Last Thursday night in Boston, an unarmed wing of the thug caste attacked acclaimed monologist Mike Daisy at the ART in Cambridge, MA. Eighty-seven members of the audience walked out at the same time – but they didn’t walk quietly out the back. They noisily walked out the front, past the artist. And on the way, they intentionally destroyed the original copy of his handwritten script by pouring water on it.
These thugs were high school students and their chaperones from Norco High School in southern California, and were apparently offended because Mr. Daisey uses swear words and refers to sexual acts in his act.
What was their response to their burning ears? Was it to slip quietly out the back? Was it to talk to the artist after the performance, and try to convince Mr. Daisey that swearing was inappropriate? Was it to turn the other cheek? No. It was to disrupt the performance, physically menace Mr. Daisey, and destroy his property and art.
A friend of mine pointed out to me a good article in the Guardian today. Fascist America, in 10 Easy Steps. Step 3 in the process is to form a thug caste. My friend suggested that Blackwater and other mercenary groups are that thug caste.
I believe that’s true in part – but Blackwater is only the armed wing of our new thug caste. The unarmed wing – sharing the same beliefs, principles, and morals – are not so far away as Iraq. They were right here in Boston last Thursday. For me, that's far too close for comfort.
Mike Daisey tapes every performance, as each one is unique. This video is available online, and provides a chilling demonstration of exactly how it is that America may slide into fascism. A picture is worth a thousand words, so here you go.
I'll add a few more to that thousand, some of which are Mike Daisey's, from his blog.
I doubt I will ever forget the look in his face as he defaced the only original of the handwritten show outline--it was a look of hatred, and disgust, and utter and consuming pride.
It is a face I have seen in Riefenstahl's work, and in my dreams, but never on another human face, never an arm's length from me--never directed at me, hating me, hating my words and the story that I've chosen to tell. That face is not Christian, by any definition Christ would be proud to call his own--its naked righteousness and contempt have nothing to do with the godhead, and everything to do with pathetic human pride at its very worst.
I regret that the show was only filmed from the audience, and not from behind Daisey, as maybe we would have seen that face too. It's a face we should see, a face we should learn to recognize.
A face we might see more of.
Who were these people? Who was the man whose horrible face was displayed to an astonished and terrified Mike Daisey? In their minds, they were protecting the innocence of childhood from profanity. In their minds, they were the righteous, and Mike Daisey was the damned, and that made him less than human, a man against whom crimes might be committed without counting as such. The Globe quotes the ART's artistic director, Gideon Lester:
"If a patron in an art museum objected to a painting and slashed it, we'd be clear that that's a criminal act,"
Should we sympathize with those who felt offended? I am offended by some things. What do I do? Generally, I avoid them. But maybe that's because I believe there's room in this world for things I don't like. A mark of a fascist thug is to believe that things he doesn't like must be exterminated. As the Globe says, avoidance was not their method.
Seems the school group did inquire about the content of the show, called "Invincible Summer," and was told it includes profanity and adult subject matter. They decided to buy tickets anyway.
And here's the money quote, for those committed to putting the dots together. Was the reason the group threatened Mr. Daisey, destroyed his work, and ran away that they were offended? No; according to them, it was a security issue.
Daisey has since talked to Cindy Lee, Norco's activities director, and received a halfhearted apology. "They keep saying it was a 'security issue' . . . They had to get their children out because of these words," he said.
That's right, a security issue. That's where the story comes full circle. We've got our forces out there fighting a holy war. We've got a hyped-up threat from infidels making us disrobe at airports. We've got people with bumper stickers being thrown out of public events. Because it's a security issue. A security issue, coming soon to a theatre near you. And when it does, maybe there will be eighty-seven self-appointed keepers of righteousness to respond to it.
There is threat in this story, there is danger, there is an illustration of what it looks like when a country slips into fascism. And, for those poor children, there is also an illustration of Christian principles. Those principles were not demonstrated by their thuggish chaperones, however. They are demonstrated by Mike Daisey, who offers a very articulate demonstration of what it means to turn the other cheek.
But they are not simply fools and idiots--I saw them. They are young and old, they are teachers and students, they are each and every one of us. We are the same family, even if it hurts. The hard truth is that you reap what you sow, and I will not sow hatred and discontent--I refuse. I will not forget what that man, older than I am today, did to my work. I will not forget the cowed silence of those who left. I will not forget their judgment and their arrogance--but I will not hate.
I will listen. I will listen and learn and remember what has passed here, and when I tell it back it will be louder and longer and clearer. When I tell it back there will be place in the story for you and you and even you.
UPDATE: Some have noted that the choir of thugs did not explicitly identify themselves as Christians, so I have removed such allegations from this diary.