Only Kanye Can Save Kanye

“No one wants to fall out of heaven.”

— Kanye West (ye)

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Problematic figures are the only ones with the ability to rewrite how history remembers them.

Once dead, a figure such as Kanye West is remembered in a more problematized yet complex way. People are more likely to feel able to return his music, not unlike the way people can still read Ezra Pound, or Heidegger, or any number of other figures wrapped up in distressing and outright nefarious historical contexts due to their own statements, actions, and life choices.

You can imagine a list of historical, literary and arts figures who, in hindsight, may have done themselves well to try to secure a less fraught (being generous) legacy.

Since forever, the work of visual artists has tended to vastly increase in value once they are deceased. Nowadays, visual artists are aware of this sad reality.

We thought we had learned by watching that people can only stop destroying their reputation while they are alive. In modern times, we have learned that no legacy is safe. There is always the potential to dig up new horrors after death.

There’s no winning here.

Because there is no winning, artists can only afford to care so much about the likelihood that a future society will find a reason to cancel them. A lot of artistic work does not age perfectly and does not continue to align with the accepted norms of society.

For other historical figures, people who know they are going to make the history books, they could do a bit of damage control if they don’t want to go down in history as a net negative (again, being generous).

A few examples:

· Elon Musk

· Marjorie Taylor Greene

· Chris Brown

· J.K. Rowling

· Sam Harris

· Lance Armstrong

· Joe Rogan

· Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF)

· Sheryl Sandberg

· Dave Chappelle

· Johnny Depp

Let’s be honest, for some people it’s really too late for. Either they have done too much evil or they have failed us too many times. You might already believe this of the names listed above.

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If you think in terms of categories: a few considerations might be “Once beloved, now problematic”, or a split of those seen by some as heroes and villains by others, or artists with a tarnished reputation, and then of course those who never shied away from controversy and have in turn never been much loved by anyone reasonable.

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Take the money, dodge celebrity status.

I don’t know about you but I’m sick of the way our society raises people up only to tear them down and enjoy too much schadenfreude as they crash and burn.

I’d be pleased to see more notes of compassion posted about people who are obviously struggling with mental health or addiction issues. Why are so few seemingly interested in helping and instead wish to cast stones?

From what I see, fame is not a good deal for most.

We’re all human after all.

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