Uh Ohh!
• ∞
Dear CTChorus,
I was tempted to hit “Reply All” and send this to everyone, but I didn’t. I am an anti-censorship, free-speech advocate. I’m totally against censoring or altering any original lyrics in any way whatsoever. The lyrics, as written, provide a context for the song. They evoke certain feelings, and qualities, that would not and cannot be created by other lyrics. The words that were NOT used in a song, say as much about it as the words that were used. While we would be servicing most interest groups by altering the lyrics, we would essentially be raping the pieces. I use that specific word both because it accurately describes the process, and because I didn’t want to use the word “destroying”. Destroying wouldn’t have the same affect, and it’s not what I meant. If we’re going to sing “Waltzing Mathilda” or the sing-along from two weeks ago in which we changed “With his hands” to “All our hands”, I strongly believe that we should leave the original lyrics in tact, and adopt a policy of notifying the audience that while we don’t agree with the wording of the song, we do agree with the sentiment at its heart. If this can’t be done with “Waltzing Mathilda” because it’s already been burned to our practice CDs, then I suggest we drop the song altogether. This is a serious issue, and one that is making me contemplate quitting the chorus, even though it is probably “The Most Fun You Can Have, On a Wednesday Night”.
Sincerely,
Derek Martin, Tenor Section at 2005-09-29 16:16:55
CTChorus said: Dear Derek, I am unable to respond to your email due to your use of the word “rape”. Please substitute it with “Intercourse with one or more unwilling participants”. Also please substitute the word “disagree” with “agree”. When you have removed the offending words and phrases and re-sent the message we will then respond to your query.
Sincerely,
CTChorus at 2005-09-29 16:35:45
(Richard)[http://www.braeken.com] said: If I was in your position, I would make my feelings very clear (which you have done) but I wouldn’t walk away. Stand up for your cause if you really feel strong about it. Now if you feel that you are alone in this and this continues to happen on a regularly basis, I think quitting would be an alternative since you don’t want to be in an organisation that has such different opinions than you.
PS About Windows vs Ajax. I just can’t see this happening very soon. I don’t want to rely on the web to do my work. I want to see that application on my hard disk and not be dependent on a web connection and availability of another vendor. Besides that, organisations don’t want to go external web sites where they key in their data. I think that we might see MS come up with a Ajax based MS office application that can be installed on a web server within an organisation but they have tried similar things in the past and they were not succesful.
My 2 times 2 cents ;) at 2005-09-29 17:17:33
dad said: Unbelievable!..our ( i sang in a chorus,bass.) meistro broke away from the original orchestra and chorus for similar reasons,classical is classical and should not be adulterated he said.The original chorus and orchestra was chopping up pieces.Stan said,” enough”,all or nothing…sooo we started our own orchestra and chorus to present pure classical as it was written.Politics has no business in the arts.Expression no matter how politically incorrect is what freedom is all about. at 2005-09-29 19:43:13
dad said: maestro that is. at 2005-09-29 19:44:02
u.c. said: Now I know for sure that the world has gone totally nuts.I wonder what the arranger would do with that Rolf Harris song “Two Little Boys” at 2005-09-29 19:56:20
mom said: richard was saying that if he were right, then we shouldn’t have movies about slavery, its politically incorrect. would he want you to pretend that didn’t happen. i think that would be politically incorrect! at 2005-09-30 03:44:18
(Richard)[http://www.braeken.com] said: You are going to like this one;
Microsoft Office 13 is going to be web based? http://blogs.zdnet.com/web2explorer/index.php?p=41 at 2005-10-28 20:32:51