DPRK & The NY Phil: The Game So Far
For those of you keeping score at home, here are the teams as of right now: (26th Feb, just after 11:30am)
On the Bad Idea Team, we have Terry Teachout and Norman Lebrehct and Greg Sandow weighing in with:
“What would you have thought if Franklin Roosevelt had encouraged the Philharmonic to accept an official invitation to play in Berlin in the spring of 1939? Do you think such a concert would have softened the hearts of the Nazis, any more than Jesse Owens’s victories in the 1936 Olympics changed their minds about racial equality? Or inspired the German people to rise up and revolt against Adolf Hilter? Or saved a single Jewish life?” TT
“In North Korea, no page [will be] turned. The regime that U.S. President George W. Bush designated as part of an “Axis of Evil” has neither fallen nor shown any willingness to change. Its leaders will broadcast the concert and proclaim it a victory for their ideology.”
Team Why Not currently consists of Opera Chic, AC Douglas of Sounds and Fury, Drew McManus, Sequenza 21, the Maestro himself and the extraordinarily insightful Matthew Guerrieri
“Beethoven in North Korea (where the politically/financially connected and the generally powerful will get all the good tickets, unlike, say, what happens at opening night at la Scala or the Metropolitan, where floor tickets are easy to find and free).
So remember kids: boycott the NYPhil tour of North Korea because immortal works of classical music do not spread democracy.
Bombs do.” OC
“even though classical music is influenced by politics in every possible way, it regularly manages to transcend those politics. As such, how will any potential abuse related to the New York Philharmonic performing in North Korea be any different than the centuries of political abuse toward classical music, musicians, and their institutions? Although I don’t discount most of the concerns surrounding the proposed trip, history has shown that in the long run, they won’t outlive the music.” DM
“Here’s my thought. If a goodwill visit by an American orchestra opens the door for even a single sliver of sunlight to shine on one of the planet’s darkest lands, it will be worth it…even if it means letting the world’s most obnoxious dictator claim a propaganda victory. Music has survived a lot worse.” S21
“People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw bricks, should they? Is our standing as a country — the United States — is our reputation all that clean when it comes to prisoners and the way they are treated?” LM
“Perhaps the time has come to stop worrying about “legitimizing” a regime that’s outlasted ten U.S. presidents and come up with a substantive strategy to get them to open their society, empty their prisons, and feed their people—because isolation isn’t doing it.” MG
Miss Mussel will endeavour to keep you posted throughout the week as new articles come in. Please do feel free to send along links that have been missed. The OM blogroll is long but not by any means exhaustive.
