Art, in all its guises, can unite people who share no other common ground. Advancing that idea a little further, art stagnates when everyone is singing from the same songbook, or is too afraid to be themselves, or to go out on a limb and engage in a little wild improvisation. Sometimes, (rarely, if I am honest), I am happy to entertain Diamanda Galas, pictured covered from head to foot in fake blood, wailing in tongues and demanding "Give me sodomy, or give me death". Other times I just want to listen to Coldplay. I can enjoy the music of Morrissey and, to a lesser extent, his bat-shit insane novel, without necessarily agreeing with his socio-political outlook. I endorse the art. As long as the artist isn't doing anything too heinous, I consider their life and their opinions to be their own business. The way Dan is being discussed in certain quarters, you would think that he had recently re-annexed Poland.
The performative and unprofessional manner with which the organisers of the Leigh Folk Festival have handled this online brouhaha may blow up in their faces, if they legally compelled to identify the offending social media posts, and find themselves in the position of defending the morally indefensible.
I sympathise with them to an extent because I know from experience that there are broken individuals who, to all intents and purposes, live online, and who like nothing more than to band together and gleefully destroy the lives of strangers. I have seen mobs like this drive people to suicide and then laugh about it afterwards. I wish I was joking. If you are a organisation, or an individual, who somehow gets on their radar, and then fails to fall into lock-step with their demands, they will make trouble for you. Sadly, had the organisers of the Festival stood their ground, the people pressuring them to drop Whom By Fire, would have probably made an even bigger stink. It takes courage to stand up to an online mob.
That being said, when you defer to the mob, all you do is kick the can down the road. In time they will return with greater demands and more of them. Meanwhile, your supporters, who represent the core of your audience, will quietly walk away in search of another folk festival with blackjack and hookers, or they will just stay at home and put on a Sandy Denny record.
That is why you do not allow someone who has no lived experience of the more insalubrious corners of social media anywhere near your organisation's accounts. If they cannot relate to you the completely avoidable folly that was 'Dub the Dew', then they have no business managing your Twitter or Facebook page.
I cycled to Chalkwell this evening but felt no desire to venture any further west. The mediocre sunset was still better than any curated entertainment occurring a half-mile upriver. The Festival has been tainted, unnecessarily in my opinion. Cooler heads could have worked this out.
Art, in all its guises, can unite people who share no other common ground. Advancing that idea a little further, art stagnates when everyone is singing from the same songbook, or is too afraid to be themselves, or to go out on a limb and engage in a little wild improvisation. Sometimes, (rarely, if I am honest), I am happy to entertain Diamanda Galas, pictured covered from head to foot in fake blood, wailing in tongues and demanding "Give me sodomy, or give me death". Other times I just want to listen to Coldplay. I can enjoy the music of Morrissey and, to a lesser extent, his bat-shit insane novel, without necessarily agreeing with his socio-political outlook. I endorse the art. As long as the artist isn't doing anything too heinous, I consider their life and their opinions to be their own business. The way Dan is being discussed in certain quarters, you would think that he had recently re-annexed Poland.
The performative and unprofessional manner with which the organisers of the Leigh Folk Festival have handled this online brouhaha may blow up in their faces, if they legally compelled to identify the offending social media posts, and find themselves in the position of defending the morally indefensible.
I sympathise with them to an extent because I know from experience that there are broken individuals who, to all intents and purposes, live online, and who like nothing more than to band together and gleefully destroy the lives of strangers. I have seen mobs like this drive people to suicide and then laugh about it afterwards. I wish I was joking. If you are a organisation, or an individual, who somehow gets on their radar, and then fails to fall into lock-step with their demands, they will make trouble for you. Sadly, had the organisers of the Festival stood their ground, the people pressuring them to drop Whom By Fire, would have probably made an even bigger stink. It takes courage to stand up to an online mob.
That being said, when you defer to the mob, all you do is kick the can down the road. In time they will return with greater demands and more of them. Meanwhile, your supporters, who represent the core of your audience, will quietly walk away in search of another folk festival with blackjack and hookers, or they will just stay at home and put on a Sandy Denny record.
That is why you do not allow someone who has no lived experience of the more insalubrious corners of social media anywhere near your organisation's accounts. If they cannot relate to you the completely avoidable folly that was 'Dub the Dew', then they have no business managing your Twitter or Facebook page.
I cycled to Chalkwell this evening but felt no desire to venture any further west. The mediocre sunset was still better than any curated entertainment occurring a half-mile upriver. The Festival has been tainted, unnecessarily in my opinion. Cooler heads could have worked this out.