Is Theater is not a place for liberal rants, Steve Moore's letter to the editor of the Alexandria Echo, brilliant satire or the reaction of a conservative to the cast of "Hamilton" addressing Vice President-elect Pence from the stage after the play's end? Moore writes:
To the editor:
I am a conservative and a voter. I want to express my disappointment of politics now moving into live theater. Theater to me has always been a time to get away from daily issues and enjoy the story and performance.
However, after recent events, I have decided not to attend AAAA Theatre's presentation of "A Christmas Carol." I am not interested in exposing myself and family to some liberal rant.
Please notice that my protest does not include trespassing on private property, throwing dog doo at police officers, breaking windows or stopping traffic on a public roadway.
Those four empty seats you see at the theater are those of me and my family.
Steve Moore
Alexandria, MN
"AAAA Theatre" is the Alexandria Area Arts Association, and a conservative Republican source in Alexandria told us that the volunteer cast has worked pretty hard to put together the show. She didn't know Moore.
We couldn't find anything about the letter writer, and while we highly doubt VPEOTUS Pence will stop by to enjoy the show, Moore may be right about one thing.
Dickens was something of a dirty hippie who thought "A Christmas Carol" was a good way to reach people about bleeding heart liberal stuff, according to Wikipedia:
Dickens was not the very first author to celebrate the Christmas season in literature,[4] but it was he who superimposed his humanitarian vision of the holiday upon the public, an idea that has been termed as Dickens' "Carol Philosophy".[7] Dickens believed the best way to reach the broadest segment of the population regarding his concerns about poverty and social injustice was to write a deeply felt Christmas story rather than polemical pamphlets and essays. . . .
Dickens was keenly touched by the lot of poor children in the middle decades of the 19th century.[14] In early 1843, he toured the Cornish tin mines, where he saw children working in appalling conditions. The suffering he witnessed there was reinforced by a visit to the Field Lane Ragged school, one of several London schools set up for the education of the capital's half-starved, illiterate street children.[15]
Inspired by the February 1843 parliamentary report exposing the effects of the Industrial Revolution upon poor children called Second Report of the Children's Employment Commission, Dickens planned in May 1843 to publish an inexpensive political pamphlet tentatively titled, An Appeal to the People of England, on behalf of the Poor Man's Child, but changed his mind, deferring the pamphlet's production until the end of the year.[16] He wrote to Dr. Southwood Smith, one of 84 commissioners responsible for the Second Report, about his change in plans: "[Y]ou will certainly feel that a Sledge hammer has come down with twenty times the force—twenty thousand times the force—I could exert by following out my first idea". The pamphlet would become A Christmas Carol.[17]
In a fundraising speech on 5 October 1843, at the Manchester Athenæum, Dickens urged workers and employers to join together to combat ignorance with educational reform,[8][18] and realised in the days following that the most effective way to reach the broadest segment of the population with his social concerns about poverty and injustice was to write a deeply felt Christmas narrative rather than polemical pamphlets and essays
Yep, a liberal ranter. That sort of stuff could fit right in with what the cast of Hamilton said:
Brandon Dixon, who plays Aaron Burr in the hit musical, began the message by thanking Pence for attending the play and saying, "We hope you will hear us out.""We, sir -- we are the diverse America who are alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us, our planet, our children, our parents, or defend us and uphold our inalienable rights," Dixon said. "We truly hope that this show has inspired you to uphold our American values and to work on behalf of all of us."
God bless us, every one.
Image: A poster for "A Christmas Carol." Regardless of political leanings, Bluestem hopes all of our readers get out and support local arts and artists.
If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 33166 770th Ave, Ortonville, MN 56278) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post.
Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email sally.jo.sorensen at gmail.com as recipient.
Comments