Friday, June 06, 2014

UM, NOAH? THEY EVEN DO INTERPRETIVE DANCE AT MEMORIALS IN RED-STATE AMERICA THESE DAYS

I've been away from the Internet for much of the day and I'm just getting caught up on the interpretive dance staged at the D-Day memorial service today. I've watched only a tiny portion of the very long video clip and the dance is really not my cup of tea, nor, I imagine, was it appreciated very much by many of the nonagenarian D-Day vets in attendance.

But I don't know how Mediaite's main GOP apparatchik, Noah Rothman, arrives at this response:
It was a symbolic display, alright. But the performance did not symbolize what those who conceived of it had wished. Instead of a solemn and contemplative remembrance of the costs paid in order to leave ensuing generations a free world, viewers were made to witness a display of cleverness.

In fact, we have been witnessing cleverness all month. How cleverly can the White House extricate itself from the political peril of the VA scandal? How cleverly can Obama's allies reframe the national debate around Bergdahl?
Roy Edroso has the right response to this:
Was Noah Rothman unaware that the interpretive dance at Normandy was France's doing, not Obama's, or was Rothman just hoping to lead his readers to believe otherwise?
And I hate to break this to Rothman, but a quick Google search reveals that interpretive dance, for better or worse, shows up at quite a few 9/11 memorial services here in the good old U.S.A. -- even in states where they don't like Obama very much.

Here's a 2011 story about triplets living in Anderson County, South Carolina, who were born on September 11, 2000; their school was going to include interpretive dance in a 9/11 memorial, and one of the triplets was going to be one of the dancers. Here's a 2011 story about a sunrise 9/11 memorial service in Matea Valley, Indiana, that featured interpretive dance. Here's the Carmel United Methodist Church in Hamilton County, Indiana, holding a 9/11 memorial service (I'm not sure what year) that includes interpretive dance. Here's a Flickr photo of three dancers doing an interpretive dance at a 9/11 event at Wake Forest University in North Carolina in 2011. I've got one at Keuka College in upstate New York and anothr one in Jacksonville, Florida, and one in Flint, Michigan.

It's somewhat odd to me -- but cultural commemorations change. Apparently they've changed in blue, purple, and red America. And you know what? I don't think Obama has anything to do with it.

7 comments:

PurpleGirl said...

You're correct -- Obama had nothing to do with interpretative dance anywhere. It lies, instead, in the heart of the artists to express an emotion or idea in their personal talent area.

So, France is considered a home of dance and they decided on a dance in the services. Many liberal churches feature dance in some services because they have members who are dancers and want to use that interest in services.

Unknown said...

That's just a part of Rothman's schtick, which he more or less admitted in his farewell post: Observe the "Liberal" response to ANY occurrence, and "push back, hard".
It's clickbait gold at Mediaite.

Victor said...

PurpleGirl,
Dancing is sex without the coitus - just dig-up a Puritan and he'll tell ya!

Also, too: A member of the Taliban - and/or members of other Fundamentalist "faiths."

'Dem beyotches be horny, longin' for the horns of Da Devil!'

I'd call this "idiocy," but it would be an insult to the poor people who really are born mentally deficient - aka: Christian conservatives.

Pops said...

No No Noah Rothman should never be read by adults with a functioning cerebellum. He is, to coin the phrase, a total Dickhead. The stupidity that espouses would make even Rick Santorum blush with the giggles. The man, THING, is beyond reprehensible. There is nothing that ever occurs anywhere in the world that is NOT Obama's fault. Miami Heat have to play in 90 degree indoor stadium, same as the Spurs, "God damned Obama cant even do that right".

Unknown said...

Noah has decamped Mediaite for a gig at Hot Air. Never the less, Mediaite remains a cesspool.

Steve M. said...

I guess Fox wasn't hiring.

aimai said...

All dance is interpretive--some has more narrative than others. But dance, as an art form that transcends words, is especally appropriate for a multi-national, multi-linguistic, ceremonial event because it seeks to speak directly to each viewer without a language barrier.