Have you ever heard of Leon Fleisher? Me, either. Fleisher was one of the recipients of the Kennedy Center Honors. From NewsBusters comes this article: Months Later, WaPo Features Artist Upset Over Visiting White House. Although the Honors evening occurred back on December 2, preceded by a White House reception the afternoon of the ceremony, a piece was run in the Washington Post Saturday written by Fleisher feigning displeasure at "a profound irony" of being honored by a President blamed for his own mental derangement. He wanted the award, of course, so he had to justify the appearance he made to receive the applause.
Fleisher is a pianist, conductor and teacher, according to my Google search. He is described as legendary as a keyboard artist and was tragically afflicted with a rare neurological disease at an early age, resulting in the loss of the use of his right hand. He was born in 1928, so he is certainly old enough to have far more social graces than apparently he does.
Poor guy. That President Bush, who initiated an illegal war, tortures prisoners, won't accept embryonic stem cell research on the taxpayer's dime, and don't forget he is personally destroying the environment, expected him to follow traditional protocol and attend the reception. Oh no, you mean Fleisher had to be in the same room with the embodiment of evil? What would that do to his cool kid cred with his fellow artists?
The solution? He decided to be grown up enough to attend the reception at the White House, along with the other honorees: Brian Wilson, Steve Martin, Diana Ross and Martin Scorsese, none known for conservative thoughts yet not feeling the need to be jackasses in print, and he wore a peace symbol around his neck and a purple ribbon on his lapel. Wow. How bold.
What a stupid old man. Mr. old man liberal, unable to just say thank you and take the honor, was so insecure in life that he had to make the BDS 'statement' to the press. He is horrified, horrified I tell you, by many of the President's policies. It was a 'dilemma' for him. Oh, the anguish. And, the fact that the Washington Post published it so far after the event also shows it's never too late to slap the President.
Even if it is a purely gratuitous slap. Feel all better now, Fleisher? Artists like you are murdered in other places in the world. How's that for irony?
13 comments:
"Artists like you are murdered in other places in the world." Exactly. How quickly we forget.
Puts me in mind of the Cultural Revolution, where even music TEACHERS were imprisoned or worse, their musical instruments destroyed and lps smashed and often by their NEIGHBORS.
Hey, but I've never heard of him, either, before today and shall endeavor to forget while wearing an *arrow through my head*.
What a jerk. Reading about assinine people like this makes me want to scream.
Love the way you write! Too bad your post doesn't run alongside the WaPo article. Do they have an online comment section where you can link your post, too?
What a coward on principle.
As much as I might have disagreed with President Clinton, I still respected the office of presidency enough, that I would not confuse an attempt at embarrassing the president with embarrassing myself. My college roommate was in the '96 Olympics and has a picture of himself shaking hands with President Clinton. I think that's a moment to be proud of and treasured. It doesn't matter who sits in the office at the time. The fact remains, he got to shake hands with the sitting president of the United States of America, and get his picture taken.
Oh, the poor man!
I sat in a church service yesterday which was celebrating a week of missionary emphasis. One man told of three men in an unnamed country who were murdered because they dared assemble in the name of Christ. As the speaker said, 50 in a city of 50,000 are such a threat.
We are so free. Are we going to stay that way?
I so agree with wordsmith's comment about the office of president.
You don't understand. GWB is the first war criminal of the 21st century, responsible for about half a million deaths. Fleisher managed to bring some attention to the Kennedy Center and the plight of artists in this country (how shameful that you feel comfortable admitting that you don't know who Fleisher is -- I'll bet you've heard of Britney Spears) while distancing himself from Bush's butchery.
I salute Leon Fleisher.
"That President Bush, who initiated an illegal war, tortures prisoners, won't accept embryonic stem cell research on the taxpayer's dime, and don't forget he is personally destroying the environment, expected him to follow traditional protocol and attend the reception. Oh no, you mean Fleisher had to be in the same room with the embodiment of evil?"
You said it exactly in your first post, although I fear you were being sarcastic.
www.robertingersoll.com
Seriously,he needs to do the round of blogs about countrys that do not have artistic freedom.
Maybe that was his last bid at a claim to fame piece !!!
I love you... LOL. (Strictly in a friendly platonic way of course!) LOL.
I love listening to you rant and rave so much more eloquently than I tend to.
Oh for God's sake Jeff Wagner!!
AS for Fleisher... what an ingrate.
Fleisher managed to bring some attention to the Kennedy Center and the plight of artists in this country
No; all he did was bring attention to himself as a drinker of kool-aid.
What's it taste like, jeff wagner?
"Artists like you are murdered in other places in the world." Exactly. How quickly we forget.
Actually, you can't forget what you don't know. This is exactly another way around: quite often dark political figures promoted great artists. A few examples - Hitler awarded Karajan and Furthwangler, Stalin promoted Gilels and Oystrach, Krushev patronised Richter and Clibern.
If not use American liberties to distance oneself from dirty powers, why then have and defend our freedoms? But never let lack of knowledge affect your views...
Throughout history and around the world, using artits as political props is a common practice of totalitarian, colonial, and war mongering regimes (OK, "administrations") like Bush's. Why would we stoop so low as to suggest Fleisher should be grateful not to have been imprisoned or worse? Is that the conservative mindset? Very interesting and enlightening to read your twisted and pathetic orientation. Your fake pity for the man's suffering is also disgusting.
Perhaps you'll be proud of your brilliant president for miscounting the number of honorees at his glorious reception (even though they were seated in front of him and there were fewer than ten - he could have used his fingers!) and calling Scorsese by the name Sarkozy (twice). That's the kind of mind we want in charge! Good for you - denigrate and harass this lucid and extremely talented octogenarian you've never heard of for expressing his views in a manner this great democracy was designed to permit. He did so despite the pressure of his industry to be a silent prop. You're free too to sound so petty and absurd, now and after these dark eight years are over.
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