Plymouth Archdeacon joins chorus
The Archdeacon of Plymouth, Tony Wilds, has joined with two former mayors to condemn JS:TO, which opens at the Theatre Royal tonight. In a statement bafflingly entitled “Freedom, not hate in Plymouth” (comments open on the Plymouth Herald site) they say:
Though we understand and accept that there is a role for art to shock, we do not accept that in the case of this production the form and degree of shock is justified.
But, Arch, you need not see the production is you don’t want to.
To those who say that those who may be offended need not see the production, we say yes.
But unfairly they have already had to pay for it in very considerable public subsidies at both national and local levels.
But the fact that public subsidies have already been paid into the production is not an argument to close the it down now. You are confused, Arch. Go and lie down.
(From The BBC, via Andrew in the comments)
And, unfairly, I have been paying for sanctimonious fuckwits like Mr Wilds through the considerable tax advantages for churches in the UK. In fact I’m willing to bet that the total monies saved on tax each year by UK churches would pay for nightly performances of JS:TO for a very long time indeed…
These morons say that people do have a choice not to see it if they are offended but still want to stop those who DO wish to see it from seeing it.
Idiots!
As a dedicated anti-fascist I’m offended that the religious right has tried to hijack the ‘Hope not Hate’ campaign in a city where historically churches have been surreptitious breeding grounds for race hate groups and anti-abortion violence from the time of the National Front onwards to my certain knowledge.
If you go to the IC Plymouth website and leave a letter, it gets straight onto the site, unmodifed. I’ve just done it and it appeared straightaway. Click the link in the story this comment tracks back to.