Treasure

 "I have three treasures that I cherish.
The first is compassion.
The second is moderation.
The third is not claiming to be first in the world."

[Tao Te Ching, Lao Tse]

In 1997, "The Beautiful People" was a smash hit, and after initially recoiling in disgust (much as one does) at Marilyn Manson, both as a musician and as a public figure, I happened to catch him on an episode of Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher.  He was well spoken and gave much food for thought.  I became more intrigued and over time became a fan.  

The hit was off the album Antichrist Superstar which, predictably given the name alone, brought him much notoriety and launched a meteoric rise to fame.  The premise of the album, and a fundamental undercurrent of most of his discography, was that America has an unhealthy relationship with hero worship and celebrity.  It raises people to a status where they are afforded far too much power and influence without accountability.  

Now, 23 years later, in an ending so painfully obvious as to rival The Undoing, it turns out he IS, in fact, the very monster he was pretending to be.  It was not so much an act as a preview of things to come, and his behavior has taken its toll on many female victims going back quite a ways.

[I believe them; don't bother trying to convince me otherwise.]

For me, when I find out someone whose work entertains me is also a person guilty of horrible acts, the scales of "art vs artist" usually tip in favor of abandoning the art.  The world is chock full of incredible art.  I can find more and need not continue celebrating someone I despise.  I think of David Bowie as perhaps my sole exception where the scales tipped in his favor.  But needless to say, Marilyn Manson has been removed from my music collection and Spotify playlists.

If, in 2014, Hannibal Buress had merely suggested that there exists a man who has been drugging and sexually assaulting women for years, virtually everyone would have found it all too believable and responded "yeah, I can believe that".  But he suggested that man was Bill Cosby, the world was instead incredulous.  It would be a few more years before it would really reach mainstream news.

A nation that often puts the 10 Commandments on walls of its public buildings struggles over whether to tear down statues of men like Christopher Columbus and fails to see the irony of having erected it in the first place.  And there's plenty of the same here in Canada.

It's not that there is no place for heroism.  But what the world needs is more heroism, but not more heroes.  It's a subtle but extremely important distinction.  Laud the act, but not the actor.  As imperfect beings, every human is guaranteed to inevitably disappoint.  Hear the message and measure its worth, but do not place that worth on the messenger.

From the first commandment, to Buddha's suggestion to 'kill your teacher', to the Taoist ideal of humility, we have been telling ourselves for thousands of years to embrace good ideas without elevating the people who espouse them.  And then turning around and ignoring that (starting with Jesus and Buddha).

Turns out Brian Warner is an asshole.  Cosby too.  And Columbus.  And Spacey.   And... it's a long list.

But if we want to stop being disappointed by our 'fallen heroes', the solution is simple:  stop constructing them.