<div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr">Wil Wheaton - best known for playing Wesley Crusher on Star Trek, and related appearances on Big Bang Theory - turns out to be a really cool guy, who went through some traumatic stuff during his childhood celebrity days. He gave a relevant answer to a fan question on this topic: <div></div></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail-o9v6fnle gmail-cxmmr5t8 gmail-oygrvhab gmail-hcukyx3x gmail-c1et5uql gmail-ii04i59q" style="margin:0.5em 0px 0px;white-space:pre-wrap;font-family:"Segoe UI Historic","Segoe UI",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(5,5,5);font-size:15px"><div dir="auto" style="font-family:inherit">Q: I have more of an opinion question for you. When fans of things hear about misconduct happening on sets/behind-the-scenes are they allowed to still enjoy the thing? Or should it be boycotted completely? Example: I’ve been a major fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer since I was a teenager and it was currently airing. I really nerded out on it and when I lost my Dad at age 16 “The Body” episode had me in such cathartic tears. Now we know about Joss Whedon. I haven’t rewatched a single episode since his behavior came to light. As a fan, do I respectfully have to just box that away? Is it disrespectful of the actors that went through it to knowingly keep watching?</div></div><div class="gmail-o9v6fnle gmail-cxmmr5t8 gmail-oygrvhab gmail-hcukyx3x gmail-c1et5uql gmail-ii04i59q" style="margin:0.5em 0px 0px;white-space:pre-wrap;font-family:"Segoe UI Historic","Segoe UI",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(5,5,5);font-size:15px"><div dir="auto" style="font-family:inherit">Answer: I have been precisely where you are, right now. In fact, we were just talking about this a few days ago, as it relates to a guy who wrote a ton of music that was PROFOUND to me when I was a teenager. He wrote about being lonely and feeling unloved, and all the things I was feeling as a teenager.</div></div><div class="gmail-o9v6fnle gmail-cxmmr5t8 gmail-oygrvhab gmail-hcukyx3x gmail-c1et5uql gmail-ii04i59q" style="margin:0.5em 0px 0px;white-space:pre-wrap;font-family:"Segoe UI Historic","Segoe UI",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(5,5,5);font-size:15px"><div dir="auto" style="font-family:inherit">He grew up to be a reprehensible bigot, and for years I couldn't listen to one of the most important bands in my life anymore.</div></div><div class="gmail-o9v6fnle gmail-cxmmr5t8 gmail-oygrvhab gmail-hcukyx3x gmail-c1et5uql gmail-ii04i59q" style="margin:0.5em 0px 0px;white-space:pre-wrap;font-family:"Segoe UI Historic","Segoe UI",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(5,5,5);font-size:15px"><div dir="auto" style="font-family:inherit">But this week, someone pointed out that he was one member of a group that all worked together to make that thing that was so important to me. And the person he was when he wrote those lyrics is not the person he is today. And the person I was when I heard those lyrics doesn't deserve to be shoved into a box and put away, because that guy is a shit.</div></div><div class="gmail-o9v6fnle gmail-cxmmr5t8 gmail-oygrvhab gmail-hcukyx3x gmail-c1et5uql gmail-ii04i59q" style="margin:0.5em 0px 0px;white-space:pre-wrap;font-family:"Segoe UI Historic","Segoe UI",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(5,5,5);font-size:15px"><div dir="auto" style="font-family:inherit">This is a long way of saying that Joss sure turned out to be garbage. Because of who I my friends are, I know stuff that isn't in the public, and it's pretty horrible. He's just not a good person, and apparently never was a good person.</div></div><div class="gmail-o9v6fnle gmail-cxmmr5t8 gmail-oygrvhab gmail-hcukyx3x gmail-c1et5uql gmail-ii04i59q" style="margin:0.5em 0px 0px;white-space:pre-wrap;font-family:"Segoe UI Historic","Segoe UI",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(5,5,5);font-size:15px"><div dir="auto" style="font-family:inherit">BUT! Buffy is more than him. It's all the actors and crew who made it. It's all the writers who aren't Joss. Joss is part of it, sure, and some of the episodes he wrote are terrific.</div></div><div class="gmail-o9v6fnle gmail-cxmmr5t8 gmail-oygrvhab gmail-hcukyx3x gmail-c1et5uql gmail-ii04i59q" style="margin:0.5em 0px 0px;white-space:pre-wrap;font-family:"Segoe UI Historic","Segoe UI",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(5,5,5);font-size:15px"><div dir="auto" style="font-family:inherit">At least one of the episodes he wrote was deeply meaningful to you at a moment in your life when you'd experienced a loss I can only imagine. The person you are now, and the 16 year-old you were who just lost their dad, are more important than the piece of shit Joss Whedon revealed himself to be.</div></div><div class="gmail-o9v6fnle gmail-cxmmr5t8 gmail-oygrvhab gmail-hcukyx3x gmail-c1et5uql gmail-ii04i59q" style="margin:0.5em 0px 0px;white-space:pre-wrap;font-family:"Segoe UI Historic","Segoe UI",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(5,5,5);font-size:15px"><div dir="auto" style="font-family:inherit">His bad behavior is on him. He has to live with it, and the consequences of it.</div></div><div class="gmail-o9v6fnle gmail-cxmmr5t8 gmail-oygrvhab gmail-hcukyx3x gmail-c1et5uql gmail-ii04i59q" style="margin:0.5em 0px 0px;white-space:pre-wrap;font-family:"Segoe UI Historic","Segoe UI",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(5,5,5);font-size:15px"><div dir="auto" style="font-family:inherit">16 year-old you, who just lost their dad, shouldn't have to think about what a shit Joss Whedon is for even a second. That kid, and you, deserve to have that place to revisit when you need to go there.