Flanders Festival Ghent says it made decision over lack of ‘clarity’ about incoming conductor Lahav Shani’s views.
While Shani had spoken in favour of “peace and reconciliation” in the past, his attitude towards the “genocidal regime in Tel Aviv” was unclear given his role as the chief conductor of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the festival organisers said.
As a US citizen and seeing what’s happening to this place, yes, I would recommend everywhere find out where a given American stands on various issues when deciding to allow them in or not. Easy question.
So do you check the political views of orchestra conductors of every concert you go to? The coaches of each game? The producers and directors of movies you watch? And by that I mean do you insist they definitively make public statements against Trump, not just that they don’t publicly support him?
This habit of asking questions that you incorrectly believe have obvious “gotcha” answers, and which don’t really relate that closely to the issue at hand…really not providing the rhetorical weight you’re hoping for.
The folks running that festival have every right to curate who they invite to perform. That really has nothing to do with what I choose to consume, but yes, I do consider the people behind whatever entertainment I might want to enjoy, as well as where I’m willing to shop. We all should, to whatever degree we can manage. Stupid question.
Finally - these folks are in the business of hosting musical performances, that’s the thing they are there to do, and cancelling one is precisely the opposite of their business model. You understand that right? Don’t you think ANYONE in that position would reach out to the guy and give him the chance to clarify? Don’t you think they did exactly that, and ended up discovering he’s probably a fuckin Zionist?
Anyway, your arguments are too bad to continue to rebut. See ya later.