# Should people avoid consuming art they enjoy from an artist who they dislike or disagree with on a personal level? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 13, 2023, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-people-avoid-consuming-art-they-enjoy-from-an-artist-who-they-dislike-or-disagree-with-on-a-personal-level/979721 "2023-02-13T17:17:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 23
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-people-avoid-consuming-art-they-enjoy-from-an-artist-who-they-dislike-or-disagree-with-on-a-personal-level/979721/441 "2023-02-24T22:33:21Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > ISTM that “cred-touting” has been a part of the discussion among posters, including the OP, who object to the fact that some transgender-rights activists would consider those who promote the game to be less reliable allies on that account. You missed my point. I was poking fun at the idea that my support of a given cause can be quantified that fashion. The closest I come to announcing cred was this: > [@Jophiel](#): > > I support trans rights, I’d like to think I’d speak up if it came up that someone around me was shit-talking trans people (but I also keep company where it hasn’t come up), I try to remember and respect pronouns when referring to someone, etc but all of that at best qualifies me as “decent person”. I have no issue with being out of the ally club because I shouldn’t have been in there in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![YWTF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/d07c76/32.png) [@YWTF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YWTF)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-people-avoid-consuming-art-they-enjoy-from-an-artist-who-they-dislike-or-disagree-with-on-a-personal-level/979721/442 "2023-02-24T22:34:55Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > King’s “moderates” were the white people who were claiming to be allies of his cause but expecting him to take their advice on how he and Black people in general should fight for justice, in order to avoid “alienating” supporters. The unambiguous non-allies of white supremacist groups were less bewildering to deal with. > > That seems to me quite analogous to self-proclaimed trans “allies” who prefer the “absence of tension”, in which they can promote a transphobe-supporting video game without worrying that people might consider it inconsistent with their allyship claims, to the “presence of justice” in which trans allies don’t support transphobes. I disagree it’s analogous. King was calling out white people who used their pulpits and news rooms to cast aspersions on activists’ attempts to pull off things like the Montgomery bus boycott. Anything that upset the apple cart of Main Street was too much to them. These white people weren’t racist enough to hold counterprotests at the sit-ins or anything. But they reserved more critical opinions for the “trouble making” protestors than the lawmakers and law enforcers who created the conditions they were protesting. That’s not what we are talking here. I’m not seeing any self-professed allies _condemning_ boycotters of this game. People are being judged as “less ally than thou” for not participating in the boycott, and people are taking issue with that. But I don’t see any self-professed allies imploring people to stop the boycott in the manner that moderate white people did in the 60’s. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-people-avoid-consuming-art-they-enjoy-from-an-artist-who-they-dislike-or-disagree-with-on-a-personal-level/979721/443 "2023-02-24T22:35:28Z")
I know, sorry if I implied otherwise. It’s your hypothetical game purchaser in that example who’s cred-touting on the basis of their donation being more financially significant than their game purchase, not you personally. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-people-avoid-consuming-art-they-enjoy-from-an-artist-who-they-dislike-or-disagree-with-on-a-personal-level/979721/444 "2023-02-24T22:42:50Z")
> [@YWTF](#): > > These white people weren’t racist enough to hold counterprotests at the sit-ins or anything. But they reserved more critical opinions for the “trouble making” protestors than the lawmakers and law enforcers who created the conditions they were protesting. […] > > That’s not what we are talking here. I’m not seeing any self-professed allies _condemning_ boycotters of this game. People are being judged as “less ally than thou” for not participating in the boycott, and people are taking issue with that. But I don’t see any self-professed allies imploring people to stop the boycott in the manner that moderate white people did in the 60’s. ISTM that that’s nitpicking a superficial difference disguising a more fundamental similarity. More fundamentally, in both cases the “moderates” or “lukewarm supporters” or whatever are being more vocally critical, and apparently more personally affronted, about the activists allegedly being “too extreme” in their activism than about the bigotry the activists are objecting to. And in both cases, the activists are saying “Yeah, you are not actually as much on my side as you think you are.” ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-people-avoid-consuming-art-they-enjoy-from-an-artist-who-they-dislike-or-disagree-with-on-a-personal-level/979721/445 "2023-02-24T22:46:01Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > How about someone who stays at Trump hotels or golfs on his courses? I’d definitely think less of someone who gives him money, enabling his incredibly toxic racism. Good question. I actually once stayed at the Trump hotel in Chicago (we had to use up some airline miles and thought it’d be fun to go somewhere fancy; it was fairly disappointing in that regard but not really relevant here) back before he announced for president but was still known to be a right-wing dick and into the whole Obama Birther thing. I didn’t think much of it at the time because I didn’t think much (quantity, not quality) of Trump either. Even at the time, I’d say that the hotel building itself was a very nice building but didn’t feel bad saying it because Trump obviously didn’t design or build it. These days I wouldn’t stay at a Trump property because the past eight years have poisoned that well beyond redemption in my eyes. Heck, even if he divested himself of a property, I’m not sure I would bother unless it was rebranded and stripped to the studs for remodeling. If someone I knew said they stayed/golfed at a Trump property, and I otherwise knew them to be a supporter of the same things I do, I might inwardly roll my eyes a bit but not immediately assume they don’t actually care about those things. I’d also be curious about their motives though. ---
**Author:** ![YWTF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/d07c76/32.png) [@YWTF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YWTF)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-people-avoid-consuming-art-they-enjoy-from-an-artist-who-they-dislike-or-disagree-with-on-a-personal-level/979721/446 "2023-02-24T22:48:26Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Sounds to me like a pretty exact parallel with today’s transphobes, and today’s transphobe-appeasers who lecture trans activists on how not to fight for transgender rights because it’ll “alienate” them but still claim to be trans allies, and today’s actual trans allies. Nope. One is a continuum (extreme racism to very little) and the other implies a binary (ally vs non-ally). Believe it or not, there were racist white people who functioned as allies to the Civil Rights Movement. LBJ is the most notable example. I’m sure he wasn’t a fan of a lot of the hijinks of MLK and friends got up to, but he showed up in other ways. See also Abraham Lincoln. ---
**Author:** ![YWTF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/d07c76/32.png) [@YWTF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YWTF)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-people-avoid-consuming-art-they-enjoy-from-an-artist-who-they-dislike-or-disagree-with-on-a-personal-level/979721/447 "2023-02-24T22:52:04Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > And in both cases, the activists are saying “Yeah, you are not actually as much on my side as you think you are.” Different things are different. Just because activists in one situation had a point doesn’t mean another group of activists also have a point. The actual details do matter. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-people-avoid-consuming-art-they-enjoy-from-an-artist-who-they-dislike-or-disagree-with-on-a-personal-level/979721/448 "2023-02-24T23:11:58Z")
> [@YWTF](#): > > Nope. One is a continuum (extreme racism to very little) and the other implies a binary (ally vs non-ally). Where are you getting that (ISTM artificial) distinction? [King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”](https://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html) clearly identifies three distinct categories: namely, the openly white-supremacist “Ku Klux Klanner” types; the “white moderates” who are nominally in agreement with antiracist goals but whose chief concern seems to be the alleged “excesses” of antiracist activism; and the comparatively few “white brothers” who “have grasped the meaning of this social revolution and committed themselves to it […] have recognized the urgency of the moment and sensed the need for powerful ‘action’ antidotes to combat the disease of segregation”. I still think that that’s a very apt parallel to the distinctions discussed in this thread between open transphobes, self-professed trans “allies” who seem to devote most of their activist energy to criticizing trans activists for being too “alienating” instead of transphobes for being transphobic, and actual trans allies. Arbitrarily defining one of those classifications to be a continuum and the other a discrete binary seems to me inaccurate and obfuscatory. ---
