You Gotta Love Those Ivies
"Yale limits use of toy weapons in stage plays."
"In the wake of Monday’s massacre at Virginia Tech in which a student killed 32 people, Dean of Student Affairs Betty Trachtenberg has limited the use of stage weapons in theatrical productions.
Students involved in this weekend’s production of “Red Noses” said they first learned of the new rules on Thursday morning, the same day the show was slated to open. They were subsequently forced to alter many of the scenes by swapping more realistic-looking stage swords for wooden ones, a change that many students said was neither a necessary nor a useful response to the tragedy at Virginia Tech.
According to students involved in the production, Trachtenberg has banned the use of some stage weapons in all of the University’s theatrical productions. While shows will be permitted to use obviously fake plastic weapons, students said, those that hoped to stage more realistic scenes of stage violence have had to make changes to their props."
Hm.. Wonder what they'll limit next. Scalpels in the med school? Forks in the dining halls? How about lawyers in the law school? Nah, I guess that's too much to hope for.
The weird thing is this actually is the Ivy League idea of "responsibility." Put up some kind of fake front then call a press conference. It's all about looks. "We'll still promote abortion and promiscuity and other truly destructive things, but don't we look good pulling the stage guns? Aren't we just so socially responsible?"
I'll say one thing for the Ivy League ( where DIH spent her undergrad days): there is no better training ground for recognizing b-s when you hear it. I'm pretty sure they didn't intend the lesson that way, but it was effective.
"In the wake of Monday’s massacre at Virginia Tech in which a student killed 32 people, Dean of Student Affairs Betty Trachtenberg has limited the use of stage weapons in theatrical productions.
Students involved in this weekend’s production of “Red Noses” said they first learned of the new rules on Thursday morning, the same day the show was slated to open. They were subsequently forced to alter many of the scenes by swapping more realistic-looking stage swords for wooden ones, a change that many students said was neither a necessary nor a useful response to the tragedy at Virginia Tech.
According to students involved in the production, Trachtenberg has banned the use of some stage weapons in all of the University’s theatrical productions. While shows will be permitted to use obviously fake plastic weapons, students said, those that hoped to stage more realistic scenes of stage violence have had to make changes to their props."
Hm.. Wonder what they'll limit next. Scalpels in the med school? Forks in the dining halls? How about lawyers in the law school? Nah, I guess that's too much to hope for.
The weird thing is this actually is the Ivy League idea of "responsibility." Put up some kind of fake front then call a press conference. It's all about looks. "We'll still promote abortion and promiscuity and other truly destructive things, but don't we look good pulling the stage guns? Aren't we just so socially responsible?"
I'll say one thing for the Ivy League ( where DIH spent her undergrad days): there is no better training ground for recognizing b-s when you hear it. I'm pretty sure they didn't intend the lesson that way, but it was effective.
Geez...they should have thought of using Light Sabers...could you imagine the sound effects? I'm not sure Yale intended this, but I agree with you in that they turned a truly horrendous act into a mockery of academic insight and response.
ReplyDeleteHmmmmm.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that Yale was the first American school to stage "The Pope and the Witch" in which there is much gunplay.
I wonder what kind of murder weapons are acceptable to these self-styled arbiters of our culture?
Wow. I'm certain that the VA Tech survivors are completely offended by the use of swords in Shakespearian plays, because, they were, after all, victims of a mentally-degranged GUNMAN.
ReplyDeleteYes. That's the answer. Let's focus on the weapons.
Because now all those likely highly intelligent victims of such violence are probably completely afraid of a knight bearing a standard and a sword; maybe said weapon-bearing stage character may enter their classroom and swipe heads one by one.
Because, of course, the situations are so similar.
I cannot believe the stupidity of those who are supposed to represent intelligence.
Our country is in so much trouble. We are being overrunn by idiocy.
They were subsequently forced to alter many of the scenes by swapping more realistic-looking stage swords for wooden ones, a change that many students said was neither a necessary nor a useful response to the tragedy at Virginia Tech.
ReplyDeleteWell, we can be thankful that at least the students see what a farce this action is. Maybe that means that idiocy like this will die out eventually.
BTW, I live not too far from VT, and I don't see anyone around here throwing away their hunting guns.
This puts me in mind of the old adage that an intellectual is someone educated beyond his intelligence.
ReplyDelete-J.