POSTED RESPONSE TO AN ARTICLE BY LYSIANE GAGNON IN TORONTO'S GLOBE AND MAIL
One does not like to read such clear statements of prejudice as those quoted for Goddard, but this article completely misses important perspective.
In the arts and creative fields, extreme temperaments and eccentric views are perhaps more common than not.
Richard Wagner, the great composer, was an extreme bigot, but we still honor his music.
American poet Ezra Pound was also an extreme bigot, and his poetry is still read.
Winston Churchill in the course of his long career said some truly hateful things about other groups.
Martin Luther, translator of the Bible and religious revolutionary, wrote things as vicious as anyone in history, but his name is honored in countless churches.
Abraham Lincoln - yes, the great liberator - had a low opinion of blacks.
And just so Thomas Jefferson, author of the first draft of the Declaration of Independence.
What are we to say of great figures like Sergei Eisenstein or Dmitri Shostakovitch who worked dutifully under Stalin, murderer of millions?
We even make heroes of some figures whose hatreds we've forgotten: one such was Sir Thomas More, a man who actually fiercely enjoyed burning alive those who did not agree with his views.
The list is almost endless.
Goddard was a great director. I do not see how honoring the body of his work says anything about his prejudiced views.
