@bored said in Separating Art From Artist:
But then again, this might also affect, say, one's college-aged activist-minded but still immature child getting spotted at a left leaning rally and losing out on future job opportunities when their would-be employer googles them.
It always cuts both ways.
Although this sucks, wouldn't the child in question be happier, in the long run?
My facebook profile is pretty clear on where I stand on political issues. I'm aware potential employers (or realistically these days, clients) google that stuff, but that doesn't actually bother me.
I was much shier about my political beliefs when I was younger and felt it was much more important to keep the peace, not rock the boat, accommodate everybody. I wanted to be nice and likeable.
You know what, though, I ended up in a job I hated, with sexist, fat-shaming employers and colleagues who would roll their eyes and shut the conversation down any time someone even dared utter the accursed word "feminism". Mind you my job had physical demands, but the fact that myself and my female colleagues were sexually harassed at work, regularly, and food-shamed at meal-times (I was stationed at a remote location for a field research job) was awful. I had just gone vegan at the time and I was not a preachy vegan. I wasn't even a strict vegan. I was a "minding my own business just eating what I want to eat" vegan yet people at my job regularly felt it was their business to tell me why I needed bacon and butter and bullied me for my choices. At a review of my leadership skills I was told off for being bossy.
This job made me beyond depressed. Also, they broke several laws concerning employee rights, which I now actively campaign for.
If someone scours for information about me on the interwebs and discovers that I'm a loud-mouthed vegan feminist and doesn't want to hire me because that? Good. I don't want to work for them, either. I want to work for and with people who think I'm fucking awesome and will treat me with respect. I want to work with men who aren't intimidated by feminism, because those are men who want license to be abusive towards their female colleagues and employees.
Really, I think a lot of this boils down to a person's willingness to accept consequences for their actions.
I am a loud-mouthed, preachy feminist & environmental advocate and I gladly accept the consequences for that.
Fascists and misogynists can do the same.