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?
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.
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?
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.