As An Artist, Do You Keep Your Opinions To Yourself?

I had an interesting experience on one of the social network sites the other day.   I posted an opinion about Obama accepting an interview with Bill O’Reilly, whom I don’t regard as a serious journalist, only a puppet for the far right.   I felt that Obama giving him an interview gave him a legitimacy he didn’t actually earn.   Celebrity does not mean legitimacy—it means that someone has somehow gotten famous, not that they are worthy of the spotlight.

Shortly thereafter I received a post from a patron who told me that she was considering going to my concert but because of what I said about O’Reilly, she was not longer planning on attending; thereby punishing me for having an opinion different than hers.

An opinion I voiced on my site, not on stage when I have the microphone and the audience doesn’t.   Evidently this is a person who doesn’t believe that she can support an artist  who has an opposing opinion to hers.

I actually thought that she was drawn to the music,  but clearly I am wrong.

So the question I want to bring up is, should we, as artists, not ever voice an opinion in public for fear of losing a patron?

My feeling is no, we should follow our instincts and our hearts.  We are artists and as such are, I believe, more sensitive to the winds of change than the average person might be.

We are like the canaries in the coal mine and we sense the poison in the air first.   Historically this has always been true.  

As performers, we read an audience.  This ability doesn’t stop there.   If  we are paying attention we can sense when something is not right.

Consequently, I believe that you have a responsibility as an artist to acknowledge your intuition, your feelings, your intellect and your art.

Now of course she has every right to her opinion, but I found her need to communicate to me that she wasn’t coming to the show because of what I said about a media figure she had never met, petulant and sad.

If you are secure in your information, your opinion, then you are not threatened by opposing opinions, but intrigued by them.   And if they are intelligently presented then they are worth investigating.  

It is certainly easier to take a position and then ignore anything that might threaten that  opinion, but that  makes you a non thinking entity, a weed in your own intellectual garden. 

Questioning our beliefs and our opinions from time to time can only help us grow as beings.

Our  art comes out of our life experience so  I recommend that you don’t censor yourself just to keep from losing a fan.   

Follow your art;  follow your guts; follow your muse and you will have a chance of creating something meaningful, impactful and powerful. 

Much more satisfying than writing My Humps, My Love Bumps, don’t you think?

Comments

[Lindsey]

Um... gee, sounds good...
But if all of my opinions are unpopular, then it could be bad for business. If it's bad for business, I might have to go back to working in the rat race and being a weekend warrior instead of a full time musician.
People often give the advice to "just be yourself." Then they trot away, oblivious that the person who took their advice just went down in flames and destruction. You might as well advise people to tattoo their face. "Sure! If it's you, do it!"