“There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance – that principle is contempt prior to investigation.” – Herbert Spencer
I have been following, albeit from afar, the hullabaloo surrounding a small original comedic stage work put on by a small, but ambitious, theater company that, for some reason, has been besot and besieged by a group that, quite surprisingly, have openly admitted to not seeing the work that they are protesting! The resulting outcome has been that, even though the show did finish its run, the small, but ambitious, theater company has lost the lease to their stage space simply as the result of cowardice by an institution of Higher Learning that is supposed to be a proponent of free thought, culture, education and art.
Censorship, and those that, either wittingly or covertly for their own interests, support the suppression of free speech and the exploration of the ‘voice’ are complicit in the death of ideas. As this small, but ambitious, theater company finds itself homeless, what magnificence that MIGHT have been brought to life on their stage may never see the footlights of day simply because someone in a cubicle somewhere has neither the spine nor the vision to stand up to the censors! It is an absurdity worthy of Brecht! Conversely, and at the pinnacle of irony, the whole purpose of the play in question was to SMASH the same-said stereotypes that the protesters ended up embodying! And, you know what, they won! At least, given the actions taken by Canisus College, they will claim this victory! And that ‘claimed victory’ sets a very dangerous precedent.
Buffalo is a city sitting atop a very pointed and steep precipice. It can either tip into a bright future, or slide back into oblivion. There are many good things happening in the city; change that has and will attract those that have vision, a vision for a ‘New’ Buffalo, into it’s borders and onto its blocks. Young and not so young folks are pulling up stakes from around the country and returning to, or finding for the first time, a city that has more of what they want than more of what they don’t. What they, and I, don’t want is the institutions representative of the City to be shown as accessories to the death of free thought, the death of art, the death of unfulfilled promise. There is nothing more tragic than the death of an idea, especially a good one – in this case a small, but ambitious, theater company.
There has been much conversation, through the centuries, and in direct relation to the idea of democracy, about the Tyranny of the Majority. Well, in this case, it is the The tyranny of the Minority that concerns me most. And, even more so, that said uninformed minority is enabled by a so-called reputable institution, thusly giving any misguided cause floating through the ether credence and, therefore, power – power that WILL, without question, be used again. That is dangerous. Don’t let this situation serve as a metaphor, nor as a model, for others to follow. Don’t let another good idea die. Buffalo can’t afford it.