The Personal Is Not The Political. I Don’t Care What that Hippie Told You
I solemnly swear, no matter where my music career takes me (when it starts to take flight, that is), that I will never be like one of these many jerks.
There is a place for political diatribes and the concert stage is not it. If music directors want to vent their spleens about politics, they can do it on their own dime, even if the audience is a bunch of effete progressives. That’s what blogs and op-ed pages are for and don’t tell me a prominent progressive artist couldn’t get an op-ed in the New York Times. We all know better than that. But these guys – and by that I mean progressives – can’t help but vent their spleens. It’s like they had to trade in their impulse control for their progressive ideology.
But the personal is not political, no matter what hippie throwback says it is and I resent the intrusions.
The story about Michael Tilson-Thomas puts me in a dilemma, though he’s by no means the only one who does so. I enjoy his work. He is supremely talented. His two
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Category: Music, Progressives
I'm afraid you're wrong. In the liberal (progressive? in what way, exactly, do any of these people support progress?) world view, the first and most important thing, the necessary but not sufficient (although almost!) determiner of your worth as a human being is your belief system. You absolutely MUST, above all other considerations, believe the right things.
Only after it is established that you believe the right things can you be judged according to your acts–Are you a creative genius? Generous to the poor? (nice, but optional) Kind to your mother? (or, if she's conservative, do you tolerate and occasionally humor her patriarchically imposed narrow mind?)
That stuff comes later.
So if Michael Tilson-Thomas wants to be admired for his art, he must first establish his adherence to the proper belief system. Otherwise, his public won't even get to the art part.
FWIW, I surfed in off The Anchoress's recommendation.
I wonder, though, if they had never said anything about politics, if anyone would know or care about their affiliation? I certainly don't think about it. I only care about what a musician does with music. Surely I can't be the only one.
Welcome, then! I hope you come back soon.