Wednesday, September 27, 2006
I wonder when we'll see this at Covent Garden?
I wonder when we'll see this at Covent Garden? From the article: "THE bloodstained King of Crete stumbles onstage and holds aloft the decapitated heads of Poseidon, Jesus, Buddha and the Prophet Muhammad. “The gods are dead!” he calls out to the audience"
...
"For fear of Muslim anger, the bosses of the world-renowned Deutsche Oper in Berlin have cancelled performances of Mozart’s Idomeneo"
Ah yes the religion of peace again. I mean let's face it I'm not exactly comfortable with the idea, and without knowing more about it don't feel I can judge it regarding blasphemous potential, but if the opera is a load of rubbish and people want to pay to see it then that is their right. As regards myself I'd simply choose not to see it.
Unlike in Britain, political condemnation of the decision to cancel has followed: "Wolfgang Schäuble, the German Interior Minister (presumably the equivalent of a Home Office Minister my words) ... said that the decision to cancel the opera was insane, laughable and unacceptable. Other politicians said it was irresponsible."
From Bernd Neumann, the cultural adviser of Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor: "“If the mere fear of Islamic protest leads to self-censorship, then the democratic principle of freedom of expression is directly threatened,” ... “Art and the media have the task of setting out contradictions and arguments that are going on within society.”"
From the article: "Peter Ramsauer, the head of the conservative Christian Social Union parliamentary faction, had stronger words: “It is an act of pure cowardice. We are opening ourselves up to cultural blackmail.” "
Rather interestingly talking of another play, we're told: "There has been no trouble, though the play — which mocks Arabs and Jews in equal measure — has drawn fierce criticism from German Jews."
For some strange reason the "fierce criticism from German Jews" doesn't carry as much weight as "fear of Muslim anger", I can't imagine why.
...
"For fear of Muslim anger, the bosses of the world-renowned Deutsche Oper in Berlin have cancelled performances of Mozart’s Idomeneo"
Ah yes the religion of peace again. I mean let's face it I'm not exactly comfortable with the idea, and without knowing more about it don't feel I can judge it regarding blasphemous potential, but if the opera is a load of rubbish and people want to pay to see it then that is their right. As regards myself I'd simply choose not to see it.
Unlike in Britain, political condemnation of the decision to cancel has followed: "Wolfgang Schäuble, the German Interior Minister (presumably the equivalent of a Home Office Minister my words) ... said that the decision to cancel the opera was insane, laughable and unacceptable. Other politicians said it was irresponsible."
From Bernd Neumann, the cultural adviser of Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor: "“If the mere fear of Islamic protest leads to self-censorship, then the democratic principle of freedom of expression is directly threatened,” ... “Art and the media have the task of setting out contradictions and arguments that are going on within society.”"
From the article: "Peter Ramsauer, the head of the conservative Christian Social Union parliamentary faction, had stronger words: “It is an act of pure cowardice. We are opening ourselves up to cultural blackmail.” "
Rather interestingly talking of another play, we're told: "There has been no trouble, though the play — which mocks Arabs and Jews in equal measure — has drawn fierce criticism from German Jews."
For some strange reason the "fierce criticism from German Jews" doesn't carry as much weight as "fear of Muslim anger", I can't imagine why.
Tags: freedom of speech, liberty, rights, freedom
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.
