Presented below is my letter to the Santa Fe New Mexican which appeared this morning. The background is that Meow Wolf, an experiential art venue, suddenly cancelled a concert by Matisyahu, a Jewish reggae performer on February 14. One member of their union complained that Matisyahu's support for Israel in its war against Hamas made her feel unsafe. That snowballed into a walkout that left the venue with insufficient staff to accommodate the sold-out audience of 400 people. The next day a Tucson venue did the same thing. Further an attempt to cancel Jerry Seinfeld's performance in Albuquerque failed and his show went on.
"Narrow ideology
In
oh-so-progressive and oh-so-artsy Santa Fe, fascism is alive and well.
Following the playbook straight out of 1930 Germany, a group of so-called
activists pressured Meow Wolf management into canceling a sold out concert by Matisyahu,
a Jewish performer whose only sin is supporting Israel in the war against
Hamas. This is no different from the tactic used by the jackbooted brown shirts
against Jewish artists and businesses. I guess today’s
Santa Fe activists no longer believe in free expression and artistic freedom,
but they rather act like thugs to enforce their narrow ideology.
David
Shulman
Santa Fe"
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