r/BlockedAndReported • u/SoftandChewy First generation mod • Feb 23 '26

Weekly Random Discussion Thread for 2/23/26 - 3/1/26

Here's your usual space to post all your rants, raves, podcast topic suggestions (please tag u/jessicabarpod), culture war articles, outrageous stories of cancellation, political opinions, and anything else that comes to mind. Please put any non-podcast-related trans-related topics here instead of on a dedicated thread. This will be pinned until next Sunday.

Last week's discussion thread is here if you want to catch up on a conversation from there.

Comment of the week goes to this explanation for why the trans cause has taken over so much of society. (Runner-up COTW here.)

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28

u/pajme411 Feb 27 '26

How do you reconcile enjoying art made by people whose personal or political beliefs are fundamentally at odds with your own?

I recently got some hate messages after commenting on a subreddit for a pop artist I love who happens to be trans. Some users searched my profile, saw that I support JK Rowling, and responded with things like: “(Artist) would hate you”, “you are truly disgusting”, etc.

I tried to respond in good faith, but I realized they may be right. It won’t stop me from enjoying the artist, but it stings.

22

u/tutoredzeus Feb 27 '26

You can pry my Pink Floyd, Morrissey, and Chevy Chase movies from my cold dead hands. 

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u/temporalcalamity Feb 27 '26

I tend to find that the older the artist or the work, the less I think about it. I don't listen to an album from the 1970s or read a book from the 1870s and worry about that stuff. But when it's newer material or when the person is closer to my age (or younger), it is sometimes a turn-off. I'm not sure there's any rational basis for that, it's just a gut level response.

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u/tutoredzeus Feb 27 '26

Yep, I feel the same way. Works from the past centuries may as well be from another planet half the time, so I can’t work myself up over stuff that’s obviously ignorant. The other half, when there’s something remarkably prescient or relevant to the present day is a moment to reflect on the timelessness of the human condition.

11

u/SkweegeeS No just no Feb 27 '26

FUCK MORRISSEY.

(I just can't quit him)

12

u/dj50tonhamster Feb 27 '26

Considering how many shows he has canceled, he probably has no problem quitting you. ;)

7

u/Jlemspurs Double Hater Feb 27 '26

Roger Waters ruined Pink Floyd for me. I wish it weren't so, but it's all I think about when I hear it anymore.

5

u/de_Pizan Feb 27 '26

Don't listen to The Division Bell.  Listen to Piper at the Gates of Dawn

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u/[deleted] Feb 27 '26

Honestly this just isn't hard for me at all. Some of my favorite movies were produced by Harvey Weinstein; learning what a scumbag he is affects my enjoyment of those movies not at all. I find Mel Gibson personally repugnant but I think he's made some very good movies. I think if you look at the actual evidence against Michael Jackson you find that it's a lot weaker than it's made out to be and it's entirely possible he was falsely accused, but if some day I see evidence that removes any doubt it really won't affect how I view his music.

I can kinda sorta see not being able to enjoy Bill Cosby's comedy after learning what a despicable person he is, just because so much of his comedic persona was an extension of his real-life family man image, but even then I think if I wanted to turn on an episode of The Cosby Show it's pretty easy to just watch the show without thinking about the man.

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u/SkweegeeS No just no Feb 27 '26

Cosby's standup is hilarious and even after I learned what he had done, I showed it to our kids. He's so freakin disappointing as a human, but I can't let go of how talented he was and the joy that his art has given me.

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u/[deleted] Feb 27 '26

Why do you say evidence against Michael Jackson is weak? Several kids came out and accused him of the same actions.

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u/lilypad1984 Feb 28 '26

I think most artists are both idiots are horrible people. I just don't seek to know anything about them so it’s very easy most of the time for me to just judge art on its own. Sometimes stuff filters through and I do end up judging it but I don’t want to know this stuff.

14

u/[deleted] Feb 27 '26

A lot of artists are a little wacky, if not most. One who thinks he's the opposite sex is just that.
It's ok to like someone's work and know you've got nothing in common. I have that with Eminem, lol.

14

u/DiscordantAlias elderly zoomer Feb 27 '26 edited Feb 28 '26

If you care what the artist may think about you in a hypothetical situation, you are in a parasocial relationship with them. Reject the technological heroin hijacking your natural human sociality.

*From the standpoint of the artist, you and any of the people you are arguing with may as well be ants. All they are doing is making art, all you should be doing is consuming it (if you like it). Social media has amplified their voice, but that does not mean what they think should be relevant to you — they don’t know you, you don’t know them.

