Rooting for the Bad Guy

That's Brad Marchand now.

 

This debate has gone on in the music world for years. Richard Wagner wrote some of the most sublime music imaginable but was a fairly loathsome human being. The fact that the Nazis embraced his music and played it constantly in the concentration camps only made it worse. It was a HUGE deal the first time Wagner's music was played in Israel.

 

The fine arts are even worse. Picasso, Diego Rivera, etc., etc. And in truth, Wagner had no conception of Nazism. He was a strictly 19th century nut.

 

I grew up a Vikings fan. I loved the Vikings.

I haven't watched a football game or paid any attention to football since the first game of the 2014 season.

As appalled as I was at Adrian Peterson for whipping his young son, what I couldn't believe was the willingness of Vikings fans to rationalize his behavior. Winning a freaking game was more important than a child. That is just so fucked up.

 

Wagner had no conception of Nazism but he was a virulent anti-Semite and his operas draw on Teutonic mythology which was a big attraction for Hitler.

 

This is true. But anti-Semitism was so much more common back then. More like white supremacy than a genocidal impulse. The wealthy people and state Wagner depended on for finance were not like that. They were more of the restricted country club attitude crowd.

 

Agreeing to a marketing tie-in as the official theme of Auschwitz means it's probably time to fire your agent.

 

I can separate the performance from the person. I still like Mel Gibson movies. I still like Chris Benoit matches.

 

Heh. Wife adores animals of all kinds. We had a couple of raccoons regularly visiting our house in the middle of the night a few weeks ago, and eventually trapped them (two at one time!). And she made us drive 35 miles to the nearest state park --- at 5 a.m. --- to release them.

But spiders? "Kill it! Kill it!"

 

I loved Woody Allen's early work and that hasn't changed. Still love it. I do think his last 15 or so movies haven't been very good and I think some of his personal life has taken its toll on the work.

 

I put Mel Gibson in a different category than, say, Bill Cosby or Robert Blake. I don't know that he's actively destroying the lives of others. I think he's a broken, screwed up person with several bad opinions.

 

Midnight in Paris was OK. But that's the best he can do now, OK.