Why are so many with great talent, such absolute jerks?

[Archae]

I keep seeing this, far too often, people with real talent, in art, music, acting, etc, but in RL they can be total assholes. At best.

Great example here:

Ralph Hayes, Jr.
Draws comic strips that at times are howlingly funny, and well-drawn too.

http://www.rhjunior.com/

But in RL?
Just read these entries in his LiveJournal.
You'll see racism, religious bigotry, and right-wing nuttery that makes even Rush Limbaugh look like a total liberal socialist.

http://rhjunior.livejournal.com/

[Richardo]

1. Gotta disagree with you on the 'well-drawn' part

Unless he's using MSPaint, in which case: not too bad.

[ColbertWatcher]

3. I can do better with MSPaint.

I also do not see the "well-drawn" part.

But, this may also explain the arrogance of successful artists: they need thick skin to deflect negative criticism.

Although, this guy needs someone to tell him to take drawing lessons or something--every day for the rest of his life.

Or, at least until he learns how to draw.

[El Pinko]

18. A third on that. very amateurish and ugly.

He's no Tom Tomorrow or Garry Trudeau...


Hell, he's not even as good as that idiot who does "Mallard Fillmore"

[gatorboy]

2. I didn't know RWer's had furries!

:rofl:

Eh, the guy's all right but he's not that impressive, really.

[dbonds]

4. If the comic on the front page at that link is typical...

the word talent is used very loosely.

[Hawkeye-X]

5. and at 12MB DSL

That thing took excrucigately forever to load.

I think he uses MSPaint to do this shit and saves it as a bitmap.

What a fuggin' idiot.

Hawkeye-X

[Starbucks Anarchist]

6. He's just mad because he has no talent.

[Donnachaidh]

7. my kid has thrown out better artwork than this stuff.

Seriously -- this is talented? I.think.not. :eyes:

[reclinerhead]

8. Ummm

I saw nothing funny or well-drawn in the 2 minutes of my life I wasted on that website. Where do I apply for a refund?

[devilgrrl]

20. excellent question.

What talent? What humor?

:crazy:

[soothsayer]

9. Because we all have a shadow side---artists in particular make it easy to see.

Guys who write really sensitive books that seem really, really super-sensitive and enlightened and make women swoon often turn out to be grumpy, sexist, a-holes in RL. It's the shadow.

[EFerrari]

10. Maybe in part because the same brain wiring that allows people

to take big risks in art also disinhibits the Big Jerk area of their brain. That's right next to Brocca's area.

[MrScorpio]

11. Sorry, My man. I can't see the talent

I could draw better than that when I was 12

[Skittles]

14. I can draw like that with my non-writing hand n/t

[Zuiderelle]

22. I can draw better than that with my left foot.

[leftofthedial]

12. blow me, geek

[Kaleko]

13. It's normal to be highly developed in certain areas

and be at very low levels of accomplishment in others. There are many different lines of development such as intellectual, artistic, interpersonal, spiritual, kinesthetic, moral and so on. Nobody on earth is completely evenly "mature" on all levels. Honest people, such as the Dalai Lama or Nelson Mandela etc. will be the first ones to tell you they're far from perfect.

Obama keeps saying that too. :-)

[MicaelS]

15. A musician friend once told me..

"It's because people who are extremely talented in those areas focus so much on their art, they live, sleep, eat breathe it, they have little left for everything else."

Also same sort of reason why people who are geniuses, like Mozart, die young. The old saying about "the candle that burns the brightest, burns the shortest."

[Orrex]

16. Claims of "artistic temperment" are an excuse for artists to act like assholes

"It's because people who are extremely talented in those areas focus so much on their art, they live, sleep, eat breathe it, they have little left for everything else."

That's a self-serving rationalization. By that reasoning, anyone who's good at anything can act like an asshole and claim to be too focused on her chosen focus to bother with interpersonal pleasantries.

Barring some actual neurological anomaly that prevents artists from behaving like grown-ups, there is absolutely no reason why they should be given any more latitude to be jerks than should a ditch digger or librarian.

"Also same sort of reason why people who are geniuses, like Mozart, die young. The old saying about "the candle that burns the brightest, burns the shortest."

Michelangelo, Irving Berlin, Arthur Miller, Mark Twain, and many other "geniuses" would likely dispute that romantic fantasy. However, I admit that a whole bunch of very talented women prior to, say, 1950 seemed to have trouble living much past 50...

[MicaelS]

17. I agree with you more than my friend..

That's a self-serving rationalization. By that reasoning, anyone who's good at anything can act like an asshole and claim to be too focused on her chosen focus to bother with interpersonal pleasantries.

Barring some actual neurological anomaly that prevents artists from behaving like grown-ups, there is absolutely no reason why they should be given any more latitude to be jerks than should a ditch digger or librarian.

That's something that didn't occur to me until a while later. But I think your are 100% correct. The problem is with the hyper-worship of celebrity in modern Western culture, we let too many "famous" people get away with behavior that would otherwise land a "normal" people in serious jail time. Most of the famous get a slap on the wrist.

[Orrex]

19. That's a good expansion of my point

To some extent I had only considered it in terms of how "artists'" boorish behavior is excused by default, but you're correct: it extends into the light sentences and endless "second chances" afforded celebrities when the average citizen would be locked away.

[Dukkha]

21. they're no different than everyday non-celebrities

some are nice, some are assholes. It's because they are famous that their assholiness is put out there for everyone to see.

[Cleita]

23. Because they are ordinary human beings, warts and all.

Having known celebrities in my lifetime in a way that you know your neighbor or co-worker, I find people ascribe heroic attributes to the famous that aren't there in real life and then they are disappointed when the celebrity turns out to be mundane. Most people who have acquired fame are also ego-centric. It's not that this is bad, but it does make them less likable when you meet them in a social situation and have formed a different picture of them in your mind through their work, whether it's film, music, art or letters.

[EstimatedProphet]

24. Jerk? Yes. Talent? Not so much.

[Sugar Smack]

25. Oh. That's "The New Funny".

:hi: Archae, m'darlin, I did not have the patience to scour that whole, entire website for the well-drawn funniness. I'll take your word for your "at times" qualifier, though. ;) De gustibus non est disputandum, and much love to you.

[lukasahero]

26. To nitpick here, why use "so many" in your title when you speak of only one?

And from what I understand after reading this thread, the word "talent" is also in debate. I guess I just don't understand why you chose the title you did disparaging "talent" without offering supporting evidence in your post?

Edited to add: but leave it to DU to jump on board your hypothesis sans the evidence... :eyes: