What do you think should happen to those that falsely accuse others of a crime they didn't commit?

You think too hard! =P ANNNNND..... to your question.... I guess it depends on the "crime" so to speak. There are certain things I can't overlook (let's say pedophilia) and so, no matter how much I may have liked the music at one time, I absolutely will not support the individual, or be associated with them in any way.

There are things that are "non-curable", and most of the various psychosis (sexual predation, sociopath, psychopath, etc) fall under that aegis. And there are those who are simply totally unrepentant about their actions, or only repentant as much as the PR guy their lawyer hires requires them to be. These folk, I will not give the time of day.

Sometimes it falls in the middle.. an example being Michael Vick. What he did was NOT a mistake. Mistake is doing something once, not premeditated actions for close to a decade complete with an intent to cover it up.

That means you KNEW it was wrong. That said... while I don't pity him anything he has lost.. he has done his time. He has lost a lot.

And he has gone above and beyond what was asked of him. I don't know what is in the man's heart. It may be a show.

Only time will tell. I might not be willing to buy his jersey, or the like, but I also don't feel a need to boo him, and hang dog fighting posters up in the local football stadium when he plays here. In other areas.. a person screws up, or even makes a conscious decision (like Elvis Costello.. alcohol does not change who you are, it just reveals the real you), but often times it is their "come to Jesus" moment, where one realizes they DO indeed have a problem, be it living a terrible life style (dog fighting, the wrongness of racism, be it the KKK or Black Panthers), caused great harm (stole money, DUI manslaughter) or whatever.

And then they devote their life to changing what they did. Then in those cases, I do support the peoples 100% We are all entitled to a second chance, and sometimes a 3rd or 4th. IF, and that is the big if, we actually make an attempt to turn ourselves around.

I know the type of person I was 20 years ago. Trust me, I do not like that person. That person would be dead or in prison if events had not forced me to look in the mirror.

They did, I did, and while far from perfect, and still sometimes guilt ridden over my past, at least I am able to not look in the mirror and be filled with self loathing anymore. How can I deny that to others? Also for Costello, I must say, at least amongst the handful of British and Irish friends I have met in person, the N-word, for all it's connotations here, don't seem to have the same impact in England.

Not saying that to excuse the man, but it still seems like here in the USA, race is far more a hot button topic (though in the late 70s it really WAS an issue here still) than nearly anywhere else in the developed world. It does baffle me how freely certain people in this forum seems to toss the term around though, even if its in an altered form with "q"s in place of the "g"s". Whilst I don't disagree with Darth's basic feelings, I would point out that having someone like Vick working with inner city youth on his time and dime to show them the horrific nature of dog fighting, amongst other lessons, is far more useful to society as a whole than putting him into American Gladiators.

The one might serve for immediate gratification, but does nothing to help future generations. Add into that losing 150 million dollars in cash, his name and what not, while it does not excuse his actions, it IS a pretty darn hefty fine. Whereas if he gets a dozen kids to rethink their life course, avoid gangs, dogfighting, etc, he serves some good in society as a fallen idol.

Vengeance don't bring the animals back, sadly. He CAN, however, help keep it from happening in the future. Real compassion looks for true results,not gratification.

If we were to act in such a way toward him, aside form the minutiae, how would we in fact, be any different than he at the end of the day?

I separate the music from the individual making it, to a large degree. There are a lot of rock stars who are jerks, that's part of rock and roll. I think the n-word is reprehensible, and it shows something deep about the character of the user.

However, I wouldn't blacklist an artist from my playlist for having been known to utter it once. Especially since Costello is British, where the word is not native. There have been racist musicians, and homophobic ones, and ignorant ones.

Often the worst offenders are also not very good musicians, so no dilemma comes up. But "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin On'" is my favorite song among guys who married 13-year-old cousins, and there are many other great songs by people who are reprehensible characters in real life. I have no problem with listening to Phil Spector records, or even Charles Manson's albums.

They're good or interesting music. I think both belong in prison. But those are the men, not the music.

I'm not gonna hang posters of them on my wall, or send them autograph requests or anything. But "Be My Baby" belongs to me and anyone else who loves it, not to Phil Spector. Music is music.

I approach it on those terms.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.