I think when someone does something really bad, we have to decide what we think about their behavior, but we do not have to decide whether or not they are an overall bad and rotten human being.

I think most psychologists (most notably Albert Ellis, you may want to google him, very influential and also very entertaining guy) and also many moral philosophers (less entertaining, but hey) will agree that determining a person’s complete “moral worth”(I think that’s the actual philosophical term) across their entire lifespan is neither helpful nor really possible. It’s up to God or some higher powers to determine that, or if you are an atheist, well, then maybe to noone at all.

We can an should condemn bad and criminal behavior, and criminal behavior should be punished. But we were not put on this earth to judge people in their entirety, if that makes sense.

We can still admire their songwriting skills, their wit and what have you, and at the same time decide not to associate with such people as a result of our judgement (which most of us didn’t do anyway, in Ryan’s case).

If we decide never to spin their records again, then that should be a very personal decision, not one driven by shame or guilt or by the fear that their utter and all-ecomoassing badness will somehow rub off on us.

Just my 5 cents.