The Sundance Film Festival happened last month in Utah. A January 25, 2008 USA Today article stated that a concert film closed the festival. The group was Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. CSNY fans may know that they set off their "Freedom of Speech" tour in 2006. Their Sundance film "focuses less on the band than on the people who come to see them play" (Breznican, 2008). The film captures fans as well as the band. The band is well known for their anti-war songs of the Vietnam era. Their 1972 anti-war hit, Ohio, was about the Kent State shooting of unarmed protestors. These days they're still singing out against the war and those who wage it.
We all know that Freedom of Speech is our right, but not all of us take it. Sometimes it's difficult to express views without offending someone. I once had a patient who'd been married for a long time. He told me his secret to keeping such a long marriage was to never talk about politics, religion or money. We all might do well to avoid these topics in order to avoid controversy. CSN & Y don't avoid these topics, they express their beliefs quite openly. According to their website http://www.csny.com, they have tables before their concerts manned by Iraq Veterans Against the War and Vietnam Veterans Against the War.
I respect CSNY for expressing such a controversial opinion.
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2 comments:
How do we approach the expression of controversial opinions as individuals and as professionals? Is there a difference? Should there be?
I don't think there should be a difference in the case of a rock band. Maybe those in professional roles dealing with young, malleable minds should be more careful. For instance, the Fisher's principal who resigned from the high school after his DUI. Getting the DUI sort of expresses his views on drinking and driving-and they kind of clash with the societal norm of not condoning drinking and driving. So, someone in that position should be more careful than the professional massage therapist who does the same.
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