This has been a busy week between work, headaches, our daughter being home, and planning for a new phone (acquired yesterday). Still, a few articles caught my eye, and some of them even themed. In particular, this set of items, all dealing with things we’ve seen in the past:
- School Troubles. Here are two articles about problems at high schools, both of which I don’t think we should be seeing these days, In the first article, parents are protesting (and school boards are thus nervous about) potential problems and stereotypes in high-school theatre productions, and thus they are cancelling them. The example given deals with Thoroughly Modern Millie, which does have a stereotypical 1920s plot line about about Asian white slavers. There are other examples given in the article, from Fiddler‘s portrayal of Orthodox Jews to West Side Story‘s portrayal of Puerto Ricans. I don’t understand why we must insist that every show from the past must be updated to meet today’s standards of correctness; I believe we should use the discussion of these shows to highlight how we mis-thought in the past. (The Smothers Brothers had a great routine on this called “Controversial Material” on the “Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour” album, which is, alas, out of print). The second article is an opinion piece in today’s LA Times that states that middle- and high-school girls shouldn’t wear leggings because it distracts the boys. Excuse me. This sounds like the attitude of many Orthodox religions that think we need to cover up the women to protect the men from themselves. I believe we need to teach people to behave properly to other people, no matter how they are dressed.
7 out of 7 Critics. Taco Bell has introduced a new breakfast menu, and to advertise it, they are getting men named Ronald McDonald to endorse it. But this isn’t anything new. Back in 1961, the musical “Subways are for Sleeping” opened to negative reviews. Before those reviews could be printed, David Merrick, the producer, rounded up 7 men in the New York area with the same names as the critics, wined and dined them and treated them to the show, and each gave a rave review. Merrick published (or attempted to publish) this in the papers, showing how the critics loved it (with a small picture of each). The show still failed, but the trick has gone down in advertising infamy. Looks like Taco Bell is trying to do the same thing.- Nobody Expects The …. We all know that nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition. Would you expect it a second time? Spain hopes not. To bolster their standing in the EU and to “right the wrongs”, there is now a government proposal that would offer descendants of Spanish Jews citizenship and welcome them back to the land that drove out their ancestors. Up to 3.5 million Jews worldwide trace their lineage to Spain, although it’s not clear how or when their forebears made their way there in the first place. However, exactly what the Spanish government would consider sufficient proof of Spanish heritage — and what is producible so many centuries later — is not yet clear.