**Author:** ![YWTF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/d07c76/32.png) [@YWTF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YWTF)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2023, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-people-avoid-consuming-art-they-enjoy-from-an-artist-who-they-dislike-or-disagree-with-on-a-personal-level/979721/449 "2023-02-24T23:56:02Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Where are you getting that (ISTM artificial) distinction? Why are you treating King as having the definitive word on describing racist white people? That letter clearly is expressing frustration with a certain type of white person equipped with a self-image that blinded them to their own complicity in oppression. He wasn’t setting out to describe an entire taxonomic framework for racist white folks. As a black person, I’m telling you that historically, my community has seen racism as a spectrum more than discrete categorical bins. During the most racist times of our era, assuming all white people were racist at varying intensities was a safer bet than assuming the well-meaning ones were without blemish. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2023, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-people-avoid-consuming-art-they-enjoy-from-an-artist-who-they-dislike-or-disagree-with-on-a-personal-level/979721/450 "2023-02-25T00:02:43Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > So, should we consider an artist’s background before we do something that might give them our money? More, should we disdain those who do consume that art if we dislike the artist? A previous debate, and my opinion on basically the same question (see also, no ethical consumption under capitalism): > [@Cancel Culture and Virtue Signaling -- What’s the case against them?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cancel-culture-and-virtue-signaling-what-s-the-case-against-them/959459/253): > > > [@Cancel Culture and Virtue Signaling -- What’s the case against them?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cancel-culture-and-virtue-signaling-what-s-the-case-against-them/959459/250): > > > > Virtue should be more than just a dopamine hit. […] But we’re all past that now, in 2022 we’ve finally got good and evil sorted out permanently. It’s a dopamine hit. > > I can see where you’re coming from but, giving our esteemed colleague **Roger\_That** ’s argument proper attention, I think you are mistaken in attributing simple hedonism to him. Look at the examples given, and you will notice each time that **Roger\_That** is _sacrificing_ something he enjoys. > > He used to like watching football, but now doesn’t, because he doesn’t like the NFL’s handling of the Kaepernick kneeling, and therefore he sacrificed that pleasure in protest. > > He used to like watching and even playing baseball, but doesn’t like a proposed rule, and is considering sacrificing the sport in protest. > > He used to shop at Home Depot and Lowes, probably with some convenience, but because he doesn’t like the politics of the CEOs, he sacrificed that convenience in protest. > > There is a pattern here, but I don’t think it’s blind pursuit of pleasure. You could say it’s a noble dedication to social justice, but I think one of these is not like the others: the baseball example betrays something more base, a “my way or the highway” approach to personal association. And no one states this better than **Roger\_That** himself, in the very first post, hidden in plain sight: > > > [@Cancel Culture and Virtue Signaling -- What’s the case against them?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cancel-culture-and-virtue-signaling-what-s-the-case-against-them/959459/1): > > > > Why should I support something I think is fundamentally flawed? > > **To which I respond, _everything_ is fundamentally flawed. I personally choose a higher standard of non-association than “fundamentally flawed” - I ask myself if association is _worthwhile_. If it’s going to weigh on my conscience, if I’m losing sleep, maybe it’s _not_ worthwhile. If there are alternatives that are _less_ flawed, maybe sticking to a _more_ flawed one isn’t worthwhile.** > > But I’m a registered Republican. Your mileage may vary 😉 ~Max ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2023, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-people-avoid-consuming-art-they-enjoy-from-an-artist-who-they-dislike-or-disagree-with-on-a-personal-level/979721/451 "2023-02-25T00:12:17Z")
> [@YWTF](#): > > As a black person, I’m telling you that historically, my community has seen racism as a spectrum more than discrete categorical bins. During the most racist times of our era, assuming all white people were racist at varying intensities was a safer bet than assuming the well-meaning ones were without blemish. I’m pretty sure most marginalized groups feel that way about outsiders. “Ally” is a useful word, because it conveys a meaningful goal, but it’s not binary. I have joined the Black employees’ group at work as an ally (because when the groups were set up, i went to check them out, intending to join the LGBT group, and a Black coworker asked me to join the Black group, which was explicitly looking for allies as well as Black employees’.) I try to be a decent ally, but i don’t fully understand the issue, etc., and I’m sure I’m an imperfect ally. I’ve gotten a lot from the group, though, and I’m glad they encouraged me to join it. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2023, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-people-avoid-consuming-art-they-enjoy-from-an-artist-who-they-dislike-or-disagree-with-on-a-personal-level/979721/452 "2023-02-25T00:17:58Z")
