(no subject)
I'm sure a million people will have a much better response to this than me, but I really need to get this blog going again. So: this morning I heard this story, about the cast of "Hamilton" making an appeal to Mike Pence, following the show.....and our prospective president's response, in which he characterized the speech as "harassment", demanded an apology from the cast...and said "The Theater must always be a safe and special place."
One: Someone needs to give our prospective president a crash course on the Constitution he is going to be swearing to defend in 2 months, starting with the First Amendment (yes, there is one before the Second!) It guarantees us, not just free speech, but the right "to petition the Government for a redress of grievances". Mike Pence, for better or worse, is now part of the Federal government, and he was being informed of a serious grievance the people have - the fact that so many of us are afraid that the new administration, based in large part on the things Pence has said and done, will not protect our legal rights, will indeed make inroads into them. Mr. Pence should have been grateful to have this presented to him in such a thoughtful way.
Two: Theater is indeed special, but the best of it (and "Hamilton" is very much in that tradition) is NOT safe. Great theater challenges us; ; it presents us things and viewpoints that we may not want to see; it forces us to reconsider our beliefs, our world-views, our governments and their policies (see: Athol Fugard and many many others). I saw a play the other night, "Miss you like hell", that addressed the problems of illegal immigrants and their families, and gave you sympathy for a character that our prospective president (I'm just going to start calling him "PP") would undoubtedly consider should be immediately deported. And it ended with a scene at the part of the wall that already exists, on the San Diego/TIjuana border, that our PP and his cohorts should really see, because it reminds you that this policy has very human costs. THAT'S theater. Not at all "safe".
One: Someone needs to give our prospective president a crash course on the Constitution he is going to be swearing to defend in 2 months, starting with the First Amendment (yes, there is one before the Second!) It guarantees us, not just free speech, but the right "to petition the Government for a redress of grievances". Mike Pence, for better or worse, is now part of the Federal government, and he was being informed of a serious grievance the people have - the fact that so many of us are afraid that the new administration, based in large part on the things Pence has said and done, will not protect our legal rights, will indeed make inroads into them. Mr. Pence should have been grateful to have this presented to him in such a thoughtful way.
Two: Theater is indeed special, but the best of it (and "Hamilton" is very much in that tradition) is NOT safe. Great theater challenges us; ; it presents us things and viewpoints that we may not want to see; it forces us to reconsider our beliefs, our world-views, our governments and their policies (see: Athol Fugard and many many others). I saw a play the other night, "Miss you like hell", that addressed the problems of illegal immigrants and their families, and gave you sympathy for a character that our prospective president (I'm just going to start calling him "PP") would undoubtedly consider should be immediately deported. And it ended with a scene at the part of the wall that already exists, on the San Diego/TIjuana border, that our PP and his cohorts should really see, because it reminds you that this policy has very human costs. THAT'S theater. Not at all "safe".