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Notes -
So there's a musical on Broadway, called Suffs, about the Women's Suffrage Movement in the US in the 1910s. It won a couple Tony's last month (https://playbill.com/article/shaina-taub-wins-best-original-score-at-2024-tony-awards-for-suffs). Alas, even the stage is not immune from impromptu protests, as a far-left group of demonstrators interrupted the show and unfurled a banner for approximately 20 seconds before being escorted out. (https://apnews.com/article/suffs-disrupted-broadway-whitewash-05c6df87a220c253b66807f312948a80).
The group's website (https://www.cancelsuffs.com) alleges that the show is whitewashing the history of the suffrage movement. They point out two historical main characters Alice Paul and Carrie Chapman Catt excluded Black women from the NWP and believe white supremacy would be strengthened by the movement. They also bring up Woodrow Wilson's efforts to segregate the federal government and his screening of The Birth of a Nation while the suffrage movement was still ongoing. They also suggest that the 19th Amendment opened the door to women-centered factions of the KKK.
Has anyone here seen the musical? What are everyone's thoughts about the depiction of controversial historical events as entertainment? Is there any merit to this far-left group's position?
I imagine the motive here is to further deny the white public from admiring their supremacy in any way. It is a reminder that you can’t have white heroes or stories, not in the foundation of the Republic (what we saw a few years ago) and not even in the misguided women’s rights movement, and certainly not in pseudohistorical entertainment (Bridgerton, Hamilton). You have to let them know that every white achievement is stained in blood and evilness. So to have a musical — the culture of the wealthy liberal base — extol heroic white women is a faux pas that must be balanced by blackening their reputation. Expect an update story and cast in future productions. At least to me this genuinely has the most predictive power for which things are criticized and altered. It’s not actually about purity spiraling, as we know (for instance) that MLK was a pro-rape plagiarist [2]. There won’t seriously be change to the connotation of MLK because of this.
It's egodeath for a lot of minority interests to have to essentially acknowledge that the majority of equal rights concessions came from Western Whites essentially opting to concede them
Now explain why progressive whites - who actually possess the bulk of the power in situations like this - indulge it.
This is "indulgence" indeed. Land acknowledgements without giving the land back. Bitterly complaining about historical whites without giving up their good job for a non-white person.
These people pay no personal cost for indulging in this. They gain social cachet if anything.
Yes, this is the standard explanation but I don't think it can fully explain the situation.
White people do lose out on positions. Most progressive whites aren't at the top of the stack, able to ride out issues like AA and so on until retirement. Even those that are can suffer from cancellation when they violate a new rule.
When the Leopard does eat their face they tend to pivot, just minimal situational awareness until that moment actually occurs.
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