> [@YWTF](#): > > Why are you treating King as having the definitive word on describing racist white people? I never said he had “the definitive word” on the topic, but his words on the topic were what we were talking about, remember? > [@YWTF](#): > > The concept of “allyship” that you seem to be using really seems like a 21st century invention to me. > [@Kimstu](#): > > Really? Because it seems to me pretty akin to the distinction made by Martin Luther King Jr. that puzzlegal quoted back in post #371: > [@YWTF](#): > > His statement underscores my point, not yours. […] Notice he didn’t use the word “ally” or “allyship”. > [@Kimstu](#): > > My point is that while King didn’t use the words “ally” and “allyship” in this context, ISTM, and still does, that the distinction he’s talking about is quite analogous to the concept of “lukewarm” or unreliable allyship that’s being discussed in this thread. > [@YWTF](#): > > I disagree it’s analogous. King was calling out white people who used their pulpits and news rooms to cast aspersions on activists’ attempts to pull off things like the Montgomery bus boycott. > [@Kimstu](#): > > [King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”](https://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html) clearly identifies three distinct categories […] I still think that that’s a very apt parallel to the distinctions discussed in this thread […] ISTM that you haven’t been able to persuasively refute my argument, so now you’re pivoting to “let’s leave King out of this”. I don’t dispute that racism and all other forms of bigotry can be, and usually have been, viewed as a continuous spectrum rather than as a set of absolutely discrete categories. The transgender activists whose views on trans allyship are being discussed in this thread seem to view transphobia in the same way, for that matter. Nobody with any extensive personal experience of bigotry imagines that there’s such a thing as being 100% untouched by its influence. However, it’s still useful in certain contexts to assign approximate categories to certain levels and types of bigotry, as in King’s example. ---
**Author:** ![YWTF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/d07c76/32.png) [@YWTF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YWTF)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2023, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-people-avoid-consuming-art-they-enjoy-from-an-artist-who-they-dislike-or-disagree-with-on-a-personal-level/979721/453 "2023-02-25T00:42:06Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > ISTM that you haven’t been able to persuasively refute my argument, so now you’re pivoting to “let’s leave King out of this”. I think your argument is a pretty shabby attempt at comparing MLK’s frustration with racist white people _doing racist things_ to Sterling et al’s frustrations with people who choose to buy the HL game. Sorry I don’t think this argument is a compelling one. Racist white people _doing racist things_ is not analogous to abstaining from a boycott. MLK’s letter doesn’t support these comparisons. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2023, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-people-avoid-consuming-art-they-enjoy-from-an-artist-who-they-dislike-or-disagree-with-on-a-personal-level/979721/454 "2023-02-25T00:50:07Z")
> [@YWTF](#): > > […] comparing MLK’s frustration with racist white people _doing racist things_ to Sterling et al’s frustrations with people who choose to buy the HL game […] Oh, there’s definitely a whole lot of frustration expressed in Sterling’s video with transphobic people doing transphobic things. The whole gamut of them, from mocking and misgendering right up through demonization, death threats and actual assault and murder. But they simultaneously recognize, as King did, that it’s also frustrating to have to cope with the supposedly “helpful” criticisms stemming from “shallow understanding from people of good will”. And an important distinction: The video makes it very clear that the form of “shallow understanding” that Sterling’s frustrated with is not people merely choosing to buy and play the HL game. The frustration is with all the HL purchasers who are expecting Sterling and other trans activists to validate their choice and reassure them that it’s not problematic in any way. ---
**Author:** ![YWTF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/d07c76/32.png) [@YWTF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YWTF)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2023, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-people-avoid-consuming-art-they-enjoy-from-an-artist-who-they-dislike-or-disagree-with-on-a-personal-level/979721/455 "2023-02-25T00:52:56Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Oh, there’s definitely a whole lot of frustration expressed in Sterling’s video with transphobic people doing transphobic things. The whole gamut of them, from mocking and misgendering right up through demonization, death threats and actual assault and murder. Again, we are talking about judging people’s allyship based solely on them buying this game. Not on anything else. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2023, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-people-avoid-consuming-art-they-enjoy-from-an-artist-who-they-dislike-or-disagree-with-on-a-personal-level/979721/456 "2023-02-25T01:02:20Z")
See last paragraph of previous post; sorry, took too long to edit before you had replied. ---
