[Industrialblog,
September 28, 2006]
More info on the Mozart scandal
Turns out the offensive part of the Mozart production in Germany didn't really have much to do with Mozart and had everything to do with the producer of the avant-garde production.
Here's a good wrap-up.
(From Instapundit.)
Bottom line: If you think you're transgressive, let's see you make fun of the Koran and Mohammed the way you've made fun of everything holy and sacred in our own culture. And if you're not willing to take the same kinds of potshots at Islam because you want to "respect Islam," well then how about respecting the rest of us, too?
Note: Yes, I've been tough on Islam, but my point of view is more nuanced than sometimes comes across here. Most religions start good, then go awry. Islam is one of the few that started insane, and then got better (and then worse). That is to say, Islam is a religion, but it's a cultural phenomenon, too. It has by its size and success over centuries and the lived experience of a billion or so Muslims to incorporate and transmit a lot of valuable human knowledge, including spirituality. I've been meaning to write that post for a long time ... I just never seem to get around it.
Here's a good wrap-up.
This is a complex problem. Neuenfels's production takes the easy faux-daring route of "Piss Christ" and the Madonna crucifixion, but at least he had the nerve to hit all religions equality, and not to single out one religion. Perhaps he did that because it wouldn't have made any sense to go after the conventional target of Christianity when it's an opera about the Trojan War. It doesn't make all that much sense to drag Buddha, Jesus, and Muhammad into that setting either, but bringing them all in to join their super best friend Poseidon made some kind of crazy sense.
Now that some Muslims have made it painfully obvious that religion-taunting is not an easy game anymore, abandoning it expresses fear, not respect for religion. And continuing to disrespect the religions that don't lash back only highlights that cowardice. Poor transgressive rebel artists! How are they to shock the middle class anymore?
(From Instapundit.)
Bottom line: If you think you're transgressive, let's see you make fun of the Koran and Mohammed the way you've made fun of everything holy and sacred in our own culture. And if you're not willing to take the same kinds of potshots at Islam because you want to "respect Islam," well then how about respecting the rest of us, too?
Note: Yes, I've been tough on Islam, but my point of view is more nuanced than sometimes comes across here. Most religions start good, then go awry. Islam is one of the few that started insane, and then got better (and then worse). That is to say, Islam is a religion, but it's a cultural phenomenon, too. It has by its size and success over centuries and the lived experience of a billion or so Muslims to incorporate and transmit a lot of valuable human knowledge, including spirituality. I've been meaning to write that post for a long time ... I just never seem to get around it.