Katherine Kersten needs to Get. A. Life. Seriously. Today's kolumn is about a play that is being put on at the U that some Catholics find offensive. So what does she do? She does exactly what conservatives have long pilloried liberals for doing: crying foul and essentially saying that such a play is terribly politically incorrect. The U is horrible for allowing it to go forward.
Wingnuttia level: 10 (She's gonna blow!)
I am frankly surprised by all of the conservatives these days that scream bloody murder in the same way that they say P.C. thugs used to do. When liberals would have a problem with a movie, TV show, act, or whatever, conservatives would tell them to get a sense of humor and get over it. Now, conservatives are doing the exact same thing. Who cares if this play paints the Catholic Church in a bad light? Don't see it. I'm no fan of religion and I'm not seeing about it. I'm not even thinking about its existence. I don't care. If I don't like something, I won't see it. Period.
According to her, "Archdiocese spokesman Dennis McGrath has assured the U that the archdiocese has no plans to organize protests or call Catholics into action against it." So why can't she leave well enough alone? Because it would take away the chance for her to throw one of her patented hissy fits. Sad.
O.K. I kinda sorta agree with her in the sense that protesting the Roman Catholic church is a big yawn. It does have some influence in the world, but not like it used to...
ReplyDeleteBut this is the same lady who supported Bachman (a member of the Wisconsin Synod) without thought to the fact that Bachman's religion is anti-Catholic.
And I speak as one who went to a R.C. highscool in Wisconsin where I biggest rival was the WELS highschool, in basketball of course.
So once again.. neo-cons have no sense of history.
I went to a production of Dario Fo's "We Won't Pay, We Won't Pay" when I was in college, to write a review for an English class assignment. The production itself was fairly well done, but I didn't care much for the play itself, and I've never been inclined to seek out other instances of the author's work.
ReplyDeleteI just might make the effort to see this one.
A couple of other points:
First, the Catholic Church is still still very influential in the world - the pope is given the props of a world leader, and has a billion followers. The new pope may wind up alienating more followers than he can convert, though, and could find that, as he tightens his ideological fist, more of the faithful will drain through his fingers, and find other outlets for their faith.
Second, writing or producing a play that casts something, even something as sacrosanct as the Catholic Church or the pope, in a negative light is not necessarily displaying prejudice as much as it is displaying a distaste for something. Prejudice implies ignorance, or at least refusing to see the truth. The truth is that the pope is human, and subject to human frailties. To explore those frailties and their potential consequences in a work of fiction is NOT prejudice, despite the fact that it might offend someone's PollyAnna sensibilities about a particular religion.
Third, Kersten compares the Pope to Mohammed. This analogy fails. A better analogy would be to compare Mohammed to Jesus, or compare the pope to the current-day recognized leader of mainstream Islam.
I guess my final point has to be about the following comment that Kersten made: "In such a world, it's hard to be impressed with the guts it takes to dress witches as nuns at an American university."
In America, it is still our right to do such things. That is what the Bill of Rights is all about. And that is why this current administration, and its hangers-on (NEWT!), are so dangerous - they threaten to remove our Constitutional Rights, and take away our dissenting voices.
Kersten, why DO you hate AMERICA so much?
Ms Anon
Why does no one bring up the fact that this "radical" playright is a Nobel Prize winner? I realize that's not a blanket endorsement, but it puts him pretty squarely within the theater establishment.
ReplyDeletePlus, it's clear that the local church officials have made only the most perfunctory noises about this to placate the part of their constituency that sees anti-catholic bias anywhere.
Finally, it really shows where she's coming from when she seems to want a (perceived) anti-islamic play to be staged. Maybe she wants an anti-Jewish play like the Merchant of Venice, which the Morris campus of the U put on last year? HOw about the gay Muslim activist who visited the U this year, or Salman Rushdie, who also spoke on campus?
If the University of Minnesota were true believers in "freedom of speech", they'd stage an adaptation of Der Ewige Jude or The Satanic Verses.
ReplyDeleteIt's easier to bash Christians. :-(
The Bishop of New ulm has sent out a letter protesting the play. The West Central Tribune and the Marshall Independent both have published his letter asking for a public outcry.
ReplyDeleteThe fatwa is found here in the Marshall paper:
Marshall LTE
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