Yesterday, I talked about being at the crossroad in my personal life. Today, I want to muse about where I draw the line when it comes to problematic creators of art. Yes, I know that no one is perfect and that it’s easier to know someone’s ugliness these days than a hundred years ago. I’ve heard that argument more times than I care to count. Along with ‘cancel culture’ and that tired trope.
News flash: Cancel culture is not a thing! I wish to god it were. Can you imagine if minorities actually had that power? To get companies that we disapprove of to disband or abolished? Hell to the yes! I would be all over that.
In the RKG Discord, there was a passionate debate about the Hogwarts game. I would like to note that British people are terrible about trans issues. Not to say Americans are good, we aren’t, but British people like to claim the high ground when it comes to isms (they often say with a straight face that there is no racism, which is utter bullshit), so it’s notable that they are particularly terrible about trans issues.
There was a guy who declared that poor JKR was just misunderstood and really trying to defend women. He was the one who brought up ‘cancel culture’. I said it wasn’t a thing, but if it were, then it would actually be in line with capitalism. I mean, capitalists always liked to say, “Let the markets decide.” If the markets decided that JKR was reprehensible and no one wanted to buy her books because of it, then that’s capitalsm.
Here’s the depressing thing, though. JKR is a billionaire. She’s not hurting at all or in any way. Cancelled? I think not. Also, she is not defending women because trans women are women. If she can’t accept that, then she needs to GTFO.
Also, ever if she were being cancelled, she is not owed my money. I am nnot obliged to buy anything from her, nor is anyone else. Again, that is capitalism! I spend my money where I want. And it’s definitely not on anything associated with JKR.
In addition, I can’t unknow what I know. Like, Woody Allen sexually abused his wife’s adopted daughter, brainwashed her, and then married her. I’m supposed to pretend this isn’t the case? Or that Roman Polanski didn’t rape a thirteen-year old? Nope. That’s not going to happen. I know this about them, and it’s reprehensible. Again, I don’t have to give money to anyone I don’t want to. In the case of these two men, whatever art they’ve done (and I don’t like what I’ve seen of Woody Allen’s movies. I’ve never seen one of Roman Polanski’s) has been tainted by what they have done as men.
I don’t like Woody Allen’s movies, by the way. Even before the aforementioned issue. I think of them as a man whining and negging the women around him. But for some reason, he’s seen as inexplicably attractive. So not my thing at all.
More to the point, there are millions of books, moovies, music, etc. I will not be able to see/hear 1/100th of all the pop media available. Why would I want to spend my money on someone I loathed?
This is my point. I can’t separate the artist from the person. And it’s an easy decision not to give money to someone I find personally reprehensible. And, yes, I get to decide where I draw that line. For example, Jackie Chan went off on a rant about Taiwan that was really gross. Nope. Not going to give him any money. Why would I give money to anyone who denigrated my people?
It’s interesting to met that when I expressly state why I’m not giving money to a certain artist because of something I didn’t like about them, I get pushback. This started when I was in college and started realizing that I had only read dead white men up to that point. Because, America! I made the conscious to only read Asian women (outside of class) for a year. I told a white guy about this, and he said it was as racist as if he said he was only going to read white men.
After I stopped laughing at the idea of him NOT reading white guys, I said, “I bet you that I have read more dead white guys than you’ve read people of color.” See? I was being generous. I said people of color and not Asian women to give him the biggest benefit of doubt. He had nothing to say to that.
By the way, this was thirty years ago, and it’s still depressingly common for white dudes to only consume media by other white dudes. Not as common, but still common. And I still don’t read white men unless highly recommended. Why? Because there are so many other people out there who are not getting read. Stephen King will have his millions of readers no matter what (don’t like him, either. But only from a writer’s point of view), as will all the other popular white dudes.
Funnily enough, I love angsty white boy music. But that’s another post for another day.
It’s funny to me because me explicitly saying I’m not going to read white dudes is considered racist/political, but de facto only reading white guys isn’t? Everything is political, even if you do it by default. It’s still a choice about what you’re going to consume. I just actually put a name to it rather than do it passively.
Anyway.
My point is that we all make a decision where to spend our money. No artist is owed my money. That’s the thing that really puzzles me. Why is JKR entitled to me buying her shit? She is not. The books weren’t that good, anyway. There were so many isms in them, but let’s just gloss over that! My point, though, is that even if she was the best writer in the world, I still have the right to not buy her books. Because I find her despicable as a person.
I think part of the reason is because she’s alive and spreading her poison. She’s choosing to be transphobic and is given a huge platform to do so. Even giving her apologists the benefit of the doubt and taking her at the best possible explanation for amplifying transphobic voices, well, that’s still bad. It’s like people who say they’re not racist and then go on to espouse racist bullshit, the first part does not exonerate the second. So being one step removed from the transphobia does not make it any better. If anything, it’s worse because you’re being a coward and not owning your beliefs.