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Last updated on August 5th, 2017 at 03:58 am
US playwright Kirk Lynn tells the SMH of a great silencing:
“I don’t know what it was like in Australia,” Lynn says of the years immediately after September 11, “but I know for certain in the States there was this whole period where there was no satire. That was the climate, no one was saying anything, it was all hush-hush and certainly not funny. That’s the way Lenny Bruce bubbled up. Where are the people who would normally be saying this stuff?”
This appeared on September 27. Theatre people are stupid.
UPDATE. Paco:
Pretending that one lives in an oppressive and fearful society, and saying so publicly, creates a sensation of courage and nobility that, in reality, is totally missing from the lives of many of these artsy types. For some reason, it’s not enough for these people to be perceived as interesting, or witty, or brilliant: they have this great need to be perceived as heroic as well.
Yep; that about sums it up.
- Yes, very funny. Death and devastation on mass. Very funny. What a prick.Posted by Fast Eddie on 2007 07 01 at 08:43 AM • permalink
- Err, try one day, not years in Australia. The Chaser magazine (link) went out on September 12, 2001 with a headline “WORLD TRADE CENTER JANITOR DECLARES: “Best sickie ever””Posted by ErnestBludger on 2007 07 01 at 09:17 AM • permalink
- Wow. Judging from the description of the play, with all those elements and sources, it sounds like a dreadful, incomprehensible mess of unfunny hipness. I couldn’t imagine a more boring way to spend my time, unless I were a self-absorbed pretentious wanker going to a Really Cool Avant Garde Satirical Play in order to be, myself, seen and admired.
- Say! That’s right! I do Bush tried to outlaw satire and teh funny. Until Hillary and the Democrats defeated him and his minions in a dramatic scene in that play we saw in an off-Broadway theatre near a cute little bistro that served the tastiest rice cakes?
Dark times they were, I remember them well.
- Thanks for bringing back that Onion article, Tim. It was about the only thing that made me laugh during those horrible weeks post 9/11.
On the other hand, someone like Kirk Lynn would probably say that it didn’t count, because it was ripping on the hijackers and not (say) George Bush. I don’t think imagination is this guy’s strong point.
Posted by Sonetka’s Mom on 2007 07 01 at 09:52 AM • permalink
- I don’t imagine empathy is one of his strong points, either.
Self-indulgence, on the other hand…
Posted by Spiny Norman on 2007 07 01 at 09:56 AM • permalink
- OK, how about this potential audience for Lynn’s underappreciated satirical wit? I’m sure they’d love him over there.
(More about that other story at Captain’s Quarters.)
- Lynn’s next project: Tales of the Obtuse.Posted by Spiny Norman on 2007 07 01 at 10:13 AM • permalink
- Pretending that one lives in an oppressive and fearful society, and saying so publicly, creates a sensation of courage and nobility that, in reality, is totally missing from the lives of many of these artsy types. For some reason, it’s not enough for these people to be perceived as interesting, or witty, or brilliant: they have this great need to be perceived as heroic, as well.
- Brave Kirk Lynn laughs in the face of fear. Ha ha ha!
The kind of fear felt by theatre goers in Moscow, held hostage and terrorized by Chechen Islamist separatists?
The kind of fear felt by toddlers terrorized for days, and soon to die after their first day back at school in Beslan?
Oh yeah, real funny. Well, that’s just two examples of fear used for political purposes that he might “explore”. You got it right, Spiny, he obviously has no empathy… because he wasn’t there.
Ha ha ha!
What a narcissist.
- Look, the conservatives are at war against fascist Islamists that want to take the world back to the 7th century or utterly destroy it. This takes courage, steadfastness, and conviction.
But the liberals are brave too. They’re fighting against, um, well, very tough things that George Bush is doing against them. Secret things that no one hears about. That makes them equally brave. Yes.
Posted by wronwright on 2007 07 01 at 10:57 AM • permalink
- What is it about some American Lefties who think they can go abroad, tell disparaging whoppers about Americans, and never get found out by the folks back home? Does it buy them credibility with the anti-American so-called Intelligentsia?
To me it just permanently marks them as cranks.
Posted by Bruce Rheinstein on 2007 07 01 at 12:28 PM • permalink
- Someone should give this guy the chance to live his dream. Let’s call all thr local mosques and tell them the theatre companies producing his plays are funded by Jews…Posted by richard mcenroe on 2007 07 01 at 12:42 PM • permalink
- #15) Well said!!!Posted by nofixedabode on 2007 07 01 at 01:23 PM • permalink
- #6
“Hey, Rocky! Watch me pull a pretense from my hat!”
Does that follow the past tense post haste?
