Ruined Gods

[sacredchao]

Neil Gaiman has been exposed as a rapist. Not just a single rape either, but a systematic predator. This is unforgivable and he should be shunned and expunged from all walks of life. People find it hard to discard creators though. They build worlds that we inhabit, give birth to characters and personalities that we fall in love with and weave stories that we witness from within. But all of those things come from the same mind that committed those terrible acts. So can we separate the artist from the art? I have loved some of Gaiman's work and absent the problem with the author, I suspect that if I went back and examined those works, even with a critical eye, they would remain good and lovable art. And so we hate to discard someone who created these things. There's a special kind of ache that comes with acknowledging the fact that the mind of the artist that created the work you enjoyed so much is also monstrous.

Sometimes though, the baby is not worth the bathwater. Throw it all away. Be angry at the betrayal. Be sad for the loss. Be resolute in never accepting or tolerating those actions. Be steadfast in never forcing people who are victims of that kind of act see support of any kind for their perpetrators. We all deserve better than that.