</div></div><div class="gmail-o9v6fnle gmail-cxmmr5t8 gmail-oygrvhab gmail-hcukyx3x gmail-c1et5uql gmail-ii04i59q" style="margin:0.5em 0px 0px;white-space:pre-wrap;font-family:"Segoe UI Historic","Segoe UI",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(5,5,5);font-size:15px"><div dir="auto" style="font-family:inherit">I can't speak for the other actors, even the ones I know. But I will tell you, as an abuse survivor myself who never wanted to be in front of the camera when he was a kid: it's really okay for you to enjoy the work. The work is good and meaningful, and if nobody is going to watch it because of what one piece of shit did two decades ago, what was it all for?</div></div><div class="gmail-o9v6fnle gmail-cxmmr5t8 gmail-oygrvhab gmail-hcukyx3x gmail-c1et5uql gmail-ii04i59q" style="margin:0.5em 0px 0px;white-space:pre-wrap;font-family:"Segoe UI Historic","Segoe UI",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(5,5,5);font-size:15px"><div dir="auto" style="font-family:inherit">I'm not the pope of chilitown, so take this for what it's worth: I believe that when some piece of art is deeply meaningful to a person, for whatever reason, that art doesn't belong to the person who created it, if it ever did. It belongs to the person who found something meaningful in the art.</div></div><div class="gmail-o9v6fnle gmail-cxmmr5t8 gmail-oygrvhab gmail-hcukyx3x gmail-c1et5uql gmail-ii04i59q" style="margin:0.5em 0px 0px;white-space:pre-wrap;font-family:"Segoe UI Historic","Segoe UI",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(5,5,5);font-size:15px"><div dir="auto" style="font-family:inherit">If it feels right to you to put it away and never look at it again, that's totally valid. But if it brings you comfort, or joy, or healing, or just warm familiarity to bring it out and spend some time with it, that's totally valid, too.</div></div><div class="gmail-o9v6fnle gmail-cxmmr5t8 gmail-oygrvhab gmail-hcukyx3x gmail-c1et5uql gmail-ii04i59q" style="margin:0.5em 0px 0px;white-space:pre-wrap;font-family:"Segoe UI Historic","Segoe UI",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(5,5,5);font-size:15px"><div dir="auto" style="font-family:inherit">I've written a lot of words. I hope some of them make sense and are helpful to you.</div></div></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr"><a href="mailto:echarles@american.edu" target="_blank"></a></div></div></div></div></div></div><br></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sat, Oct 23, 2021 at 2:09 PM <<a href="mailto:thompnickson2@gmail.com">thompnickson2@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div lang="EN-US" style="overflow-wrap: break-word;"><div class="gmail-m_1376193160187856971WordSection1"><p class="MsoNormal">Hi, everybody,<u></u><u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal">I know. Who has time to listen to podcasts. Most of them are redundant and so can be listened to while making chicken pot pie. But every once in a while there is one I have to listen to twice because it acquaints me with a bunch of stuff I never will dive into but which I really want to know. <u></u><u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-story-of-americas-founding-you-werent-taught-in-school/id1548604447?i=1000539039484" target="_blank">https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-story-of-americas-founding-you-werent-taught-in-school/id1548604447?i=1000539039484</a><u></u><u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal">The interviewee here Woody Houlton, a promoter of the 1619 Project, whose goal is to recast the American revolution and particularly the constitution as counter revolutionary moves. It puts me in mind of Charles Beard, an American historian who wrote in the 30’s a materialist history of the US which was largely buried during the McCarthy era. (I hope I have this right, John) The REAL revolution, on this account occurs after the Civil War with the 13<sup>th</sup>, 14<sup>th</sup>, and 15<sup>th</sup> amendments. What I love about this is that illuminates for me what is going on in our current debates over textualism. The Textualists are trying to get us back to the pre-Civil War constitution which was dedicated to preserving the prerogatives of the privileged classes. That’s the world they hanker for. Another bell it rings for me concerns “cancel culture”. Washington and Jefferson were in many ways, vile men: Both were voracious land speculators in stolen Indian land and Jefferson, in his Idyllic Monticello, literally lived on top of the underground habitations of his slaves. <u></u><u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal"> <u></u><u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal">What do we do when we discover that people who have achieved great things have also done great harms. Basically it comes down to, Am I allowed to watch a Woody Allen Movie? Perhaps, if I were to watch a Woody Allen movie, it would mean that I was NOT watching an equally good movie by an unknown film guy, that our worship of Lee and Washington and Jefferson crowds out the accomplishments of lesser known figures. Shall we instead worship MLK, who I guess was an infamous philanderer? <u></u><u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal">I think the problem here is with WORSHIP, full stop. But, then, if we don’t stand together in admiration of other people, how do we stand together. How do we achieve coalition without charisma? <u></u><u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal">Nick <u></u><u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal">Nick Thompson<u></u><u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="mailto:ThompNickSon2@gmail.com" target="_blank">ThompNickSon2@gmail.com</a><u></u><u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/" target="_blank">https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/</a><u></u><u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p></div></div><br>
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