So many people seem to want the world to be black and white, and completely ignore all the different shades of grey in between that actually make up the majority of it. Other people like you are willing to put in the effort to face and examine those shades, and consider whether what there is to value in the findings.
It has never made sense to me, for instance, to take someone as an epitome of all that is good and a role model to emulate in all aspects of life just because they play a sport well, and then be shocked and disappointed when news comes out that their character is not at all admirable. There are plenty of truly excellent works of art created by people whose morals do not stand up under scrutiny. There have been countless important advances in medicine discovered using the most unethical practices. There has been so much knowledge added to mathematics and science by people who, quite frankly, were just plain bad.
Or in other words, the creation is not the person, and the person is not the creation.
As long as you can tell the difference, I don't see any good reason to discard and refuse to enjoy the good parts just because other parts are bad. You're not ignoring the bad parts, but rather separating them out. It's a bit like taking windfall fruit and cutting out the wormholes and bruises to enrich your life with jam.
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branchandroot
(no subject)
Date: 2023-06-08 02:23 pm (UTC)So many people seem to want the world to be black and white, and completely ignore all the different shades of grey in between that actually make up the majority of it. Other people like you are willing to put in the effort to face and examine those shades, and consider whether what there is to value in the findings.
It has never made sense to me, for instance, to take someone as an epitome of all that is good and a role model to emulate in all aspects of life just because they play a sport well, and then be shocked and disappointed when news comes out that their character is not at all admirable. There are plenty of truly excellent works of art created by people whose morals do not stand up under scrutiny. There have been countless important advances in medicine discovered using the most unethical practices. There has been so much knowledge added to mathematics and science by people who, quite frankly, were just plain bad.
Or in other words, the creation is not the person, and the person is not the creation.
As long as you can tell the difference, I don't see any good reason to discard and refuse to enjoy the good parts just because other parts are bad. You're not ignoring the bad parts, but rather separating them out. It's a bit like taking windfall fruit and cutting out the wormholes and bruises to enrich your life with jam.