Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="FrogReaver" data-source="post: 8240517" data-attributes="member: 6795602">I don’t find it that difficult.&nbsp; Most works fall into a few categories.Books whose sole purpose was to make a case for a bad/evil idea. Books like Hitler’s Mein Kampf which was required reading when I was in college 16ish years ago.&nbsp; Books like this are valuable in understanding history so as not to repeat it but have no other redeeming qualities. Then there’s books which don’t primarily make a case for anything bad/evil but have such things in the backdrop as seemingly normal/commonplace.&nbsp; IMO One can reasonably like these works despite such depictions.Then there’s books which don’t have anything evil or bad in them but for which the author is known to think/believe/practice evil or vile things.&nbsp; Ideas and art stands or falls on their own merits regardless of the author and so I find nothing wrong with these works.Which leads us to to another question. Buying a book isn’t simply you acquiring the book. The author also gets proceeds (unless it’s a used book).&nbsp; So in some sense your money is going to those who wrongly use it.&nbsp; I can see the case for not buying their goods, but our society would fail to function if everyone stopped buying things from those they disagreed with or found highly immoral because none of us see eye to eye on everything and all of us have character faults - especially when the past no longer shields us from or prior actions.&nbsp; I’m worried that this path leads to a rather non functioning world - or one where totalitarianism reigns.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="FrogReaver, post: 8240517, member: 6795602"] I don’t find it that difficult. Most works fall into a few categories. Books whose sole purpose was to make a case for a bad/evil idea. Books like Hitler’s Mein Kampf which was required reading when I was in college 16ish years ago. Books like this are valuable in understanding history so as not to repeat it but have no other redeeming qualities. Then there’s books which don’t primarily make a case for anything bad/evil but have such things in the backdrop as seemingly normal/commonplace. IMO One can reasonably like these works despite such depictions. Then there’s books which don’t have anything evil or bad in them but for which the author is known to think/believe/practice evil or vile things. Ideas and art stands or falls on their own merits regardless of the author and so I find nothing wrong with these works. Which leads us to to another question. Buying a book isn’t simply you acquiring the book. The author also gets proceeds (unless it’s a used book). So in some sense your money is going to those who wrongly use it. I can see the case for not buying their goods, but our society would fail to function if everyone stopped buying things from those they disagreed with or found highly immoral because none of us see eye to eye on everything and all of us have character faults - especially when the past no longer shields us from or prior actions. I’m worried that this path leads to a rather non functioning world - or one where totalitarianism reigns. [/QUOTE]

Verification