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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MGibster" data-source="post: 8037774" data-attributes="member: 4534">I've often heard the same regarding Lovecraft's racism, but I'm not sure this really stands up to scrutiny.  The treatment of African Americans throughout the United States wasn't so good.  Even in the north, blacks were generally paid less for the same work as whites when they could even find places willing to hire them.  It's hard to believe today, but the KKK was a mainstream organization in the 20s and 30s.  They claimed 4-5 million members at one point, and even if that wasn't true, they were well thought of throughout the country and many of their anti-Catholic anti-immigration rhetoric was very much mainstream at the time.  And let's not forget, lynching African Americans was a common occurrence during this period.  I know we like to look back and think it was just a few bad eggs like Lovecraft, but his thoughts on race weren't particularly radical for the time.  We had laws to keep Chinese people from entering the country, Ford paid black workers the same as whites but he put them to work doing the worst jobs knowing they wouldn't quit, and the Chicago race riot of 1919 started when a black kid crossed the unofficial line between the segregated beach onto the white section.  Compared to the reality, I'm hard pressed to think Lovecraft was worse.  He's dead, so unlike JK Rowling or Orson Scott Card, purchasing his work doesn't support a platform he can do anything harmful from.  I don't feel the need to separate the art from the artist.  I enjoy his work warts and all though I understand why others are unable to.  Not just geek culture.  Lovecraft had a profound impact on writers like Stephen King and Neil Gaiman and movie director Guillermo del Toro.  Heck, King's 2014 novel Revival was very much a Lovecraftian tale.  And Lovecraft's influence is seen in everything from movies (Evil Dead) to children's cartoons (The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy).  HP Lovecraft isn't exactly a household name, but a lot of people have been exposed to his work without even knowing it.While you're under no obligation to like his works, I'm not sure burying the past is a great idea either.  I just accept that he had terrible beliefs and move on from there.  I still enjoy many of his stories even though some of the passages make me cringe.  The description of the black boxer in Herbert West-Reanimator, oh, boy!For years people have told me that it's okay to like problematic things so long as we recognize that it's problematic.  I've had a lot of good Call of Cthulhu games over the years and I'm hoping for more in the future.</blockquote>

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