Someone asks a good question in comments at that link. How many of these same folks turned their backs on Elia Kazan, do you suppose?
Richard Reeb has a nice post on the depravity of Polanski & Letterman --and what men as disparate as Rousseau and Lincoln had to say about it.
as artists and scientists gain prominence they regard themselves as beyond criticism and become indifferent to the fate of their fellow citizens. They even become toadies of corrupt regimes as long as they are left free to do as they please, and those who lived under monarchies were willing to glorify them.Rousseau believed that the passion for distinction could find an outlet in the arts and sciences no less than in politics and war, and saw clearly that many whose ambitions far exceeded their talents would attempt nonetheless to reap the rewards of celebrity and fame.
