In last week’s Musing, I shared an outrageous occurrence that happened at an educational program put on by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Two homeschooling moms who were in the audience (my daughter and a friend) penned a letter to the organizer expressing their dismay. I have good news and bad news to report about the response they got.The women received a swift apology in the form of a phone call from the letter’s recipient. That was the first piece of good news. With more than the average number of children and busy lives, had their letter been ignored there’s a good chance that the incident would have ended there. The even better news is that the program’s organizer volunteered the information that there had been many complaints. I mentioned in my Musing that my daughter thought she might have been the only one to gasp aloud. Whether others responses were audible or not (and whether her gasp was heard by anyone but her) clearly the corruption of the lyrics bothered a number of participants.
The symphony representative’s response offered further reason for optimism. Since Baltimore had a heavy snowfall last week, they had postponed a second, similar performance. She assured my daughter that they would post the correct lyrics for the delayed program.
What did I find disappointing that causes me to say that there was good news and bad news?
The organizer assured my daughter that the change in lyrics was a mistake. I believe that mistakes and accidents happen all the time. Yet, when one of my children sported a chocolate stained face and hands while explaining how the cookie jar fell down ‘by accident’ I didn’t buy it. When President Obama claims that the targeting of conservative groups by the IRS in the months leading up to his reelection was an ‘accident’, I am enraged. When lyrics of a well-known, traditional song are altered by a professional organization in a way that fits a popular agenda, I am skeptical.
I would prefer for this ‘accident’ to be explored. Did an individual intern deliberately make the change while the rest of the staff was ignorant? In that case, the intern needs to be reproved and, if not fired, his or her future performance needs intensified monitoring. Did a directive come down from the top encouraging the removal of God from performances? In that case, this ‘accident’ needs greater exposure. I can’t be the only one to feel overwhelmed by perversions of truth occurring in politics, media and the culture. I have the impression that the attitude is, “Let’s try everything, and if we get caught once or twice, we’ll back off on those but will have still advanced dozens of other falsehoods.”
I am proud that these young American mothers pushed back. I appreciated the symphony’s taking their complaint seriously. Yet I can’t help feeling that an approaching tsunami will engulf us without an aggressive, orchestrated, sophisticated and Godly counter-attack to the forces reshaping America.
I would want to push back some more on these people. Apology or not, they altered a song precious to many. The song is well enough known that everyone involved had to know it was wrong. That meant someone in authority was pushing for the destructive lyrics. Mistake? No way! This was deliberate and now they insult you with a lie! A lie that a child should recognize at that. Far less than honorable? You bet!
The next thin you know, they will want to run for President. Stop them now!
Since the election of The Community Organizer it has become clear that in all phases of American life, on all levels, federal, state and local, there are sleeper cells of community organizers who are now rampant, springing into action.
First I thought it was ‘let’s remove any reference to God lest some atheist or liberal with a chip on the shoulder might come along and be offended.’ But now I believe the suspicions you express in this column are justified. We are now in the phase of propaganda and disinformation. The community organizers are rewriting history, how the founders of this nation were “evil and corrupt men who stole from everyone in sight.”
Many liberal democrat socialists are keen on labeling opponents as ‘Nazis’ in the press. I would venture to say that most have never realized just who the Nazis were. But your people well remember, Ms. Susan, how the Nazis marched millions of people to dehumanization, suffering and death. The chief Nazi propagandist Josef Goebbels was quoted: ‘A lie repeated often enough becomes truth.” Have the community organizers been taking lessons from him?
Never forget: he who will not serve God must serve a human tyrant.