[MV72018]

It’s a pop concert not a political statement.

BC

Thanks for the insight, BC.

If Stanford allowed its facilities to be used for a concert by Ted Nugent or Kanye West you'd presumably have no problem with that, after all they'd just be concerts, not political statements. Allowing such toxic substances to give concerts at Stanford would send the impression that the university regarded it as culturally legitimate for them to do a concert at Stanford. To me, that would be an unfortunate result, just as it would be to allow "Kiss" or the "The Rolling Stones" to perform at the Acropolis, the Taj Mahal, or the Alhambra.    

Matters cultural and political are not always easily separable, as we've unfortunately seen in recent years. An interesting and much contested example of cultural-political interaction has been percolating the last few years. Peter Gelb, general manager of New York's Metropolitan Opera, has declined to engage zealot Putin supporters, Russian conductor Valery Gergiev and Russian soprano Anna Netrebko, for performances at the Met because they've refused to criticize Russia's invasion of and brutal war on Ukraine. Would your position be that Met productions are just theatrical performances, not political statements, therefore Gelb should not bar them from performing at the Met?   

[MV72018]

It’s a pop concert not a political statement.

BC

Thanks for the insight, BC.

If Stanford allowed its facilities to be used for a concert by Ted Nugent or Kanye West you'd presumably have no problem with that, after all they'd just be concerts, not political statements. Allowing such toxic substances to give concerts at Stanford would send the impression that the university regarded it as culturally legitimate for them to do a concert at Stanford. To me, that would be an unfortunate result, just as it would be to allow "Kiss" or the "The Rolling Stones" to perform at the Acropolis, the Taj Mahal, or the Alhambra.    

Matters cultural and political are not always easily separable, as we've unfortunately seen in recent years. An interesting and much contested example of cultural-political interaction has been percolating the last few years. Peter Gelb, general manager of New York's Metropolitan Opera, has declined to engage zealot Putin supporters, Russian conductor Valery Gergiev and Russian soprano Anna Netrebko, for performances at the Met because they've refused to criticize Russia's invasion of and brutal war on Ukraine. Would your position be that Met productions are just theatrical performances, not political statements, therefore Gelb should not bar them from performing at the Met?