colour Scientist]

Has someone been super edgy and said Hitler yet?

Oh, I guess they have.

Boo...

 

[Haerthan]

Has someone been super edgy and said Hitler yet?

Oh, I guess they have.

Boo...

Hey nothing wrong with being super edgy ok? I love being super edgy. Im so edgy i cut people. They should call me Edge of the World, thats how edgy I am.

Or better yet, Super-edgy. Save the world one cut at a time.

 

[Spartan448]

Well I mean Stalin was a bastard but least he wasn't Hitler.

 

[Mikeybb]

It is possible to separate the deed and the person, to the extent you can like or respect one while disliking and having no respect for the other.
I've always found this to be true, while the compared aspects are minor.
When the deeds in question reach a certain magnitude where they overwhelm any opinion I may have had about the person, it can be more difficult to reconcile such dualities and retain your original opinion.

I've left the above vague in stance as while more often than not, I've found these kind of things happen when a liked person is uncovered to having done something horrible, but it does occasionally happen the other way around as noted by above posters.

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

H.P. Lovecraft, Sir Douglas Haig, Boris Yeltsin and George W. Bush.

People I know are/weren't nice people, but I admire qualities or their personality, skill or just raw tenacity.