Sorry … global warming made me do it.Posted by Wimpy Canadian on 2007 07 01 at 01:36 PM • permalink
- A fantasy post:
Hey, I’ve demonstrated against Bush and nothing happened. I even carried a paper mache head, and … Hey what are those big black SUVs pulling up outside? And all those guys dressed all in black milling around. Jeez, I’ve never seen so much black canvas and zippers, and stuff hanging off of belts. OMG they’re coming up the stairs! Can I hit send before th
- #15 paco,
Absolutely correct. I read a column once of disparaging items said in the 1970’s and ‘80’s about Soviet dissidents and refusniks by the likes of Norman Mailer and other NYC ‘intellectuals’. Prisoners of conscience were portrayed as reactionaries and counterrevolutionaries or just head cases rightfully confined to asylums.
Nowadays, these same NYers sit on the beach in the Hamptons and claim the title of dissident and refusnik and liken themselves to the millions who perished in the Gulag.
It is so far beyond tasteless that I can’t even think of a word to describe it.
- #22 He is pretty obscure.
Another problem perhaps is the Left’s response to 9/11. For example fewer than two weeks after the attacks Susan Sontag wrote in the New Yorker:
Where is the acknowledgement that this was not a “cowardly” attack on “civilization” position. or “liberty” or “humanity” or “the free world” but an attack on the world’s self-proclaimed super-power, undertaken as a consequence of specific American alliances and actions?
With left-wing “intellectuals” staking out that kind of territory, there isn’t much room left for satire.
Not that some people of the Lew Rockwell persuasion, like Ron Paul who seems to be wavering between grassy knoll and we-brought-it-upon-ourselves positions, haven’t been every bit as unsatirizable.
Posted by Bruce Rheinstein on 2007 07 01 at 02:05 PM • permalink
pretending that one lives in an oppressive and fearful society, and saying so publicly, creates a sensation of courage and nobility…
My limited experience with self-absorbed actors and directors lead me to a different conclusion : No quest for heroism. They believe whatever bullshit comes out of their mouth because just know they wouldn’t have said it if it wasn’t true. Not a lot of thinking going on. Talk about thinking and how intellectual they are but little thought.
Posted by Col. Milquetoast on 2007 07 01 at 02:19 PM • permalink
- “This appeared on September 27.”
People like Kirk Lynn aren’t interested in nasty satire directed at terrorists.
‘“We wanted to make something about fear that would actually comfort people and diffuse the madness,” Lynn said.’
Nah, you wanted to trash your culture, your country, and your government, and try and make your countrymen look weak, venal and foolish. That’s what you do for a living.
And, you’re whining because there wasn’t much of a market for that kind of crap in the days immediately following 9/11/01.
Pardon me, if I don’t feel sorry for you.
You’re a maggot, and I don’t feel sorry for maggots.
Posted by Dave Surls on 2007 07 01 at 02:43 PM • permalink
- A different fantasy post:
Hey, I’ve demonstrated against Bush and nothing happened. I even carried a paper mache head and nothing happened. I’ve written brave articles detailing his despicable crimes and nothing happened. I’ve advocated that the world would be better off if a new Lee Harvey Oswald were to come along…and nothing happened.
Hmmm, I guess I was wrong. I’m really not brave at all. I’m just a self-aggrandizing narcissist desperate to feel important. Please ignore everything I said before about being brave since I’m obviously not actually risking anything. It’s clear to me now that I can say whatever I want and nothing will happen to me. (As long as I don’t criticize Islam, of course. But then, I’d never dream of going there.)
- The play’s ambitious satirical scope isn’t easy to sum up neatly. The publicity material suggests “a suspense comedy with magic”.
Lynn can live with this description. “When we were working on it, we’d go out to a bar afterwards and tell people what it was about,” Lynn says, listing key sources of inspiration. “People would have this, ‘what the f—-’ look on their face. So if someone can put that in five words, it’s a fine thing.”
Those five words beat the six those people probably said right after WTF: “… Sounds like a piece of crap.”
- Lynn is an anti-American, pro-terrorist propagandist.
Here’s another one of his little stage productions.
The guy is a total skank.
Posted by Dave Surls on 2007 07 01 at 04:26 PM • permalink
- “So, the guy’s just another left-wing wankmeister, eh?”
Kirk and his buddies are propagandists working on behalf of the Taliban and the Batthists while we’re in the midst of a shooting war.
The only differences between Kirk and Lord Haw Haw are:
1.) Kirk isn’t working directly for the enemy. He’s a free lance propagandist who shares common goals with our enemies.
2.) Kirk hasn’t been hung for treachery…yet.
Posted by Dave Surls on 2007 07 01 at 04:41 PM • permalink
- Make that “Baathists”.Posted by Dave Surls on 2007 07 01 at 04:43 PM • permalink
- Surprised we’ve gotten this far in the thread without someone shouting, “Oh! Come and see the violence inherent in the system! Help! Help! I’m being repressed!”
