Dear Griff

[Sundae]

Originally Posted by casimendocina

I'll need to leave a longer response for later as currently I'm misappropriating my time, but in a nutshell, an amateur cyclist stated that Lance Armstrong could be as much of a bastard as he wanted to be because of his prowess in his sport...the crux of the message here being extremely talented people can live by whatever rules they like. I'll comment more later in the day.

George Orwell wrote an essay on Salvidor Dali titled "Benefit of the Clergy". I was asking whether Dali should be judged on anything but his art, given that he was such amn outstanding artist. The title comes from the fact that clergymen had the benefit of being tried only by their peers rather than in a court of law.

People outstanding in their field often seem to assume this distinction. I generally try not to find out too much about the personal lives of my heroes, just in case. (Men of letters especially seem prone to becoming besotted with girls youger than their own daughters once they reach their 50s. And often start new familes to the detriment of the old.)

[casimendocina]

Originally Posted by Sundae

George Orwell wrote an essay on Salvidor Dali titled "Benefit of the Clergy". I was asking whether Dali should be judged on anything but his art, given that he was such amn outstanding artist. The title comes from the fact that clergymen had the benefit of being tried only by their peers rather than in a court of law.

People outstanding in their field often seem to assume this distinction. I generally try not to find out too much about the personal lives of my heroes, just in case. (Men of letters especially seem prone to becoming besotted with girls youger than their own daughters once they reach their 50s. And often start new familes to the detriment of the old.)

There's an article in this month's Economist about the head of the IMF. The author argues that no matter how much of a twat etc... the guy is and how much he deserves to be tried by courts, his ideas should not be disregarded because of his actions...guess it all goes back to the Ad Hominem attack. Judge the ideas/argument, not the person. DAMN!!!!