{"id":949,"date":"2024-07-16T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-16T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/?p=949"},"modified":"2024-06-22T03:35:41","modified_gmt":"2024-06-22T03:35:41","slug":"you-know-that-happened-before-i-was-even-born","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/2024\/07\/16\/you-know-that-happened-before-i-was-even-born\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cYou Know, That Happened Before I Was Even Born.\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

That\u2019s your excuse? Really?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Don\u2019t worry. You haven\u2019t missed a thing.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m tired of hearing it. It\u2019s a lazy excuse, a stupid response, and dangerously elitist nonsense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I talked to a reporter recently about a story I was putting together (it\u2019s a doozy, but it\u2019s going to take some time, so I\u2019ll be taking time out this summer to work on it). He mentioned that he didn\u2019t understand what was so important about it, in the context of what was going on in the nonprofit arts industry today, which, in his mind, was all about artists getting paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had mentioned that this was nothing new, that artists have historically not been paid well at all. Today\u2019s predicament was no different from, as I mentioned, all times where artists had to rely on often toxic sources in order to have a meal. Paint a portrait of the duchess, get paid. Paint a landscape, maybe not. Paint something ribald, almost definitely not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Actors and other performers have been unpaid for centuries. Really, it\u2019s nothing new. If you\u2019re upset about it, that\u2019s a good thing, I told the reporter. If you want to do something for artists in your community, don\u2019t believe for a second that the answer lies in funding the organizations that may or may not hire them \u2014 and even when they do, will look for the least possible paycheck they can give \u2014 because \u201cemployment\u201d is in the company\u2019s best interest, not the artist. Many artists are so happy to get any work that they\u2019ll do it for nothing. They\u2019ll even pay to do it<\/em>. Or worse, they\u2019ll do it for their r\u00e9sum\u00e9, which is filled with one job that paid bupkes and twenty-two from college, community theater, or that 35-seat delicatessen where they did a reading once. And lots of other things \u201cfor their r\u00e9sum\u00e9.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Maybe you didn\u2019t know this, but this isn\u2019t news. (Photo by MART PRODUCTION from Pexels)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The reporter, listening to my story dismissively, said that he didn\u2019t know about all that because it all happened before he was born.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I mentioned that to me, that comment was a non sequitur. <\/em>What did that have to do with researching the story? It was then that the reporter told me that his story<\/em> was new, important, and (somehow) filled with data-driven information crucial to the nonprofit arts environment of his town. And that he didn\u2019t really have any more time for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He shut down the conversation and left. I haven\u2019t heard from him since, although I\u2019ve quietly sent him some old article from newspapers that give some perspective on his \u201cresearch.\u201d He probably didn\u2019t know what to do with something from a newspaper. Just more recycle, I suppose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not the first time I\u2019ve been confronted by that excuse, and it\u2019s even pervasive in generations older than the Gen Z reporter to whom I was talking. Is history meaningless when it comes to providing insight, if not actual answers, to today\u2019s issues? If so, then I suppose George Santayana was wrong. Which he wasn\u2019t. Because it does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And no, I\u2019m not going to tell you what Santayana said, nor am I going to provide a hyperlink. I will tell you that he said it in 1905, which means that you might not think it\u2019s all that important anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, this ridiculous (in the literal sense \u2013 it should be often ridiculed) behavior about not knowing about something because it happened \u201cbefore I was born\u201d extends to those brand-new, never-before-seen instances of cancel culture and easily offended folks. I might say something here like \u201cEnough already!\u201d but I might get cancelled for using a phrase associated with Jewish people, because, if you didn\u2019t already know, the word \u201calready\u201d was already copyrighted by every Jewish mother in New Jersey in the 1930s. And besides, every bit of the history of Jewish mothers is antisemitic, misogynistic, and an unfair caricature of some of the bravest women in the world. And none of it is true \u2013 it\u2019s all just stories men make up so that they can continue to enjoy their privilege.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sure, that <\/em>you\u2019ll look up. Oy. Gottenyu.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Thanksgiving Day, Autumn feast. Happy family sitting at the table and celebrating holiday. Grandparents, mother and children. Traditional dinner.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Are we the best-educated, least-informed society that ever lived, at least in the United States? And are we this at the same time that we have the entire compendium of human existence in a Hello Kitty case in our purses and pockets? Do we really believe that every creative thought has never been thought, and as such, is new?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does somebody honestly believe that they invented \u201ccancel culture?\u201d Look up Joe McCarthy and Roy Cohn. How is what they did any different? What about The Crucible, <\/em>Arthur Miller\u2019s masterpiece about cancel culture in Salem, Massachusetts? Is that any different? Go back generation after generation and you\u2019ll find examples hundreds (thousands?) of years old. And whatever happened to John 8:7-11? What makes you think that cancel culture is a good thing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re cancelling someone you feel has wronged, then you\u2019re on the side of McCarthy, Salem, and every other mob. Don\u2019t get me wrong: Weinstein, Cosby, Trump come to mind as those whose wrongdoings caused criminal pain. Fatty Arbuckle, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that doesn\u2019t change the fact that mobs are indiscriminate about their next targets. Robert De Niro was just denied a leadership award by the National Association of Broadcasters because he spoke harshly against the convicted felon running for president. And now that I\u2019ve written this, I suppose I\u2019m next. Hell, I\u2019ve done unacceptable things in my lifetime and haven\u2019t apologized for all of it. I\u2019ve also been accused of doing unacceptable things I never did. Does that apply to you, too?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Honestly, I feel sorry for all the folks who don\u2019t bother looking stuff up. I feel worse that the cell phone has replaced the whole notion of \u201cwonder,\u201d here representing the long path of just not knowing something instead of rushing to an answer based on some internet troll. Wonder breeds fascination, which breeds curiosity, which breeds innovation. I miss wonder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m mortified that more people know the names of all the key people in the Kardashian family than know the name of Ronald Reagan\u2019s youngest son. It\u2019s why that quote from Abraham Lincoln (just so you know, he was the president of the United States some time ago \u2014 it was in all the newspapers) was right \u2013 it\u2019s obvious that some people are being fooled all of the time. The problem is, they think that\u2019s just fine, because Lincoln died way before they were born and, therefore, is irrelevant to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the thousands (Hundreds? Tens?) of people who read my work every week and look for insights into the plight of nonprofit arts organizations, know that the industry is getting a little better and a lot worse simultaneously. Ignorant certitude is everywhere. With high stress and threat of closure, its leaders are unable to change their monomaniacal patterns, believing that somehow things will just turn around. They believe in the fantasy of Mickey-and-Judy, Uncle Ed\u2019s-got-a-barn, let\u2019s-put-on-a-show solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Really? You don\u2019t know who Mickey is? No, it\u2019s not Mickey Mouse. And his<\/em> girlfriend\u2019s name was Minnie, not Judy. But hey, you don\u2019t have to know that. It all happened before you were born.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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