Hamilton, Get Your Gun

Longtime AoSHQ Moron and all-around good guy Sean Moore penned a good piece on Hamilton's wrongheaded Tony Awards symbolism.

Sunday night’s Tony Awards were dedicated to the families and friends of the victims—49 dead and dozens injured, as of this writing—of this cowardly Jihadist’s massacre. Host James Corden began the show with a statement on the tragedy, saying, “Theater is a place where every race, creed, sexuality and gender is equal, is embraced and is loved. Hate will never win. Together, we have to make sure of that. Tonight’s show stands as a symbol and celebration of that principle.” Maybe not as forceful (and certainly less profane) as what I would have said, but those are noble enough sentiments.

But then, the cast of “Hamilton” did the thing that has me writing this screed about a topic I really don’t care about. They went out onstage and performed a number from the show, but they did so without their prop muskets.

Like Sean, I normally couldn't care less about whatever predictably-lame gesture the arts crowd chooses to proffer at times like this, but the symbolism of the founders of this country, voluntarily disarmed, singing and dancing in response to terrorism struck me as unfortunately apt.

After all, when faced with a similar problem, the actual founding fathers sent in the Navy and the Marines. Now the president's first reaction is to attack his own citizens' exercise of their civil rights rather than naming the enemy.

The Pulse nightclub timeline strikingly features a gap of several hours after the shooting started in which people were held hostage inside by a lone gunman who was, at times, talking on the phone. The signals being sent by politicians and popular culture -- put down your guns, "shelter in place", worry more about using the right pronoun than the guy screaming "Allahu Akbar!" -- have tragic effects every time they come into contact with the real-world.

I'm not sure how we managed this, but we've seemingly regressed as a nation from confronting Islamic terrorism with "let's roll" to "let's roll over and play dead". This will not end well.

posted by Andy at 06:51 PM

| Access Comments