According to The Brandeis Hoot, “Buyer Beware” “deals with the modern atmosphere of college protest movements” and its plot revolves around a white Brandeis student named Ron who plans to perform a stand-up routine on campus “in the style of Lenny Bruce.” Bruce was a famous 20th-century comedian and satirist known for his provocative style and use of obscenities.
Ok. So?
The private university announced recently that it had cancelled plans to present the play “Buyer Beware” on its campus after students and
alumni complained the production “seeks to vilify” black voices and
issued concerns because its script includes a white protagonist who uses
the n-word as part of a comedy routine.
Complaints over its content have pushed the play off campus, with an
alumnus calling the play “overtly racist” and an outspoken student
saying it elevated “the already privileged voice of a white man on the
matter of Black Lives Matter protests.”
"How dare you have a play we don't approve of!", etc.
1 comment:
It's a funny thing ... college. It purports to be "collegial", but it isn't.
What was that quote? "I do not think that the word you use means what you think it does"? Princess Bride, I think the movie was.
I recall standing on the quad of the university from which I had graduated 20 years ago, listening to some Sophomoric Twit spouting some of the most ignorant racist crap I've ever heard. Mind you, this was only a few years ago, when I was working there as a consultant. I didn't have a 'voice', but I had ears.
My thought at the time was: "this guy is a total jerk and I don't think even he agrees with what he says; but he gets to say it, anyway, and if he is willing to embarrass himself in public, I am willing to watch his meltdown".
It's all a game, folks, and everyone who attends "higher learning" is entitled to be a jerk. In ten years, that young man will grow up be a Conservative and will be embarrassed by the memory.
Who are we to deprive a child to grow wings? He'll fail, and try again, and eventually he will grow his true voice.
People who ridicule or attempt to stifle children in the bodies of adults need to look to their own history and ... cut the kids a little slack. It takes so little effort to acknowledge the First Amendment. All we need to do, is just be an audience and perhaps remember that we all had our 'melt down' moments.
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