“Those who don’t learn from history are condemned to repeat it.” — Georges Santayana
I really don’t like musicals. I’ve always had problems taking seriously stories that had to be told via music. That even goes for opera.
But I’ve always had tremendous admiration for the 1972 Bob Fosse film “Cabaret,” starring Liza Minnelli, Michael York and Joel Gray. I also took in a production closer to home, in 1983 at Olivet College.
I was impressed with Minnelli’s cold, calculating fun girl approach to the character of Sally Bowles. I was even more impressed by Gray’s relentlessly entertaining role as the master of ceremonies.
I was most impressed, however, by the not-so-entertaining story and its lessons.
As the late, great Helen Jane Helmey told me at the Wayland Globe in 1973, it was interesting to watch all the frivolity and jocularity while everything around the main characters was crumbling in the early days of Nazi Germany. They weren’t paying attention and didn’t think they needed to. And in the end, they didn’t understand what was about to hit them.
Bowles, the master of ceremonies and all of the entertainers at the Cabaret were beckoning everyone to “come to the Cabaret” to forget all their troubles, forget all their cares.
The message was that those who had enough money to take in the shows should ignore the troubling developments surrounding them, ignore the persecution of the Jews happening nearby, ignore the bloodless coup in which a constitutional republic was peacefully being replaced by a charismatic, racist and militaristic regime.
It’s been more than 45 years in which I have had nightmares about the concept of too many people partying down and not paying attention to the darker things happening around them. We are constantly exhorted by ubiquitous marketing and advertising to have a good time and focus on cabaret-like spe
ctacles such as the Super Bowl, Dancing with the Stars, celebrity gossip, American Idol and fantasy movies on Netflix rather than examine what has happened and is happening in our nation and world.
Things have gotten so bad in the critical thinking department that we elected a reality TV star with no experience in running government and no common sense approach to dealing with other nations and their leaders.
As the late, great comedian George Carlin said, “But nobody seems to notice, nobody seems to care.”
The fault lies in us. We willingly created this mess. We have met the enemy and he is us.
Donald Trump is not the problem. He is just a symptom. We’ve slowly become a combination theocracy and oligarchy with an attitude of hubris and hostility. Meanwhile, it feels like most folks haven’t seemed to notice or care.
I don’t know who said this, but I once read a book of quotations in which the author said that given enough time, people living in democracy or republic will vote away all their freedoms.
And, as the late great George Orwell said, people who vote for tyrants are not victims, they are accomplices.
I must agree with you – first we elected a Marxist in President Barack Hussein Obama and had no vetting whatsoever by the media, because they so wanted a black president, they weren’t doing their job as objective journalists. Now we have President Trump, doing so much in so little time, the Marxist liberals are having a cow! More done in two weeks than in all 8 years by President Obama. What a refreshing change. The stench of decay is slowly lifting from D.C.
I think the worst situation is in the hallowed halls of learning by the precious snowflakes on liberal campuses, such as Berkley. They just can’t stand free speech in the form of opposition to what they say or think. Riots, fires, more of the liberal clap-trap we’ve heard over and over – Marxists on Parade! To those campuses that receive federal dollars, President Trump, pull their funding and let the state raise taxes and college raise tuition to cover the shortfall, that might help shut them up.
The American people (those in the middle of the country) voted for a change, not more of the same. The politicians, lobbyists and lawyers have profited mightily during the age of Obama. The Remocrats, Democrats, and Marxists of both parties are howling because they know their days are numbered with new administration cutting personnel and budgets – about time. President Trump, keep up the great work, the more they complain, the more I know you’re hitting home runs for the American people.
Good piece of writing. It was a scary movie. And these are scary times.
And by the way Free Market Man (who has yet to comment on Trump’s tariffs, which may not be too much in keeping with a free market), your comment, about the American people voting for The Donald isn’t quite right. The American people voted for Hillary Clinton. Trump was not elected by the American people. He was elected, like W, by the electoral college. Trump got the majority of the electoral college, but the majority of the Americans that voted did not choose Don. And how about his pick of Betsy DeVos for Sect. of Education? And I think Steve “Mr. Alt Right” Bannon would have found much to like about that administration that this piece references.
Mr. Basura,
Sir,
Elected by the electoral collage, not the people, let us not forget President Clinton never got a majority of the popular vote. President Clinton got a smaller percentage in his first election than President Trump.
It is concerning to see the left fighting against free speech and demanding censored speech, that is very dangerous.
Please go back and see what the good folks on the left said concerning the electoral collage when President Clinton won twice with less than 50%. The electoral collage was a wonderful concept when it worked in the favor of the left.
Also President Lincoln did not get even 40% and i think he did alright.
Mr. Basura, thank you for your observations, however dishonest as they are. Trump’s tariffs are punishment for what the manufacturers should have done on their own and remained in the U.S., but globalists like you hate that.
As for the electoral college win, more sour grapes. You and I both know you need the popular vote to influence the electoral college vote. Hillary was a despicable , dishonest, and deplorable candidate, she never excelled in any position she was given or elected to perform. If the cards weren’t stacked against Bernie, he would and should have won.
Hillary thought the coronation was a lock, as did her supporters. She forgot you have to win both popular and electoral college. As for Trump, he ran the table in the states he had to win, and he campaigned hard in those states and ignored those he didn’t have a chance – smart strategy. You don’t have to win the popular vote, just the electoral college vote. The Democrats would be wise to remember that, but what an oxymoronic statement – they are neither wise nor have the mental capacity to remember. Your party is full of nut-jobs, extremists, anarchists and Marxists, as evidenced in the recent Berkley riot – good luck organizing that rabble with minds full of mush.
And Mr. Basura, you didn’t even know who Steve Bannon was before Trump’s win nor anything of his background except what you hear from CNN, MSNBC, and all the other Clinton supporting media outlets (ABC.CBS, NBC). Don’t believe all that you hear on the fake media.