“The Metropolitan Opera said on Sunday that it would no longer engage with performers or other institutions that have voiced support for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia."
Everyone who cares about free speech or political diversity ought to be concerned about this latest version of cancelling people for their political incorrectness. Should the U.S. push back against Putin’s anti-Ukrainian aggression? Absolutely yes! Should America’s cultural institutions sever all ties with Russians who don’t speak out against Putin? Hell no!
In the bad old days, the Soviet Union demanded of its citizens, in order to keep their jobs and their lives, that they condemn “the running dogs of the capitalists” and anyone else who Lenin and Stalin considered political enemies. Now, in the United States of America, “the land of the free,” the Metropolitan Opera demands of Russian nationals who wish to work with the Met to publicly denounce Putin’s aggression against Ukraine.
Why is it so hard to get the boundaries right on what we support and who we shun? Why is it so easy to fight for a good cause in the wrong way?
“In recent days Russian artists, long ubiquitous in classical music, have come under pressure to condemn Mr. Putin’s actions or face the prospect of canceled engagements.”
Should a company or institution insist that its employees, partners, and collaborators condemn a particular political act that is unrelated to their daily work? Hell no! . . . HELL NO!
We should instead listen to “superstar soprano Anna Netrebko” who wrote that “forcing artists, or any public figure, to voice their political opinions in public and to denounce their homeland is not right.”
But will the Met listen? “It was unclear if her statement would satisfy the Met’s new test.”