- #28 Thank you, RebeccaH.Posted by andycanuck on 2007 07 01 at 05:17 PM • permalink
- It may all be very well for the other commenters here, but I live in an oppressive and fearful society – and it takes all my courage and nobility to carry on.Posted by Margos Maid on 2007 07 01 at 06:00 PM • permalink
- #46 Dang – that does feel good!Posted by Margos Maid on 2007 07 01 at 06:01 PM • permalink
- Aw man I just found out this douche KL lives here in Austin, gee like I should be surprised.Posted by shockcorridor on 2007 07 01 at 07:40 PM • permalink
- Herr Lynn… we haf vays to make you talk… ve just don’t give zwei Scheiße what you have to say…Posted by richard mcenroe on 2007 07 01 at 08:00 PM • permalink
For some reason, it’s not enough for these people to be perceived as interesting, or witty, or brilliant: they have this great need to be perceived as heroic, as well.
Please note that all they want is the perception, Paco. These ‘brave’ transgressive artists would no sooner venture into truly dangerous territory (like plays mocking Mohammed) than they would beat their arms and fly about the room. When generating provocative art, they know not to offend anyone that can truly be provoked.
Posted by Jeffersonian on 2007 07 01 at 08:13 PM • permalink
- #51: Aw man I just found out this douche KL lives here in Austin, gee like I should be surprised.
Well, sure, Shockcorridor. I mean, can you imagine this shit bird staging his productions somewhere in Crocket or Glasscock County? He’d likely get some unanticipated, impromptu “performance art” from his audience, featuring over-ripe tomatoes and maybe even a hemp rope.
- That Lynn guy would have seen right through this jokey little number!
According to the sages at About.com:
Comments: One inevitable byproduct of a disaster as enormous and devastating as the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on U.S. soil is the dissemination of sick jokes referencing the event. The so-called “Tourist Guy,” pictured above, was one of the first clear-cut examples of a joke pertaining to the events of 9/11.
Inevitable byproduct? They must live in a different country to Mr. Lynn.
- Literature sometimes is a voice for the otherwise voiceless. That happens in some countries under dictatorships. Writers are not the only ones who know it. I suspect that, in (comparatively) sophisticated free societies, the left’s continual chanting of its being “silenced” is precisely in order to keep the literary herd herding left.
- Good ol’ Austin; crazy as ever & full of holdover hippies in love with Vietnam protests.
What the hell is it about state capitals: Austin, Madison, Ann Arbor, etc. It’s like a state-funded fantasy land for Volvo liberals.
Posted by Tex Lovera on 2007 07 01 at 10:21 PM • permalink
- #58 The flagship schools of most state university systems are located in those capitals. Loads of transient students, mental patients, lobbyists, etc.
The upside, at least when I was a student in Madison, was thriving music scenes in Lincoln, Athens, Minneapolis, in addition to the towns you mentioned.
Ironically, the State University of New York at Albany is relatively crap on the music, football, and protest fronts and Rutgers in New Jersey are just
nappy hosnot much better for being so close to NYC.No idea why.
- “The play’s ambitious satirical scope isn’t easy to sum up neatly.” Nice way of saying what Rebecca said at #5. I predict two thumbs up, way up, from Fiskel and Traceeeebert, and an Australian Play of the Year award.Posted by dean martin on 2007 07 01 at 11:29 PM • permalink
- Well chambo, I was going to link the aristocrats joke mentioned in the article but…no, no way, screw that, I’m outta here.Posted by dean martin on 2007 07 02 at 03:52 AM • permalink
- “..but I know for certain in the States there was this whole period where there was no satire. “
Doesn’t get out much does he?
Posted by carpefraise on 2007 07 02 at 04:00 AM • permalink
- Last night I was flipping back and forth to a documentary about the Statue of Liberty (can only stomach so much Ken Burns in one sitting) and one of the interviews was with Ray Charles, where he said something like “I’ve traveled all over, and people in this country really take for granted that they’re allowed to talk bad about the president without being punished. There’s not a lot of places in the world where you can’t do that.”
Right on, Ray. That’s the thing – these people whinging about their “dissent” in the imaginary fascist state they argue the US to be are just showing how ass-backwards, provincial, and completely and utterly ignorant they are of history and foreign culture. Yet they somehow fashion themselves to be the cultural, social, and aesthetic elite, when all they really sound like is some ignorant, recycled SLA/Weather Underground communique from the seventies.
Posted by EmilyJones on 2007 07 02 at 10:02 AM • permalink
- Paco #15, I have cut and pasted your comment to my hard-drive file entited “wisdom nuggets.” Well said.Posted by Jimmy the Dhimmi on 2007 07 02 at 11:08 AM • permalink
- Paco again: Pretending that one lives in an oppressive and fearful society, and saying so publicly, creates a sensation of courage and nobility that, in reality, is totally missing from the lives of many of these artsy types.
For some reason, it’s not enough for these people to be perceived as interesting, or witty, or brilliant: they have this great need to be perceived as heroic, as well.Yeah, just listen to self-inflated Phatty Adamski almost any night of the week…
[‘I’m not going anywhere’, said 67 year-old Phil recently, and he makes his own rules.]
The ABC gives him an endless paid gig phoning and smooching any famous Lefties in the world, and then he drops their names like confetti for ever after.Recent highlight: Kurt Vonnegut, not long before he died told Phil, ‘Marxism is a good idea that deserves another try’
Heroic, or just mad?
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