Ya think?
The play isn't that clever, the whole point is to bring in some right-wing christians to raise a big stink about it, and then the play organizers play up the situation as if free speech itself were on the line. Then they get people to watch their crappy play.
But some Christian groups ALWAYS take the bait. Why? Because they get to be on TV and in the newspaper. They're self-aggrandizing jerks who give free publicity to blasphemers just to get their name in the newspapers, too. They're actually HELPING the cause of blasphemy, and they know it.
But some Christian groups ALWAYS take the bait. Why? Because they get to be on TV and in the newspaper. They're self-aggrandizing jerks who give free publicity to blasphemers just to get their name in the newspapers, too. They're actually HELPING the cause of blasphemy, and they know it.
I agree that some so-called Christian groups are the publicity whores you describe. And yes, there is no doubt that protesting this blasphemy gives it more publicity. But if you think they are only counting on a few outraged conservative Christians to spread the word about their play, you're wrong. These people have probably sent press releases out to all the major networks and newspapers promoting the play, and they have probably spread the word far and wide on left-wing websites as well. Hell, even as we speak the New York Times is likely sending a stage critic to Somersville, MA to write the play's obligatory rave review. Once this review is published, the effort to bring the play to Broadway will begin in earnest.
The play doesn't have to be good, it doesn't have to be clever. It could have all the production values of a 5th grade performance of Romeo and Juliet, and it's still going to be treated as a modern-day masterpiece solely because it p!sses on the Catholic church and on Christianity. And if it looks and feels completely amateurish, why that's nothing a little bit of NEA money and some professional polishing can't fix. We can't stop this from happening by just ignoring it and hoping it goes away.
Earlier this year, when Opie and Anthony, those two moronic NYC shock jocks, set up and aired a couple having sex in St. Patrick's Cathedral, Christian groups such as the Catholic League created such a public uproar that these two idiots were fired, and I haven't heard anything about them coming back to radio. The usual "civil liberties" groups and the New York Times whined long and loud about how this was right-wing censorship, but the public (outside of the Upper West Side, anyhow), didn't see it that way.
The point is, Christians stood up and said "Enough is enough!", and these two boneheads paid for their act of stupidity and venality. The producers of this play need to have the same message explained to them, or their next stunt will make this one look like a tea-and-crumpets social at the Garden Club.