[purple, happy]
You know how sometimes you don’t want to keep consuming media after finding out who wrote it?

[blue, a finger raised]
Sure, people would say you’re having a hard time separating the art from the artist

[purple, distraught]
Well the other day I was reading this book called “Mein Kampf” which was alright, then I looked up the author’s bio on Wikipedia and… damn

[blue, blasé]


https://thebad.website/comic/advanced_media_literacy

  • GraniteM@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    I was in a used book store and they had a copy of Mein Kampf that had been printed in Nazi Germany, wrapped in a plastic protective bag with a tag that read “Do Not Open - Ask For Help.”

    It was probably to keep people from getting their greasy fingerprints on an old book, but I like to think the admonishment had a double meaning.

    • AlligatorBlizzard@sh.itjust.works
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      11 hours ago

      I’d be curious how they got the book in the first place because if I owned a used book store I’m not touching that without a very good reason. You can’t in good conscience sell it, because any private collector who wants it is 99.99999% of the time a terrible person and should be kicked out of the store; it’s probably not something a museum is interested in even as a donation; and destroying it feels a bit too… I don’t know, it wouldn’t be wrong to destroy it but the irony is too thick for me.

  • tazeycrazy@feddit.uk
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    1 day ago

    You don’t need Wikipedia to know that mein Kampf is from a nazi. You could separate Hitler from most of his early art but not his political art. It’s literally called “MY” struggle. He is going to mention himself a few times.

    • Dyskolos@lemmy.zip
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      7 hours ago

      It’s actually more “my battle” than “my struggle”. Not that this matters much. But the latter sounds more like Adolf’s personal struggles with his job, wife, life and all 😁

    • lugal@sopuli.xyz
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      15 hours ago

      He is going to mention himself a few times.

      The whole beginning is autobiographical. It’s more than just a few times

    • OwOarchist@pawb.social
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      20 hours ago

      You don’t need Wikipedia to know that mein Kampf is from a nazi.

      And 99.999% of people who find that book specifically sought it out because they already know who the author was.

  • lime!@feddit.nu
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    1 day ago

    it’s a shit book even on its own merits so if purple liked it they likely got some biases confirmed by it 😬

    • BillyClark@piefed.social
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      1 day ago

      I’ve never read it, but my understanding is that I’m in good (and bad) company, because almost nobody has read it. Even in Nazi Germany, people only bought it because they were expected to own a copy, and they didn’t read it. Supposedly, it’s not well organized and hard to read, in general, even in its original language. People bought a copy and kept it in their homes to show loyalty, similar to how they’d have a portrait of Hitler.

      • Holytimes@sh.itjust.works
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        18 hours ago

        I’ve attempted to read it. It’s not good. Like not even just talking about the subject matter. It really is just poorly laid out in poorly written. I only managed to make it about a quarter of the way through before I had to set it down because it was just giving me a headache.

    • St.Elsewhere@threads.net@sh.itjust.works
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      1 day ago

      You don’t understand, the translation doesn’t properly convey some of the climactic conclusions. You have to read it in the original Aramaic to really understand it

  • sunsofold@lemmy.zip
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    1 day ago

    ‘Mein Kampf’ isn’t art. It’s non-fiction, at least insofar as the writer believed it to be describing the real world. ‘Separate the art from the artist’ doesn’t apply to non-fiction.

    • OwOarchist@pawb.social
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      20 hours ago

      isn’t art. It’s non-fiction

      Bruh. Not to defend that particular book, but non-fiction absolutely can be art.

      Would you say a painting isn’t art if the painter painted a picture of something that actually exists, making it a non-fiction painting? Just because you’re describing the real world doesn’t mean it’s not art.

      • Holytimes@sh.itjust.works
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        18 hours ago

        A painting of a real person is still to a degree fiction. It’s a facsimile of a real person. The subject is just as important as the skill when it comes to the actual worth of the piece. You can appreciate it for the technique and the skill being put on display while separating that from the artist itself.

        Books on the other hand are a big harder to do in such a manner. You can appreciate a written work for its technical execution. But intrinsically a written work written as a non-fiction is going to be more linked to the actual invoked thought of the piece in the meaning of the piece than it is the actual technical execution of it.

        So there’s less to separate from the artist.

        Or more bluntly put, if a fascist draws a picture, that picture doesn’t inherently have to be fascist. But if a fascist writes a book about fascism from their own perspective and opinion that book’s fascist.

        • jnod4@lemmy.ca
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          43 minutes ago

          Are documentaries art? An aircraft service manual surely can’t be, what about a medical school book?

  • saltnotsugar@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    Ever wish your racist uncle’s thanksgiving rant was put into book form? Now there’s Mein Kampf! No coherent thoughts, just pure ranting!

    • thatsTheCatch@lemmy.nz
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      1 day ago

      I think it’s meant to be criticising people who just say “separate the art from the artist” for things like Harry Potter, but them pointing out the hypocrisy with a book that no one can defend because of who wrote it. That’s my take, anyway

    • tazeycrazy@feddit.uk
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      1 day ago

      Yea mein kampf doesn’t need a evil writer to be evil. It would be evil if it was anonymous or ghost written. Other art by Hitler would have been a better argument as it is just a picture of a city or building and doesn’t have any racist or antisemitic content but still is stained by him in its story.

  • Tattorack@lemmy.world
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    15 hours ago

    You shouldn’t and cannot separate the art from the artist. That’s not how art works.

    • Dyskolos@lemmy.zip
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      7 hours ago

      Why? I totally don’t care who made it, when I like what is made.

      So, teach me the ways of the art and how it works, please.

      • Tattorack@lemmy.world
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        6 hours ago

        An artist is not a machine who just prints stuff. When an artist makes something, regardless of what it is they’re making, their feelings, experiences, teachings, worldview, and personal beliefs/opinions shape the art they make.

        If you take those things away you have an AI generator. No music, writing, poetry, rapping, drawing, painting, or even corporate logo design can exist without the events, influences, and decisions of the one making these things.

    • luminish@lemmy.world
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      14 hours ago

      You can however like and dislike different things an artist and an art does. Its just siloing the stuff you dislike away as if the context never matters is simply wilful ignorance.

  • Dookieman12@piefed.social
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    1 day ago

    Speaking of which, I was listening to this band called Lost Prophets the other day. I think their music is really good! Have you guys ever heard of them?

    • ∟⊔⊤∦∣≶@lemmy.nz
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      One day I had a memory that there was some popular band back in high school and I wanted to find them again and have a nostalgia listen. I had no idea until years (decades) later