The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #67797   Message #1135370
Posted By: GUEST,Kent Davis
13-Mar-04 - 03:01 AM
Thread Name: Performance: (in)appropriate dress codes?
Subject: RE: Performance:(in)appropriate dress codes?
Mr. Bridge,
I am sure freightdawg and all of us here are aware that art causes us to think. But what does it cause us to think? All thoughts are not equal. "Triumph of the Will" certainly made people think (that the Nazi cause was heroic). "The Birth of a Nation" made people think (that the KKK was a fine organization). Can you accept that those thoughts are wrong?
Do I need to "challenge my repressions"? I assure you that I need, not to challenge them, but to strengthen them. There is a reason for repression. Would you agree that there are things which a person may be inclined to do, but which should not be done. Obviously, you think that at least one natural inclination should be repressed (namely, the inclination to leave a performance when one is insulted by the performer).
Has some authority taught you that art which the Establishment opposes is great art? If so, challenge that authority! It would be hard to imagine a more "Establishment" figure than a Pope who was also a Medici, yet Leo X and Clement VII appreciated and promoted the work of Michelangelo. George III was certainly "Establishment", yet he appreciated and promoted the work of Handel.
Finally, Mr. Bridge, you suggest that freightdawg ask himself why he feels threatened by public advocacy of necrophilia-inspired murder or by the statement "F*** You". Mr. Bridge, I can't speak for freightdawg but I feel threatened by thoses things because, well, they ARE threats. You didn't think that the phrase "F*** You" was an invitation to coitus, did you?