Q DISCUSSION 2 - CANCEL CULTURE 88 unread replies.88 replies. THIS DISCUSSION MAY BE TRIGGERING AND/OR VERY SENSITIVE The inclusion of Michael Jackson got me thinking about a very interesting discussion topic; one that is very apropos to American society today. With the rise of "cancel culture" in America, how do we deal with musicians and artists in general who you may very well abhor as a human being? We have many examples of mostly men (sad but true) in the acting/comedic world who have been recently cancelled due to their personal conduct: Kevin Spacey, Bill Cosby, Louis CK etc. In music, there are way too many individuals that one might easily cancel. For instance if you grew up in the classical world like myself, the names Richard Wagner and Percy Grainger are more than well-known. Both are considered greats within their particular genre of music in which they composed (Wagner is often considered one of the greatest ever composers). It may surprise you , however, that Wagner is also considered to be the first Nazi in that his personal writings espoused much of the anti-Semitic rhetoric that Hitler would eventually base his ideology on. Percy Grainger was a well-known bigot and staunch racist. In fact, it is safe to say that a great portion of the overwhelmingly white male composers in history were staunch racists. Racism is steeped in American popular music as well (just look at country music history). It is not just the R. Kelly's, and Michael Jackson's of the world that you may not want your children to ever have been around. So...how do we deal with these individuals? Some may say cancel them all and move on. But life is not that simple. For instance, Wagner's musical legacy is so vast that we would not have any (and I mean any) film scores today from greats such as John Williams, Bear McCreary etc. Additionally, you cannot tell me Michael Jackson's music does not define an entire era. Try to deny that Kevin Spacy is not one of the greatest actors of all time. I, for one, will always watch movies/shows such as the 'Usual Suspects', 'Seven' and 'House of Cards' and not be awed at his performances. Is it possible to separate "man from art"? This is a sentiment originally coined for the likes of Wagner seeing how important his music is to history and yet you probably would never want to be in a room with him (unless you were a Nazi I suppose) but definitely can be attributed to all the individuals mentioned above and then some. What are your thoughts? Do we cancel everyone with questionable and possibly criminal pasts? Would there be anyone left? Where does the cancelling stop? Do we just cancel pedos and sexual predators but essentially condone racists and bigots? Where do we stop cancelling? Drug users (just about everyone)...former drug dealers (for all you Jay-Z and 50 Cent fans...and no they didn't just sell weed)? I am really interested in the responses from you under (and close to) 20s seeing how you have helped make "cancel culture" a major aspect of today's society. As is the case with all discussions: 1. Make your initial post then... 2. Respond to at least 2 of your peers (preferably more).