*sigh*
Can it just be about the music? I mean, yeah, there are egos involved, and DS said some stupid things that should have been kept private. But once you get the music, and put it on, can you separate the online drama from the tunes?
I know personally that if I am remotely connected to something, that no, I can't. I need distance. But in this situation, with very few exceptions, we're all just fans here. Nothing that goes on with DT/MP/DS affects us in any way in our real lives.
This is technically true but I don't think it's how the vast majority of us relate and react to the world. Chris Brown (for example) beating the shit out of Rihanna didn't "affect us in any way in our real lives" either but I still think it was understandable for people to have a reaction to it, and perhaps not want to support the guy's career. It's how we're wired as people, it's why we emotionally respond to news stories that don't 'directly affect us'. Even you, for example, are clearly annoyed by people being negative in this thread, even though it doesn't affect your life in any way.
To your point about separating the music from the drama once I've hit 'play' - absolutely I can, and I have. My reaction to this band's music is totally separate from my decision not to give them any money. When I play their songs, I care only about the songs, and the furthest thing from my mind is anything Derek or Mike have said or done.
Buying the album is a different issue entirely, and not connected to my experience of the music. That part is based on a desire to one day see Derek Sherinian having to flip burgers to provide for his family and to then see how well he takes being mocked.
It's as I was saying to Stadler, when you dismiss and deride anyone who 'criticises' your music as 'biased burger-flipping Dream Theater fanboys' then it's you (Derek) who have taken it all beyond the music and made it personal, not us.