i was in the car with R. and suddenly ‘all of the lights’ of Kanye started to play.
as all my friends are new here, i didn’t know if i could sing or if i should start the cancelation speech.
one of the good things of starting a new life is that sometimes you have more courage to express what’s in your mind.
and after Kanye, Michael Jackson, Dave Chapelle and Woody Allen were the next ones in the list to debate.
when you share this kind of opinion in a new forum, it’s like walking over eggs. it might break but it might resist as well.
last December, i couldn’t share my Spotify wrapped because Kanye was in my top five.
‘i am just careful. i select with who i talk this stuff’, F. said. ‘i remember when i went to see Dave Chappelle. i was not aware he was cancelled. so when i was sharing the details with some friends, they asked me to change the subject’.
‘i still listen to Kanye’, W. said. ‘he was my second most streamed artist last year. but I don’t share anything about him in social media anymore’.
it made me think if we can choose what we like.
the system is already strong enough to guide us in what we should like, comment, save and engage.
in the world of dua lipas, malumas, j.balvins and taylor swifts, we think we listen to them by our own choice but i don’t think it’s the case at all.
i like dua lipa. but all my digital ecosystem is making sure she is top of mind in every interaction i have.
so if for once in a while you rebel yourself and you decide to skip the path, it means that you are quite intentional in consuming the art that you are not supposed to like.
‘i don’t think you can choose what you like’ A. said. ‘but if it means that the artist will make less money and their platform will become smaller for this kind of speech, then you shouldn’t support him’, he said.
i agree. i don’t want to support a hateful speech.
A. is a big fan of Harry Potter. so doing some research to write this thing, i found that J.K. Rowling was not clean. ‘what about J.K.?, i asked him.
‘i heard. and i intentionally decided to not dig into it’, he answered.
so we deny. i understand. i empathise.
made me think if we can fake it until we make it. can we fake to not like an artist anymore? and doing so, can we ensure we won’t like him anymore?
i don’t think so. i could try to stop listening, watching and liking everything that has been part of my life. but what’s the size of the prize?
probably a gap between what you see about me and what i really feel or think.
you will just get a part of me.
is this again about us becoming a decaf version of ourselves? or just keeping our true self for the ones who really deserve us?
I was talking with G. ‘there is a big difference between Anglo-Saxon culture and latin one’, he said. ‘the first ones are more assertive, they don’t separate the artist from their art. meanwhile in latin cultures, we are way more lax’.
made me think who in my network are the most to the less critical with this kind of stuff.
my European friends are more into the Death of the author thing – the artist’s background or opinions shouldn’t affect us.
my american friends just sip their wines praying for the conversation to not cross a big line.
i was having some afterwork drinks with E. He told me he is expecting his second kid.
‘i am just so scared again’, he said. ‘my wife was so depressed after giving birth. but we were not able to tell because this is not what people expect’, he concluded.
beyond supporting or not controversial artists, has this culture of cancellation jumped into other parts of our lifes?
have we lost our right to speak our mind?
made me think in this Black mirror episode, where you get more freedom being in jail with the right to be yourself than in real life seeking for a 5 stars rate.
we try so hard to fit everywhere that i wonder if doing so, maybe, we are cancelling our true self.
it was last November. there was red dust all along the highway.
i was in the car with R. and suddenly ‘all of the lights’ of Kanye started to play.
the red skin of Uluru appeared as a preview. reflecting all kind of lights that make your eyes shine.
in Uluru, all of the lights was not a taboo. it was the freedom to feel, to speak and to sing. it was the freedom to live.