Should we encourage neo-Nazi, arsonist murderers?

‘Ask an ethicist’
Greetings members of the Oregon State University community. My name is Thomas McElhinny, and with the help of my cohorts in the applied ethics master’s program here at OSU, I would like to help address any ethical conundrums, concerns and challenges we might face.

Discussing ethical concerns, and morality more generally, are often volatile conversations. Questions concerning what it might mean to live a “good” life, how to act when values conflict and how to cultivate ethical habits are long standing and important avenues of inquiry. Every week I intend to offer my perspective on situations sourced from the OSU community, and perhaps punctuate by answering emails with original content I find important, interesting and nutritive.

Speaking of emails: I need your help. Do you have an interesting ethical question or situation in your life? Email me at: AskAnEthicistOSU@gmail.com. It can be anything from a concern about lifestyle choices, conflicts with neighbors or business practices here in Corvallis. Surely, this is not an exhaustive list and I expect to see some novel questions.

My aim in this column is not simply about “solving” ethical puzzles, but about engaging the OSU community in a discourse centered on ethical issues. I hope this column will not only unlock some of the expertise already available in our networks, but expand it.

See you next week.

Dear Ask an Ethicist,
I’m a huge fan of the amazing band, Mayhem. As I am sure you are aware, the lead singer, Count Grishnackh, is currently in jail for killing another band member because he was becoming more satanic than him. After he broke out of jail and began burning down churches — to keep a low profile, obviously — he was reincarnated and began the band Burzum. Am I a bad person if I purchase his music?
-Robin Graves

Thanks so much for your question, Robin. I was not acutely aware of this situation but I have seen the documentary, “Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey,” which briefly outlines some of Count Grishnackh’s more nefarious deeds along with an interesting anthropological exploration of various metal genres.

To take this question down to its more moral root, it seems as though the question at hand has more to do with how we use our consumerist “vote” to support various firms or organizations. Another version of your question might be something like, “X business is causing Y harm: Am I in any way responsible for perpetuating Y harm by providing material resources to X business?”

In this more abstract case, it seems fairly straightforward that by some sort of transitive property of harm you are participating in said harm, or at least helping to enable or encourage it. Sweatshop labor, slave-like conditions, exploitation of the natural environment and other unjustified harms are clearly difficult to avoid in our globalized consumerist economy, but our purchasing choices do send signals to the current market paradigm. This is an empowering thought.

My iPhone is made of rare earth metals, which are difficult and often dirty to gather under ideal conditions. My iPhone is built in morally dubious conditions by businesses like Foxconn. Further, major components of my iPhone are shipped across the Pacific Ocean at a tremendous fossil fuel cost in the age of well-known anthropogenic climate change. The more we investigate the costs of our consumerist lifestyles, the more it seems like anything short of local, conscious exchange opens us up to taking responsibility for a multitude of social, economic and environmental harms. Because of a kind of radical interconnectedness neo-liberal globalization begs us to recognize our choices should undergo serious scrutiny.

In your more specific case, that of Count Grishnackh and his new band, Burnzum, it seems as though we must ask ourselves what kind of market signals we are sending. Upon a brief amount of research, I’ve found that Count Grishnackh was released on parole in 2009, has self-identified as a neo-Nazi in the past and openly rejects Judeo-Christianity as heresy against a kind of neo-paganism. The more I read, the more I found Count Grishnackh to be an organized racist and likely a supporter of eugenics, the debunked pseudoscience of the turn of the 19th century.

The fact that we participate in a globalized society is a heavy consideration. The question of whether we should support neo-Nazi, arsonist murderers seems more straightforward to me. I want to live in a society with less neo-Nazi, arsonist murderers, so I will not be buying their music.


Thomas McElhinny is a master’s student of applied ethics. The opinions expressed in his columns do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Barometer staff. McElhinny’s “Ask an ethicist” column will run weekly, every Friday. He can be reached at, and questions can be submitted at AskAnEthicistOSU@gmail.com.

Source: http://www.dailybarometer.com/should-we-encourage-neo-nazi-arsonist-murderers-1.3036575