At what point should one act, or set of acts, define a person? I’m thinking specifically of Ike Turner. For the most part, people know Ike as a wife beater. I would even go so far as to say that many people know him primarily as a wife beater, to the exclusion of his prodigious musical talent. All because of that movie.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not sayin that domestic abuse is okay, or downplaying its significance, but I am sayin that Ike the musician doesn’t get the credit that he deserves because all most people know about is Ike the wife beater. Juxtapose that with Miles Davis, who was also known to beat his companions, or James Brown, for that matter. Is Ike more known as a wife beater because he was lesser-known as a musician in the first place, or because the beatings he delivered appeared on the screen and became pop cultural icons?
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