I wish I could read that BBC statement. I have been chasing Internet reports of "what Cat Stevens said," but haven't managed to find any transcript of the actual words he said in 1989.
It reminds me of the problem that Wagner poses, with anti-Semitism. And yet, perhaps, it's a little bit different. Now, I'm not familiar with Wagner's work at all, but as I understand it, at least some of his work directly suggests his hatred of Jews as an inferior race (see, e.g., this, which suggests that views permeated his music in that "The Jew must like Alberich in the Ring cycle be inherently alien and inferior, an insinuating, degenerative force intent on corrupting the world." Another problem: are we required to avoid the works of Patrick O'Brien because he was a liar who abandoned his first family?
This is a little different, however. First of all, I think you'd have to search awful hard to find the sort of hatred espoused by Yusef Islam in Cat Stevens' work. Also, the man who wrote the music abandoned and renounced it when he changed his views. As skylarker says, perhaps the fact that he changed his name is significant. It is interesting that Yusef Islam, in his most virulently immediate post-conversion stage, hated Cat Stevens' music himself (I read one second-hand account of a fan who went to an open house for one of his Islamic schools who asked him to sign a Cat Stevens record, and Yusef Islam said he's rather take it away from her and throw it in the garbage). That raises and interesting dilemma: since he (the twisted hater) hates the music, does that make it okay to like it? How much does the man taint the art? Does it make a difference when the loathsomeness of the character and the art are representative of very different life stages? It is interesting that as Yusef Islam is (apparently) tempering his most virulent views (donating money to 9/11 victims with the proceeds of his latest CD, etc.), he is also admitting that he has started to listen to his old albums again. Perhaps listening to "Peace Train" has made him start thinking about peace again instead of hatred?
Not sure what I think . . . except that I'll probably try to track down Peter Paul and Mary's In Concert and buy that first!
no subject
It reminds me of the problem that Wagner poses, with anti-Semitism. And yet, perhaps, it's a little bit different. Now, I'm not familiar with Wagner's work at all, but as I understand it, at least some of his work directly suggests his hatred of Jews as an inferior race (see, e.g., this, which suggests that views permeated his music in that "The Jew must like Alberich in the Ring cycle be inherently alien and inferior, an insinuating, degenerative force intent on corrupting the world." Another problem: are we required to avoid the works of Patrick O'Brien because he was a liar who abandoned his first family?
This is a little different, however. First of all, I think you'd have to search awful hard to find the sort of hatred espoused by Yusef Islam in Cat Stevens' work. Also, the man who wrote the music abandoned and renounced it when he changed his views. As
Not sure what I think . . . except that I'll probably try to track down Peter Paul and Mary's In Concert and buy that first!