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Should artists be separated from their work?

Stryke

The finchiest of widgets
Pronoun
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This has honestly been a question that I've pondered for a very long time, and one that I've never really come to a conclusion on. As an example, take Kanye West. He can be extraordinarily thick headed, idiotic, inconsiderate, and just downright rude (see: his social media posts and the 2009 MTV Music video Awards). However, his music is legitimately pretty good. Maybe you don't share the same belief as me, which is fine, but he's also the most awarded artist from the 21st century, which definitely says something. But the point is, should we as consumers of art, music, and whatever else disregard the artists personal details entirely and consume the art as it is, or should we take into account the life of the artist and his or her prior actions before consuming the art? Or should it be a mix of a both?
 
The way I see it, choosing whether or not to buy work from artists on the grounds of how they act personally is like choosing whether or not to buy specific groceries on the grounds of how the farmer acts. It all seems pretty arbitrary, and odds are you've never done much research on the companies that produce the groceries at stores before deciding to make the purchases. Why would you? It's the product you care about, not some individual you'll probably never hang out with.

If I'm jumping to conclusions here, then I'm sorry. But that seems like a really unusual thing for someone to do. Art is work, and good work deserves to be rewarded. While I do believe that rudeness deserves punishment in a similar manner, refusing to buy an artist work does not punish in a sufficient manner. This is because of the ambiguity involved. You are only one of the many of his fans; your decision alone won't get him to double check the sales reports. Even if it does, who is to say West won't look at the sales reports and assume maybe you just weren't into his music as much anymore? The whole point of punishing people is to make them understand that what they did was wrong, and small-scale boycotts don't really drive that message home. A boycott could be effective if it's preformed soon after something outrageous, but even then, I think what he did would have to be directed towards the fans specifically.
 
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