Humans and Societies Value and Appreciate Music

German opera composer Richard Wagner may have been a musical genius, but he was also racist and anti-Semitic (Links to an external site.). In fact, he published a treatise called "Jewishness in Music" that attacked Jews in general and the music of Jewish composers Felix Mendelssohn and Giacomo Meyerbeer in particular. In it, he argued that Jewish composers were incapable of producing profound musical expression and that their attempts to do so were damaging to the progress of art. Furthermore, he claimed that Jewish artists lacked the capacity to recognize or represent authentic German culture. Although Wagner first published the article under a pseudonym (presumably to make his attacks against other composers seem less personal), in 1869 he republished it under his own name, and with a long addendum reflecting the artistic and political developments of the intervening decades. Wagner’s views provoked considerable resistance among his contemporaries, but they were later embraced by the Nazi Party. Indeed, Adolf Hitler would become Wagner’s most infamous admirer (Links to an external site.).
There are also concerns about the content of Wagner’s music dramas. While The Ring is not overtly anti-Semitic, it expresses an ideology of nationhood that tacitly excludes all but the ethnically pure “German” of Wagner’s imagination. Stripped of their mythology, The Ring operas tell the story of a human race that rises to a position of world dominance. For Wagner, this was the German race, and the German race did not include Jews. For these reasons, Wagner’s music is unofficially banned in the nation of Israel and some music lovers around the world hold his work in disdain and choose not to program or consume it.
The debate over whether we can separate an artistic work from its creator, however, is far from settled. For this discussion post, please share your thoughts in an essay that responds to one or more of the following questions:

Can we enjoy music, films, or paintings that we know to have been created by reprehensible individuals?
Does it matter that Wagner died many years ago, and can neither profit nor suffer as a result of our consumption decisions?
Does the support of Wagner’s music suggest support of his ideas?
As consumers, what is our responsibility when choosing forms of entertainment?
Considering Wagner's undeniable influence on later composers including John Williams, should we exclude Wagner from textbooks and music courses?

It may be helpful to consider this in light of more contemporary controversies. For example:
R. Kelly has been accused of possession of child pornography, sexual abuse of minors, and other alleged crimes (Links to an external site.).
Sexual abuse allegations (Links to an external site.) have repeatedly been brought against Michael Jackson.
Harvey Weinstein's company has produced many dozens (Links to an external site.) of very popular films and television shows, but he is a convicted sex offender.

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