The Death of Klinghoffer opens tonight....- Page 4

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/21/14 at 4:21pm

Yes, but I don't think you do.

All of those cases involve public-sector governmental agencies, like public schools or local police. The First Amendment has absolutely nothing to do with the private sector.

So please stop with the off-topic civics lessons or start your own thread on the Off Topic board.

Updated On: 10/21/14 at 04:21 PM

[sinister teashop]

Posted: 10/21/14 at 4:31pm

"All of those cases involve public-sector governmental agencies, like public schools or local police."

Just as the protests last night involved the right to protest in public places controlled by the city government and the police. First Amendment issue.

Your response is a change from your earlier position that the First Amendment can only be about the Federal Government. That's a start.

"The First Amendment has absolutely nothing to do with the private sector."

That's true but I don't understand how you see the right of protesters to exercise their free speech in a public square as being about the private sector?

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 10/21/14 at 4:49pm

This ranks among the most circular debates ever on bww.

A First Amendment violation requires a restriction by a governmental actor of the free exercise of expression.

But for there to be an exercise of the free expression guaranteed by the First Amendment there need not be any restrictive governmental involvement at all. Often the government is not involved - thankfully! - precisely it well understands that any restrictive involvement by it would violate the First Amendment.

Updated On: 10/21/14 at 04:49 PM

[sinister teashop]

Posted: 10/21/14 at 5:21pm

Yes, henrikegerman. Agreed.

But I'd add that the argument is partly circular because the judicial process that interprets the Constitution is also circular.

Which can be a beautiful thing.



Updated On: 10/21/14 at 05:21 PM

[A Director]

Posted: 10/21/14 at 6:10pm

A story about a production in St. Louis.

http://forward.com/articles/207645/when-klinghoffer-played-the-heartland/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=The%20Forward%20Today%20%28Monday-Friday%29&utm_campaign=Daily_Newsletter_Mon_Thurs%202014-10-21

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/21/14 at 6:15pm

This is my exercising my First Amendment rights by not responding.

Updated On: 10/21/14 at 06:15 PM

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 10/22/14 at 3:35pm

"But I'd add that the argument is partly circular because the judicial process that interprets the Constitution is also circular."

Sinister, I'm not sure I'm following your reasoning. How is the judicial process that interprets the Constitution circular? or, rather, how is it more circular than any other judicial process?

Posted: 10/25/14 at 11:04pm

I saw this opera last night and am only writing this review since it stands in stark contrast to ones that others posted here. I just found it boring. There were a handful of entertaining moments (the exile pieces in the beginning, especially the Palestinian one; also the dance that punctuated the first act) but for the most part I was just waiting for time to pass. Regardless of any “controversy”, more than anything the slow passage of time is what stood out for me with this opera.

While John Adams is clearly a talented composer and does an especially good job composing pieces of building tension, Alice Goodman sadly was not up to par (needless to say that this is solely my opinion) and wrote the libretto as if it were poetry, the dense abstruse kind, so that it was hard to understand what anyone was talking about. Granted, she had a difficult job to do since the opera is almost two and a half hours long (not counting intermission) and, other than the actual murder, really not much action takes place.

As far as glamorizing terrorism, I would say that it does so while simultaneously, perhaps paradoxically, rebuking the murder of Klinghoffer. It was as if to say that “terrorism” without death is fine, as if the two can be mutually exclusive. If I recall the ship’s captain says so as much. He said something to the effect that the terrorists would have been noble and would have deservedly won sympathy had they not killed anyone. Had they just hijacked the ship and kidnapped the hostages, well they would be golden, but the murder is their undoing.

Regardless of how one feels about this “controversy”, what did strike me is that the opera is ultimately a work of fiction in the same way The Crucible, which is of course based on real events, is a work of fiction. The makers of this opera appeared dedicated to presenting a well rounded portrait of the thoughts and feelings of all the characters, except, and this might just be a slight problem, they have no way of knowing what any significant character is thinking or feeling. It’s not like they were able to talk to Leon or Marilyn Klinghoffer or any of the terrorists about how they felt. The creative team of this opera basically attached an imagined narrative, a narrative they either assumed that the characters must have felt or one that they wanted to push forward simply for dramatic value, to real human beings. And, unlike the Crucible which was done centuries after the real Salem witch trials, here it was done a mere six years after the real event. No wonder Klinghoffer’s daughters are strongly opposed to the opera. A bunch of strangers are telling them, and the world, how their parents felt without having any way of knowing. Their parents have been reduced to one dimensional pawns to drive an imagined narrative forward.

The actual hijacking incident does raise interesting questions that unfortunately cannot ever be answered anymore. The main one is why was Klinghoffer, a 69 year old man in a wheelchair, even killed? He clearly wasn't a threat. It also couldn’t have been a scare tactic or an act to prove the terrorists were “serious” since no one knew he was killed. By the time it was discovered he was killed, the ship had already landed and the terrorists had already disappeared into Egypt. According to Wikipedia, which of course shouldn't automatically be believed, he was singled out because he was a Jew but even then, why kill him if you’re not going to further threaten or pontificate to anyone afterwards? This is a question that the opera obviously can’t answer since the terrorists could of course not be interviewed.

Still, more than anything, and I want to end on this note since it’s important: the opera was just bland and boring. The “controversy” is the greatest thing that could have happened to John Adams and the Met because it aroused interest in a work that isn’t interesting. Like much of sports, the Death of Klinghoffer is something that is more interesting to talk about rather than actually watch.


Updated On: 10/25/14 at 11:04 PM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/25/14 at 11:59pm

Thanks for posting that. You are not alone in feeling that way about the quality of the writing, but you said it very coherently.