That’s your excuse? Really?
I’m tired of hearing it. It’s a lazy excuse, a stupid response, and dangerously elitist nonsense.
I talked to a reporter recently about a story I was putting together (it’s a doozy, but it’s going to take some time, so I’ll be taking time out this summer to work on it). He mentioned that he didn’t understand what was so important about it, in the context of what was going on in the nonprofit arts industry today, which, in his mind, was all about artists getting paid.
I had mentioned that this was nothing new, that artists have historically not been paid well at all. Today’s predicament was no different from, as I mentioned, all times where artists had to rely on often toxic sources in order to have a meal. Paint a portrait of the duchess, get paid. Paint a landscape, maybe not. Paint something ribald, almost definitely not.
Actors and other performers have been unpaid for centuries. Really, it’s nothing new. If you’re upset about it, that’s a good thing, I told the reporter. If you want to do something for artists in your community, don’t believe for a second that the answer lies in funding the organizations that may or may not hire them — and even when they do, will look for the least possible paycheck they can give — because “employment” is in the company’s best interest, not the artist. Many artists are so happy to get any work that they’ll do it for nothing. They’ll even pay to do it. Or worse, they’ll do it for their résumé, which is filled with one job that paid bupkes and twenty-two from college, community theater, or that 35-seat delicatessen where they did a reading once. And lots of other things “for their résumé.”
The reporter, listening to my story dismissively, said that he didn’t know about all that because it all happened before he was born.
What?
I mentioned that to me, that comment was a non sequitur. What did that have to do with researching the story? It was then that the reporter told me that his story was new, important, and (somehow) filled with data-driven information crucial to the nonprofit arts environment of his town. And that he didn’t really have any more time for me.
He shut down the conversation and left. I haven’t heard from him since, although I’ve quietly sent him some old article from newspapers that give some perspective on his “research.” He probably didn’t know what to do with something from a newspaper. Just more recycle, I suppose.
This is not the first time I’ve been confronted by that excuse, and it’s even pervasive in generations older than the Gen Z reporter to whom I was talking. Is history meaningless when it comes to providing insight, if not actual answers, to today’s issues? If so, then I suppose George Santayana was wrong. Which he wasn’t. Because it does.
And no, I’m not going to tell you what Santayana said, nor am I going to provide a hyperlink. I will tell you that he said it in 1905, which means that you might not think it’s all that important anyway.
Of course, this ridiculous (in the literal sense – it should be often ridiculed) behavior about not knowing about something because it happened “before I was born” extends to those brand-new, never-before-seen instances of cancel culture and easily offended folks. I might say something here like “Enough already!” but I might get cancelled for using a phrase associated with Jewish people, because, if you didn’t already know, the word “already” was already copyrighted by every Jewish mother in New Jersey in the 1930s. And besides, every bit of the history of Jewish mothers is antisemitic, misogynistic, and an unfair caricature of some of the bravest women in the world. And none of it is true – it’s all just stories men make up so that they can continue to enjoy their privilege.
Sure, that you’ll look up. Oy. Gottenyu.
Are we the best-educated, least-informed society that ever lived, at least in the United States? And are we this at the same time that we have the entire compendium of human existence in a Hello Kitty case in our purses and pockets? Do we really believe that every creative thought has never been thought, and as such, is new?
Does somebody honestly believe that they invented “cancel culture?” Look up Joe McCarthy and Roy Cohn. How is what they did any different? What about The Crucible, Arthur Miller’s masterpiece about cancel culture in Salem, Massachusetts? Is that any different? Go back generation after generation and you’ll find examples hundreds (thousands?) of years old. And whatever happened to John 8:7-11? What makes you think that cancel culture is a good thing?
If you’re cancelling someone you feel has wronged, then you’re on the side of McCarthy, Salem, and every other mob. Don’t get me wrong: Weinstein, Cosby, Trump come to mind as those whose wrongdoings caused criminal pain. Fatty Arbuckle, too.
But that doesn’t change the fact that mobs are indiscriminate about their next targets. Robert De Niro was just denied a leadership award by the National Association of Broadcasters because he spoke harshly against the convicted felon running for president. And now that I’ve written this, I suppose I’m next. Hell, I’ve done unacceptable things in my lifetime and haven’t apologized for all of it. I’ve also been accused of doing unacceptable things I never did. Does that apply to you, too?
Honestly, I feel sorry for all the folks who don’t bother looking stuff up. I feel worse that the cell phone has replaced the whole notion of “wonder,” here representing the long path of just not knowing something instead of rushing to an answer based on some internet troll. Wonder breeds fascination, which breeds curiosity, which breeds innovation. I miss wonder.
I’m mortified that more people know the names of all the key people in the Kardashian family than know the name of Ronald Reagan’s youngest son. It’s why that quote from Abraham Lincoln (just so you know, he was the president of the United States some time ago — it was in all the newspapers) was right – it’s obvious that some people are being fooled all of the time. The problem is, they think that’s just fine, because Lincoln died way before they were born and, therefore, is irrelevant to them.
For the thousands (Hundreds? Tens?) of people who read my work every week and look for insights into the plight of nonprofit arts organizations, know that the industry is getting a little better and a lot worse simultaneously. Ignorant certitude is everywhere. With high stress and threat of closure, its leaders are unable to change their monomaniacal patterns, believing that somehow things will just turn around. They believe in the fantasy of Mickey-and-Judy, Uncle Ed’s-got-a-barn, let’s-put-on-a-show solutions.
Really? You don’t know who Mickey is? No, it’s not Mickey Mouse. And his girlfriend’s name was Minnie, not Judy. But hey, you don’t have to know that. It all happened before you were born.
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