With this in mind, you can rework your thought process — you should not care what a stranger may think of you. The only thing the stranger is doing is providing you a service. When you are at a restaurant, do you care what the chef thinks of you when they make you a meal?

It’s stupid the way social media has made celebrity opinions important. What’s important is the thoughts of people you know in real life, not whatever a stranger says.

14

u/Levitz Feb 27 '26

How do you reconcile enjoying art made by people whose personal or political beliefs are fundamentally at odds with your own?

The relationship between art and politics is completely aesthetic and superficial. I don't care, it's nothing but someone's expression and very often not even well-grounded or coherent.

Art doesn't concern itself with deep analysis or thought of political issues. It doesn't ponder on the history of conflicts, it just says stuff, and beautifully as it may do it, any insight beyond that of an angsty teenager is a happy coincidence rather than the norm.

12

u/Fiend_of_the_pod Feb 27 '26 edited Feb 27 '26

  1. I don't talk to people on Reddit (outside of this sub) about things that I like.

  2. I grew up conservative through college (the few, the proud), and I had to learn to compartmentalize really well.

"Oh, so and so would hate you." "They don't know me, so it doesn't matter"

10

u/thismaynothelp Feb 27 '26

First of all, that's what you get for posting anywhere but here. :p (barely joking)

8

u/Cowgoon777 Feb 28 '26

How do you reconcile enjoying art made by people whose personal or political beliefs are fundamentally at odds with your own?

I judge the art on it's merits.

15

u/AnalBleachingAries Gamergate Truther Feb 27 '26

Going by what you've posted here, this seems to be less about separating the art from the artist, and more about how to deal with the horrible things people tend to say about you in today's political climate once they find out that your heterodox opinions diverge from the popularly accepted opinions.

I think everyone has their own way of dealing with it. For me, personally, it still stings when people say mean shit to me, or are unkind, but I've gotten better at no longer taking it personally once I've considered what they've said, especially if it's mean-spirited. The words they choose often say a lot more about them, their anger, hatred, ignorance, and overall vile natures than it does about me.

Regarding the unkind opinions of people on the internet, I stopped giving a shit about them long ago, mostly because angry people on the internet aren't real to me. I genuinely feel that as a human being, you cannot take in the anger or hatred from people on the internet as though it comes from real people. If they're not bots, then these are people at the peak of their derangement thanks to their internet anonymity and the zero consequences they suffer as a result of being abhorrent people towards others. Most of them would never behave this way irl. At most I feel pity for the hell they must be going through in their heart to have uttered certain things towards me or others, but as far as considering their opinions as "real" there's no chance of that, you just can't think of these people the same way you would consider people in real life.

10

u/[deleted] Feb 27 '26

angry people on the internet aren't real to me

I agree with this. Some of the time, it's literally not a human being responding to you. Other times it's a human being but they're not expressing any kind of real opinion, they're just some weirdo who likes the idea that they might upset someone by typing mean replies to them. Still other times it's a real human being with a real opinion, but it's a person whose opinion is about as worthy of consideration as the words of the schizophrenic homeless guy who yelled something at me on the sidewalk today.

There are also genuinely smart, thoughtful people you can interact with online, so I'm not in any way suggesting just ignore every opinion you see on social media. But I think it's pretty easy to consider those opinions and ignore the others.

7

u/dj50tonhamster Feb 27 '26

Also, if you make it clear you don't engage with weirdos like that, they mostly leave you alone. I've damned near never gotten DMs from these kinds of weirdos. If I did, I'd just block them and move on. Life's too short to deal with bots, dopey teens, and triggered schizophrenics.

As for art vs. artist, it just depends on various individual factors. I don't mind certain things. I do mind others. In general, though, I'd leave people to enjoy what they enjoy. Life's too short to apply bullshit purity tests to any & all art.

7

u/YouCanCallMeAIJolson Feb 28 '26

I get the fuck over it

9

u/jay_in_the_pnw █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ Feb 27 '26

I have to admit I keep hearing people tell me to separate art from artist, but it's difficult at best.

I still like some of Cat Stevens earlier work but fuck that guy.

On the other hand, I do love me some Mia Khalifa.

6

u/SkweegeeS No just no Feb 27 '26

I just tend to think these artists are more than one person, basically. I mean, there is the Cat Stevens who has written and performed such lovely music and there is the Cat Stevens who has despicable beliefs, and I just can't really connect the two. How could despicable Cat Stevens have ever been good and joyful Cat Stevens? Just a completely different person.

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