Wingnut Kumbaaya
by digby
Following up on this Beinert nonsense to which Ezra and Atrios link today, may I just point out that while the right is outraged about a German opera company omitting a scene offensive to Muslims, they don’t seem to be in the least bit concerned about a similar issue quite a bit closer to home:
American Family Association Chairman Donald E. Wildmon says NBC will not air the scene showing Madonna being crucified in the upcoming November special.
“NBC does not want a fight with AFA and the Christian community,” said Wildmon. “NBC may wiggle and wobble, but in the final analysis, they will not show that scene. We expect a public announcement from NBC canceling the scene within two weeks.”
According to New York Daily News, the NBC network is retreating from an earlier announcement of its plan to air a two-hour concert special featuring Madonna hanging on a cross wearing a fake crown of thorns.
NBC Entertainment chief Kevin Reilly had said earlier Madonna considered the scene mocking the crucifixion of Christ the highlight of her show. “We (NBC) viewed it and didn’t see it as being inappropriate.”
Beinert says:
Many liberals seem unable to conceive of a struggle in which the Republican right is not an enemy but an ally. But there are such struggles, and, without today’s activist liberals, they will be harder to win. Free speech is under threat, and Idomeneo should be the last straw.
No, we are able to concieve of a struggle in which the Republican right is an ally, but we’re not morons and know exactly what these people are about and it isn’t free speech. That’s hilarious.
Their willingness to support similar repression in their own backyard proves that this sturm und drang over the Duetsche oper is plain old wingnut anti-muslim bigotry. As Ezra puts it: “They’re doing it because it furthers their other political ends.” (And he’s right in saying that to join this particular free speech crusade is to also advance a foreign policy goal that’s extremely dangerous.)
But were it simply a matter of principle as they say it is, if they were to condemn NBC (if they do choose to cut the scene) — or dozens of other instances of corporate repression of speech deemed offensive to Christians because of pressure from the Christian right — perhaps I’d be more inclined to link hands and welcome them as members of the ACLU. Until then, I tend to think that a coalition of right and left to defend free speech is going to be defined as forcing Europeans to engage in inflammatory speech against Muslims even if they don’t want to. Maybe we could start closer to home with a project to protect free speech from Donald Wildman and James Dobson, build up some wins, and then work our way toward free speech repression in foreign countries after that. I’m ready if they are.
Update: I’m reminded in the comments of the uproar over the play “My Name Is Rachel Corrie” last year in which the right wingers took the other side:
The play opened last year in London to rave reviews and sold out audiences. It was scheduled to come to New York and open tonight at the celebrated off-Broadway New York Theatre Workshop.
But there will be no opening night.
In late February, the theater announced it was indefinitely postponing production of the play due to the current political climate.
The theater’s artistic director James Nicola told the Guardian of London: “In our pre-production planning and our talking around and listening in our communities in New York, what we heard was that after Ariel Sharon’s illness and the election of Hamas, we had a very edgy situation.” Nicola went on to say, “We found that our plan to present a work of art would be seen as us taking a stand in a political conflict, that we didn’t want to take.”
But the theater has been accused of political censorship. The co-creator of the play, Alan Rickman responded by saying, “This is censorship born out of fear” and that the theater had effectively canceled the play.
I’m sure Peter Beinert will be shocked to learn that free speech advocates, Little Green Footballs, didn’t step up to protest this kind of political pressure. After all, he may not know that Rachel Corrie is called “pancake girl” by the LGFers and any play that might show her in a good light would be considered treason.
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