Let me start by saying that there is little that shocks me these days.
The TV news is filled with the atrocious stuff of nightmares and the AP Wire is at least as terrifying. The big news this week: the Grammys.
The hype/controversy this year is over rapper Eminem and his multiple Grammy nominations. Protesters for minority rights are up in arms, preparing to lynch the gutter-mouthed, poet laureate of the malcontent, homophobic, misogynistic males of our time.
Interestingly enough, the industry is rallying behind their golden boy.
Artists from Elton John to Pat Boone have come out in vocal support of the rapper’s right to speak his dirty mind.
This raises an interesting question: can hate speech, even if it is dramatic, well crafted, and in many ways brilliant, still be allowed over the airwaves, not to mention given one of the highest honors in the industry?
For once, I really am not sure how I feel.
I own both Eminem albums, and they are some of the finest aural works in pop music in the last 15 years, and they are shocking, sordid and dark.
Still, is it possible to separate the sin from the sinner anymore? We live in a world wherein we are not allowed to disapprove of someone’s practices without being accused of disapproving of a person and their rights.
This is a perversion of tolerance. The two must be separate for people to be able to communicate intelligently and allowed to criticize ideas without fear that someone will construe it as a personal attack.
Yet, there seems to be something rather paradoxical about saying one supports an artist and not their message.
In some ways the two are inseparable, which makes it all the more necessary to separate them so that civil discourse is possible. This leads us to one of two conclusions:
One is that the thought of disliking an idea is impossible and the arguments are flawed because they are contradictory.
This means that one cannot support the artist Eminem and not support his music. In turn, it means that it is impossible to dislike an idea, if it is connected to a person or group of persons. This argument limits the type of discourse we are allowed to have.
The other option is fraught with contradiction (as we have examined), but it allows one to separate an idea from a person, and discuss (intelligently) one’s reasons behind one’s disagreement.
Yet, there are many contradictions that we just accept on a regular basis in our daily lives. The same First Amendment rights that protect Eminem, Larry Flint, Jerry Falwell and Jesse Jackson give people the right to protest them. The great thing about America is that the controversy is never over.
Rock on Eminem.

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