He gets a bad rap for that, but the story’s a bit more complicated.
Thanks for that link BrainGlutton, glad to see that there is more to the story than I usually hear.
John Wilkes Booth. He was the best stage actor I ever saw and hellaciously handsome, but Lord almighty he just wouldn’t shut up if anybody mentioned Lincoln, slaves, the Confederacy, states rights, blah blah, and it wouldn’t have been so bad except THE CIVIL WAR WAS GOING ON AND IT WAS HARD NOT TO BRING ANY OF THOSE UP!
I remember one night we were all hanging around Johnny Surratt’s mom’s place, okay, and we’d all made a pact: NO WAR TALK! I don’t care if your brother lost his legs at Antietam and Wilkes specifically asks “How’s your brother? I haven’t seen him walking around D.C. recently” you just say “He’s fine, thanks”. And it was awesome- we played Uno and Trivial Pursuit: Mexican War Edition and everybody’s singing, laughing, having a good time, and we started gossiping about friends and not-so-friends and somebody made the comment “Man, that Mrs. L____ K____e, will she get another play already! Shite! Our American Cousin was funny the first nine hundred times, but yeah, we get it, sockdologizing mantrap yadda yadda…” and laughing and that frigging dumbass Mr. H____d says “Tell me 'bout it! Y’all ain’t just whistling Dixie there!” and all of us just went “SH_T!” and of course the next three hours is “Sic semper tyrannis” this and “so died Caesar that” and “pious darky loving railsplitting chimp” that and everytime somebody’d try to leave he’d look at 'em all pitiful with those big black eyes and hold a Bowie knife on them and you just couldn’t help but do what he wanted. Such a charmer, and so psychopathic.
Anyway, he was one hell of an actor- you haven’t lived til you’ve seen him play Shylock, Romeo and Pericles all in the same glorious two day period, and the night that he took possession of Anthony Rapp in the first season of RENT was just- for the first time I liked Mark Cohen, I mean I actually liked the character, it was almost as good as when he possessed the body of Lea Salonga in Miss Saigon just to prove he could, but I got to where I just hated his politics.
And Richard Gere, Shirley MacLaine and Cher all just need to shut up and act too.
I’m not going to try to top Sampiro’s post. But I’m surprised I’m the first person to mention Jane Fonda here.
1988 election joke:
What’s the difference between Dan Quayle and Jane Fonda?
Jane Fonda went to Vietnam! 
Sting, particularly back in the 1980s during the Cold War.
Don Henley then and now.
John Cusack.
Robert Redford.
I’m a libertarian/conservative so there are so many I wouldn’t know where to begin. But if one stands out it would have to be Bruce Springsteen. But it’s really no big deal, about him or anyone else. He’s good at what he does and as far as I know, he’s never been to college, read a history book or an economics book. So I don’t expect too much from him except as a songwriter/performer.
I love this kind of music, too, as well as the 90s grunge-type bands such as Pearl Jam. This is the weird thing, though…although personally I am pretty darn conservative, especially on fiscal issues, I don’t entirely mind the leftist-socialist-anarchist thing these types of bands have going. To me, it seems kind of in the rock & roll spirit.
Even more weird, the opinions of certain Hollywood types make me so completely inflamed with irritation that I have pretty much stopped going to the movies altogether. I think Sean Penn is a terrific actor, for instance, but his politics make me so annoyed I will probably never see another one of his movies.
I don’t know why in my mind I can live with the musicians being leftists, but not the actors. Maybe it’s because I can live without movies, but I can’t live without music!
I put Sean Penn, Tim Robbins/Susan Sarandon and several others into the same category as Sinead O’Connor in that even when I agree with them (at least to an extent) I hate their politics because of the smug self-righteous self-important “I’m famous so I’m an expert” overhanded way they express them.
He was briefly accused of collaborating with the occupation after World War II, but I don’t think it was proved either way. One thing is sure, he was pretty right-wing in his youth, and it shows in his early work, but probably not a Nazi (King Ottokar’s Sceptre deals with a failed Anschluss), and his politics, as reflected in his work, seem to have become increasingly moderate as he became older.
