A Letter to My Former Heroes

When the artists and musicians that I have loved my whole life line up in favor of silencing discussion, it’s time to start looking for new heroes.

(Neil Young and Promise of the Real, licensed by CC BY-SA 4.0)

Dear Heroes,

I’m a musician and a writer and I’ve followed you, bought your albums and books, and tried to emulate your work my whole life. I’ve tried to be inside your head, and see the world the way you do. Come to think of it, that’s probably a definition of what great art does: it makes us see the world in a new way.

So it breaks my heart to say this. That mind that I have so loved and tried to be inside and see the world like? It has been captured.

You don’t know you’ve been captured and that is what makes this so distressing.

You think you are taking a stand for what is good and right and true, against corporate tyranny.

I’m sorry to say you are doing the work of corporate tyranny. You are acting on its behalf.

I know you will scoff at this. You will point to your long career and many years of rebelliousness and say: “I have always been on the side of the people, fighting against their oppression.”

I know. You are right abou…