August 26, 2004
New York Post - Editorial Opinion
For nearly half a century, the New York Choral Society has been one of the city's cultural gems. But the group has hit a sour note with its last-minute pullout from a performance at next week's Republican National Convention. Apparently, too many members of the chorus felt that performing at Madison Square Garden would constitute an endorsement of the Republican Party and everything it stands for — and we can't have that, now, can we?
Yet there was nothing remotely political about the group's appearance. According to the New York Sun, the NYCS was hired to perform a four-minute medley of patriotic songs — including "The Halls of Montezuma" and "Anchors Aweigh" — as part of a salute to America's armed forces. In accepting the invitation, the NYCS said it did so because "we take pride in our standing in our cultural community." Any of its members who felt differently, it said via e-mail, could "simply opt out of this performance."
Apparently, that wasn't good enough. Enough members felt sufficiently troubled that the group's president, Jay Benzon, decided to cancel, saying his board of managers had decided that the society "should [not] align itself with any political party, either implicitly or explicitly." Frankly, we're not surprised: New York's cultural community has a decidedly leftist tint, and the Choral Society no doubt feared being ostracized if it serenaded a bunch of Republicans. This, despite the fact that the group's Web site offers its availability for private corporate events — apparently, with no fear that its members might be implicitly endorsing a company's business practices. Would the NYCS have turned down a lucrative paid gig with Enron? We doubt it.
By the same token, the group in 2002 undertook an extensive performing tour of China — again, apparently without anyone having any qualms that the society was implicitly or explicitly endorsing either the communist regime or its human-rights practices. As former Mayor Ed Koch has said, hosting the GOP convention "reinforces for the world that among the many things New Yorkers do well is to pull together." Koch, a Democrat, understands that this event is about showing off New York, not about partisan politics. Too bad the New York Choral Society doesn't get it.
Note that the New York Post is considered to be very much a right wing newspaper as this editorial demonstrates
Posted by acapnews at August 26, 2004 10:16 PM
