Did you know that the Rhodes Scholarship was founded on blood money?

Did you know that everything was founded on blood money, if you go back far enough?

I'm Angela Duckworth.

I'm Stephen Dubner.

And you're listening to No Stupid Questions.

Today on the show, in the era of cancel culture, should we still be able to enjoy the art of problematic artists?

Guess the 19th century sin of this dead white man. Also, do you ever feel overwhelmed by the

question of whether life has greater meaning? When I was 16, I wrote a paper actually called

The Meaning of Life.

Stephen, we got a great question from a listener, and it asked the question, should we separate art from the artist?

And in particular, artists like Michael Jackson or others who you just love their work and then you discover they've done terrible things.

Allegedly done terrible things, I think, in the case of Michael Jackson, right?

Fair enough. I think the question is a great one. You know, should I stop watching Woody Allen movies? I love Annie Hall.

Yeah, it's obviously a timely question since so many

noteworthy people have been canceled or at least postponed lately between the Me Too movement

and this closer examination of history on many fronts, including racial and ethnic history.

But before I answer your question about separating the art from the artist per se, and there

is a long list of artists whose behavior cuts against what most right-minded people would

consider honorable or decent behavior, I'd like to point out we could easily broaden this

good question to sports and politics and commerce. I'd like to point out we could easily broaden this good question to sports and politics and

commerce. I mean, the founder of IKEA was a Nazi sympathizer as a young man. Does that mean no more

extort sofa for me? Does that mean no more Swedish meatballs at the IKEA cafeteria? I hope not.

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