LogFAQs > #942322939

Zeus posted...

But the Cosby thing gives you a very good reason to stop liking Cosby >_> I'm talking more for no particular reason.

This was my problem. I was going to answer your question last night, but then I realized that I have justification for nearly every single case where I dislike someone. It might not be a justification that other people agree with, and it may be subject to change over time, but I can almost always explain why I dislike someone.

I honestly can't think of a single person in my entire life where I've just gone "Man, I don't like that person, but I'm not sure why". Definitely not in a scenario where I actually liked them to begin with, and then I just spontaneously woke up one day and decided I didn't like them anymore.

I can't even use the rationale that I think a lot of people might fall back on and go "Well, I liked [insert shitty teen-humor/music individual here] when I was a teenager, but then I grew up and realized they were kind of stupid", because I generally hated most things teenagers like when I was a teenager. In some ways, it's part of why I've never really had that "I'm ashamed of the things I liked as a teenager" phase so many people seem to go through, because I wasn't much of a teenager even when I WAS a teenager. I've basically been a curmudgeonly old man since I was 12.



Zeus posted...

I hate John Cusack (because he's a smug, self-righteous asshole), but I still watched -- and hated -- 1408.

But did you watch Hot Tub Time Machine?

I have no strong feelings about John Cusack one way or another (though I do tend to think he does a lot of pretentious movies I dislike because of the movie more than the actor), but I loved Hot Tub Time Machine. Not really because of his performance (he was basically the Straight Man, and the Straight Man is almost never the reason why you like any given film/show/performance, even if the Straight Man is often necessary to cast the other characters into better relief), but he was inoffensive enough that he didn't detract from it for me.



The Wave Master posted...

It's harder than it looks because I like old episodes of The Cosby Show, but Bill Cosby is just a rapist P.O.S. and I just end up turning the television in defeat.

I always find it interesting comparing older wrestling fans who used to be huge Chris Benoit fans when he was alive who absolutely cannot stand to see anything with him in it (even the old video games) to this day, as opposed to the people who are adamant about being able to separate the performer from the performance and still appreciate his work as a wrestler even if they find his actions as a person reprehensible. Ranging all the way from people who can't even watch old PPVs if he was on them (even matches he's not in), to people who argue he should still be in the Hall of Fame for his work, because his contributions to/impact on the industry were significant even if his personal life was a horror show.

Though Benoit's an interesting case study even for other reasons. Some people absolutely loathe him for being a monster, some people just sort of feel a bit creeped out by watching his old work now because they know what he did (but don't feel a visceral negative reaction towards him because they never really HAD a strong emotional or empathetic connection to his wife and kid, so the whole tragedy is more abstract and intellectualized for them), and some people don't seem overly bothered by him at all. And then there are the people who actually kind of feel sorry for him, or see him as a victim himself in a lot of ways, because of how messed up his mental state was at that point due to steroids, severe brain damage/CTE (from years of concussions), and the death of Eddie Guerrero apparently leaving him an emotional wreck (which raises the question of, if he'd ever gotten help for any of those things at any point, would he and his family still be alive today?).

I've never really had a huge problem separating performers from the performance (so, for instance, I can still watch The Usual Suspects in spite of the fact that the director and one of the main actors have both been accused of serial molestation of younger men/boys), but there's always an underlying feeling of awareness that "this person probably did terrible things", which can make me feel a bit creepy or uneasy (usually depending on exactly what they were accused/convicted of), and it can feel extremely awkward if the thing you're watching relates to the thing they were accused of (like, say, watching someone accused of being a rapist engaging in a rape scene, someone accused of being a murderer killing someone in a scene, etc). So the degree of creep factor probably could influence how much I like something overall. But I almost have the visceral sort of "OH MY GOD TURN THIS OFF" sort of reaction to anything based on what the people in it have done.

I feel like, if I knee-jerk stopped liking things if the people involved in the creation of those things turn out to be terrible people, I'd never be able to like anything ever again. Because there are a LOT of terrible people in the world, and have been all throughout history. Humans are basically walking sacks of feces.
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