I can’t tell whether Matt Freeman has his tongue lodged firmly in his cheek when he writes that he kind of likes a little contempt in this theatre, and I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt he’s earned as a long-time respectful blogger, so I’ll just say that I give Rachel Saltz great credit for expressing discomfort with the small town bashing that seems to lie at the center of The Chalk Boy by Joshua Conkel. In her last paragraph, she writes:

Indeed. It must have been really bad for a reviewer from the New York Times to be discomfited. I’ve addressed this topic before — this constant and gratuitous bashing of small town (especially southern) America in theatre, film, and TV, as well as in the mainstream media, which is seen as acceptable by urban dwellers because they often share those values. It is one of the last acceptable sites where narrow-minded prejudice and offensive stereotypes are allowed to be displayed without censure. Let’s call it ruralism, following the examples of racism, sexism, ageism, and all the other isms that we’ve become aware of as being offensive and hateful. We’re seeing ruralism rearing its ugly head yet again in some of the attacks on Sarah Palin which are based on an assumption that population size is equivalent to value. Now, I take a back seat to nobody in my contempt for McCain and his choice of Palin, but it raises my hackles when urban bloggers and MSM journalists portray small town America as backward and unworthy of respect. If you want Blue States to stay, blue, just keep it up. Obama skirted the edges of this prejudice with his “bitter” comment, which reflected the urban-dweller’s disconnect from non-urban lives.

As artists, we should be better than that, especially at this time in America that is so awash in contempt and disdain.

Original post by noreply@blogger.com (Scott Walters)