**Author:** ![YWTF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/d07c76/32.png) [@YWTF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YWTF)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2023, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-people-avoid-consuming-art-they-enjoy-from-an-artist-who-they-dislike-or-disagree-with-on-a-personal-level/979721/457 "2023-02-25T01:27:27Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > And an important distinction: The video makes it very clear that the form of “shallow understanding” that Sterling’s frustrated with is not people merely choosing to buy and play the HL game. The frustration is with all the HL purchasers who are expecting Sterling and other trans activists to validate their choice and reassure them that it’s not problematic in any way. I watched the video and perfectly understand the argument made. It’s not unclear at all. Sterling thinks its an act of bigotry to buy a game that further enriches someone they consider a bigot. This no where on the same plane as what MLK wrote about after being jailed for his activism. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2023, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-people-avoid-consuming-art-they-enjoy-from-an-artist-who-they-dislike-or-disagree-with-on-a-personal-level/979721/458 "2023-02-25T01:55:46Z")
> [@YWTF](#): > > It’s not unclear at all. Sterling thinks its an act of bigotry to buy a game that further enriches someone they consider a bigot. I don’t think you’ve got their point as clearly as you think. What they’re saying, in so many words, is “Buy the game if you want to, but stop asking me for validation/endorsement of your choice, or asking me to accept your self-serving rationalizations for buying it”. As Sterling remarks, verbatim, “No, buying the game doesn’t make you a transphobe, and I’m tired of hearing the self-martyring whinging about that.” (16:57) They have a detailed and complex analysis of why and how supporting this game is in fact providing support to Rowling’s transphobia activism. But clearly what they’re most pissed off about is the fact that so many people for whom that fact doesn’t really matter are trying to pressure Sterling into agreeing that it doesn’t really matter. And I can’t really blame Sterling for declaring that they won’t. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2023, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-people-avoid-consuming-art-they-enjoy-from-an-artist-who-they-dislike-or-disagree-with-on-a-personal-level/979721/459 "2023-02-25T02:05:25Z")
> [@veryfrank](#): > > I know Scott Adams is a Trumpist nutter, but what’s the story behind the creators of _Zits_? I haven’t heard. Adams has come out as a segregationist, because in his view, Blacks are a hate group and all white people should get away from them. > **[Fully Unhinged ‘Dilbert’ Guy Tells White People to ‘Get the Fuck Away’ From...](https://news.yahoo.com/dilbert-guy-tells-white-people-192734727.html)** > > “I don’t think it makes any sense as a white citizen of America to try to help Black citizens anymore,” the pro-Trump cartoonist said, adding: “This can’t be fixed.” Cleveland Plain Dealer is dropping the Dilbert strip: “This is not a difficult decision.” > **[We are dropping the Dilbert comic strip because of creator Scott Adams’...](https://www.cleveland.com/news/2023/02/we-are-dropping-the-dilbert-comic-strip-because-of-creator-scott-adams-racist-rant-letter-from-the-editor.html)** > > this is a decision based on the principles of this news organization and the community we serve. We are not a home for those who espouse racism. We certainly do not want to provide them with financial support. ---
**Author:** ![YWTF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/d07c76/32.png) [@YWTF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YWTF)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2023, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-people-avoid-consuming-art-they-enjoy-from-an-artist-who-they-dislike-or-disagree-with-on-a-personal-level/979721/460 "2023-02-25T02:28:16Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > As Sterling remarks, verbatim, “No, buying the game doesn’t make you a transphobe, and I’m tired of hearing the self-martyring whinging about that.” (16:57) And right before that… “This is why you aren’t an ally if you buy Howard’s Legacy.” Then at 17:08: “I’m saying you’re not an ally. You handed in that card in because you couldn’t do the barest minimum, you couldn’t make the simplest stand.” Then at 17:36: “That’s what you do. You empower a fascist supporting transphobe,” Reasonable people can disagree with these statements, and it’s actually unreasonable to argue otherwise. Again, as I mentioned before, one of the biggest allies of the Civil Rights Movement was LBJ, whose racism is well documented. If allyship was truly contingent on being able to make the “smallest stand”, then he would not fit the bill and neither would many other white people, including abolitionists. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-people-avoid-consuming-art-they-enjoy-from-an-artist-who-they-dislike-or-disagree-with-on-a-personal-level/979721.md?page=22) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-people-avoid-consuming-art-they-enjoy-from-an-artist-who-they-dislike-or-disagree-with-on-a-personal-level/979721.md?page=24)