I completely seperate politics from art. I don’t give a hoot what the artist believes, unless he expresses it in his art in a way that I just can’t get past. I’m a Libertarian type, but most of the artists I like are lefties, because, well, most artists are lefties.
That said, when an artist I like turns out to also share my world view, I tend to like them a little better. I’m sure I like Penn and Teller more, knowing that they are Libertarians, than I would if they were socialists. I first started liking Tom Selleck when he told the Screen Actors Guild to stuff it when they tried to get him to stop him from doing free ads for National Review. I liked Rush more after I heard The Trees. I think that’s just human nature. But when artists disagree with me, I try to not hold it against them.
That’s me, too. Of course there aren’t a lot of libertarian artists out there, either! I do like the novels of Ayn Rand, but I my first thought when I read this thread title was musicians. I grew up in the 60s, and really like all the lefty folk artists of the time-- even Joan Baez. To me, music is about evoking emotion, not about analyzing things logically. Good music evokes emotion, whether you agree with the sentiments or not.
I might’ve misinterpreted what you meant by “typical to his period.” I mistakenly had the impression you were stating Wagner’s reactionary beliefs were so universal that they weren’t even criticized during his lifetime when, in fact, he was often taken to task for having these views. In particular, Friedrich Nietzsche had a falling out with the composer because he eventually found the latter’s anti-Semitism and extreme German nationalism repugnant.
I’m not a Libertarian but that also sums up my view. If such outspoken liberals like Sean Penn and Tim Robbins don’t have a problem with working with a Republican like Clint Eastwood, why should I care about what political beliefs anyone of them has? That’s one reason why I find it silly whenever I hear some right-wing radio ranter blow a gasket over an anti-Bush crack some entertainer makes.
I’m sure there a probably a bunch, but one I can think of right offhand is Eddie Vedder. I love Pearl Jam’s music, but I think Eddie’s a bit too outspoken sometimes.
Yes, but you’ve got to admit that there are a lot of people who hate her politics and who don’t think much of her ability. (Personally, I can’t judge her acting - haven’t seen it. I won’t avoid seeing something I want to see if she is in it, but I’m not about to watch a ‘maybe’ movie if she is in it.)
I know that there are a number of actors/actresses who are Scientologists whom I enjoy seeing onscreen, but I can’t view anything they say as themselves with anything but scorn.
This might be the best post I’ve ever read on the SDMB.
Hieronymous Bosch, my favorite visual artist. His work raises interesting questions even though I don’t agree with his answers to them: he was a devout Christian and far from cheaply exploiting Eternal Damnation, he thought he was providing a visual warning to those who would stray.
Much the same could be said for many Goth artists. In fact, exactly the same could be said for OMD (okay, not Goth, but gloom-pop.) They ask very interesting questions about damnation versus salvation, continence versus decadence, even if I don’t agree with their answers sometimes. In OMD’s case, the lyrics to their songs at least reveal that they fall on the continence side of the equation just like Bosch (whereas some Goth artists, of course, decide to revel in decadence.)
I agree, however, with artists that ask those questions but acknowledge that there really isn’t an answer to them, such as Echo and the Bunnymen (whom I’m seeing tonite in concert!) and to a lesser extent the Psychedelic Furs.
Hear Hear.
This is my feeling about Barbara Streisand. I appreciate that she has a great voice (though I haven’t heard anything new from her in decades) and some of her movies were ok, when you hire people to draft memos to political leaders, and issue press releases with your current political diatribe, you are waaay to big for your britches.
That’s an occupational hazard of being a celebrity. If you know millions of strangers, for some reason, care deeply about who you’re sleeping with, you might infer – and not rashly – that some of those might also care about your political views. That’s a lot of power and could easily go to your head, especially if you’re in a line of work where immense ego is already a prerequisite for success.
I have exactly the same reaction to New Model Army. Big fan of their music, not so much of their opinions. Have been for many years.
One of my favourites: http://www.newmodelarmy.org/Lyrics/Purity.htm