Tuesday, April 24, 2007

A CLARIFICATION, AND AN APOLOGY

GOOD MORNING.

AS PER my corrected post re: Mike Daisey's show, the Boston Globe is reporting that the people who walked out on Mike Daisey's performance of INVINCIBLE SUMMER last Thursday in Cambridge consisted of "87 students and staff visiting Thursday from Norco High School in Southern California, [who] objected to Daisey's dirty language."

SINCE AS FAR AS I CAN TELL, Norco High School is a public, non-religious high school, and as of this writing, I have no way of knowing the particular religious leanings of each individual in the group (or lack thereof), I've decided to strike my reference to "so-called Christians" in my previous post.

I APOLOGIZE for identifying the group this way. I had been under the impression that the group had actually proclaimed itself as "Christian," and this was part of the motive for their actions. Otherwise, I would never have mentioned of their religion, as it is irrelevant and insulting to the observant Christians I happen to know, who would never act in this manner, and indeed whose faith, I believe, would compel them not to.

I DON'T AND WILL LIKELY NEVER KNOW the individual motives of any one of the "students and staff" who walked out on Mike (which is their right); but you don't need a religious motive to pour water over a performer's set and notes (which is nobody's right): you simply need to be a loathesome ass.

I ALSO APOLOGIZE to the commenters in that original post. In a commentof my own, I scolded them for what I took to be their skepticism of the story, and that was wrong. There are 1,000 sides to every story, and there is nothing wrong with wanting to know more.

THIS IS ESPECIALLY TRUE when the story itself is largely so clear, so plain, and so videotaped. Whatever else was going on in the darkened corners of the theater and the audience's hearts that the camera couldn't catch, the single act of the one man (and it does seem to be a man, not a teenager) confronting Mike on stage and willfully vandalizing his work right in front of him is right there in the bright lights: undeniable and auto-damning.

WHILE THAT FELLOW, AT LEAST, owes Mike an apology (and I might argue the school does as well, if he is an employee), I hesitate to call for him to explain his actions. In that one moment of vicious smallness, he explained himself perfectly to youtube and the world.

But otherwise, let me say: CHRISTIANS AND COMMENTERS, I am sorry.

AND MIKE: break your leg tonight, friend.

That is all.

8 comments:

mg said...

I'm going to the show tonight, and I can't wait...

JM said...

I'm calling for environmental protection. If the rationality, courtesy, consideration, and human sympathy of blog entries such as this catch on, flame wars and wank may go extinct.

Unknown said...

Don't worry, JM, I think the world is pretty well vaccinated against those things.

Solonor Rasreth said...

d'oh!

Annje said...

No worries Hodg-man it shows what a great person you for posting an apology. Not that many people I know would have the courage to admit when they are wrong. I personally didn't take any offense to your post. Even if the High School group were part of a "Christian" group it really wouldn't surprise me all that much. Considering my church had a "protest" outside of it on Easter by that radical group from Kansas (the Hillsboro Baptist Weirdo's.) So I'm not surprised by anything anymore! I'm just glad your friend was ok. I'm truly sorry his notes got destroyed. It could have been A LOT worse thank goodness it wasn't. Cheers! AJ

Anonymous said...

apparently, they identified themselves as a christian group more than once

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

I, for many reasons, do not think you were at much fault to begin with. But I am glad you've apologized, JKH. It was definitely the right thing to do.

My deepest sympathies go to Mike, who had his work of art wrecked in front of his very own eyes >:[