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Lileks on "Osama the Hero"
Part of today's "Bleat"Loved this entry at Tim Blairs site, but of course I love them all. Hes discussing a play called Osama, My Hero, which is a brave piece of dissent that forces us to confront our preconceptions. Or would, if anyone in the audience didnt already share the authors preconceptions about other peoples preconceptions. The play is described as provocative. Naturally. There's no finer word in the modern artists lexicon. Thats the role of art: to resist the affirmation of societal confidence, because it leads to things like war and big cars and bigger houses in cul-del-sac burbs where pot-bellied yobs have an entire room for their NASCAR cap collection. This cannot stand; the center must not hold. That rough beast isnt going to birth itself, you know; we have to rip it out, saddle it up and ride all the way to Bethelem so we can get on with whatever comes next. And whatever it might be it has to be better than this, because THIS is television-as-anesthesia, food packed in tinfoil, guns in all the wrong hands (citizens and soliders, neither of whom can be trusted) and a general willful refusal of everyone else to understand that this is possibly the nadir of human civilization right here, and if theyd stop enjoying their life for one single second for a change, theyd realize it. Over here, look at us! We are provoking you! Come and give us a grant, or we shall be forced to provoke you again with a play in which the Pope wears a suit made out of wet fresh placentas and goose-steps around the stage singing Lili Marlene! As Blair notes, a play that makes fun of the other side would be provocative, but it would never enter their minds to do a play about a kid whos head gets lopped off because he declares Salman Rushdie his hero. On some level they realize that the backlash would be dangerous, but theyve laid a nice thick moist layer of rationalization over the worries: the nutters may be nuttery, but the people who oppose them are doing so for the wrong reasons, and thats the real threat. Its a long way from Our Town and Ah, Wilderness. And well it should be, because Our Town was built on a toxic waste dump and the wilderness was cut down to print TV Guides and Wall Street Journals, man. Posted by: Steve 2007-06-21 |
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