On Separating the Art From the Artist and Ethical Anti-Theory

Ceteris paribus a world full of moral saints would be a heaven on earth. It would be a just world following x moral theory leading all to the most harmonious life. We all understand that we ought to be moral, but unfortunately that is very, very difficult to do. Whether it is because of economic reasons, the domination of our spirit by the will of our inner Neanderthal, or some other bias in cognition, we all slip in and out of the rules of morality. When we see someone that is perfectly virtuous we feel the inner guilt of not reaching their level of virtue. Whether their intentions are in duty of morality or the greater utility is irrelevant, these saints force us to be introspective and elucidate our inner flaws. Assuming that our antipathy is driven from guilt, Wolf’s categorisation of morality as just another realm of virtue can be called into question. If we all yearn to be the Saint, and are drawn away from it because of our inner flaws, is morality not the highest virtue of them all, the one which all are in servitude to? Personally I feel as if it can’t be universalised that easily; it requires each person to question if they yearn for the life of the saint more than we yearn for a life of opulence, or perfection of a craft or x virtue.

So taking this can we separate a Kanye from antisemitism, a Kevin Spacey from sexual assault? I first ask: could your conservative uncles separate Elton John or Freddie Mercury from their homosexuality, or Michael Jordan from being black? The answer for most would be no. Klan members gathered around their living rooms to see Jordan defeat the Jazz, clergymen and Caliphs alike herded into Live Aid to see Queen. So what has changed? Well, the public sphere has expanded, we can now virtue-signal and induce that jealousy on others through the internet. There is a certain irony in how people in the public sphere perform the theatre of ethics. Take for example Effective Altruism or Bill Gates’ drive for billionaires to give away their fortunes, the popular and rich grow into morality as they grow into their new-found wealth, forgetting the people they stepped on and immoral acts they took along the way. The same as the billionaires as the velocity and access to information expanded, we all shifted our public personas to at least appear more virtuous. It becomes difficult to separate your enjoyment of 808s and Heartbreak or The Usual Suspects when social pressure of influencers and those who they have influenced (your immediate social circle) makes you feel like you are doing a sin. 

In reality, then it is just how that guilt affects you, I value the virtue of independent thinking, in this context evaluating x for what it presents itself to me to be and not its backstory - so I am listening to Father Stretch my Hands as I am writing this. In a way what I am doing is not so much better than those telling me what I am doing is wrong, I am just signalling a different virtue that I personally hold as higher than those I am being told to care about. On another level, however, it makes me seem more human. I am not perfect, I am not a moral saint, I am just like the rest of us subject to external and internal biases leading me astray from morality, I am not going to be so righteous.

Am I the problem? Am I prolonging rapture? Maybe it’s not very utilitarian of me; regardless, the last scene of The Usual Suspects still gives me chills and Kanye is still Kanye.

In this sense are we confirming that Wolf is right, being jealous of moral saints is just like being jealous of Steph Curry’s shooting or James Joyce’s creativity? While I am beginning to agree the more I think about it, it does make me sad to think about. It does mean that we can look at Pol Pot’s killing fields and admire the irrigation, look at the US military and not think about the millions of lives it has taken and billions that it has ruined. While I probably could admire the irrigation of the Cambodian countryside or marvel at the spectacle of human engineering of a Destroyer I don’t think their blood will ever wash away from my consciousness - I will never feel good about doing it. 

Then again saying genocide is an absolute moral evil is easy, being dialectical about what the western public sphere espouses as absolute universal laws can at least be a discussion. Even genocide, were Mao’s actions right even with the consequences of the Cultural Revolution, were the US right in levelling all of North Korea in the fight against communism, what about the sanctions they place on them or Cuba or Russia today, do those people deserve to be paying for the wrongs of their leaders? Are their leaders even wrong? Is it just a conflict in moral values? To take this further, was Kim Jong-il not right for implementing communism even though US imperial interests disagreed, was Mao’s Cultural Revolution not necessary to progress along the stages of economics? 

All these questions are not easy to answer, to end this I leave everyone with a topical Kanye quote I heard while writing this, “I’m trying to write my wrongs, but it’s funny how those wrongs helped me write this song”.