The word "genius" is often abused and devalued until it means little more than "someone who can think quickly and remember facts well." But there are a few people whose talents and insights transcend any simplistic analysis, and whose contributions to the world have thus been enormous and yet impossible to calculate - sometimes, ironically, to the point that their true significance is missed entirely. These are true geniuses, and they tap into something basic that most of us will barely even glimpse. Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins fame is such a person, through his incredible and often indescribable contributions to music - compositions and performances that somehow capture fundamental, cosmic qualities and provide them in a compelling package that leaves the audience feeling inspired and awakened rather than anesthetized like so much music today.
I can say without reservation that he is one of my personal heroes because of his ability to do this, and his willingness over two decades to show the rest of us the beauty he sees that we would otherwise only perceive in the shallowest and most fleeting terms. And it's because of this profound admiration that I feel it worthwhile to address some political comments he made a few months ago that have only come to my attention recently. These comments were not outrageous, ridiculous, or foolish - I just disagree with them, and want to sort of put my own thoughts out into the ether as a kind of tribute for what his music has added to my life.
