I saw this lovely video of pop star Lizzo playing James Madison’s crystal flute and a reference to the “controversy,” which had somehow escape my notice over the 17 months since this happened.
Out of curiosity — “What had I just witnessed that could cause controversy?” — I turned to DuckDuckGo and found a dozen headlines when I searched “Lizzo James Madison flute controversy.” They were all variations on “Lizzo plays Madison flute and Republicans (or ‘the far-right’) freak out.”
None of the headlines explained why anyone would be offended by Lizzo’s lovely playing, and so I was forced to click further to see who exploded and why. The article I glanced at cited a couple of commentators and organizations I never heard of, who seemed to think the historical flute had been desecrated being played by a famous pop star, who played it very well and respectfully, I might add.
Like Taylor Swift’s politics before her, I had never heard of Lizzo’s crystal flute encounter, nor had I known anyone to freak out over it, and I do find myself running in what could be called far-right circles at times. But it is an election year, and so it’s fashionable right now to mock someone for political reasons, even for imaginary or exaggerated political reasons.
Am I the only one tired of the people who go out of their way to act as if they are offended by something, usually by something said or done by someone with a different political agenda? The only thing more annoying is people who mock everyone with a different political agenda because a handful of those adversaries are offended. As I have always said, I have enough on my plate explaining what I do believe without being accused of believing something I don’t.
Oh, crap, I just continued the cycle, writing about something that offends me.
Look. Can’t we all just get along? We have more in common than differences, and I think the vast majority think Lizzo played that flute lovingly and respectfully, and an even vaster majority didn’t even think about politics when they heard her, except maybe those headline writers.
What I learned from all this:
• France gifted President Madison with a precious crystal flute to commemorate his second inauguration.
• Lizzo, whom I had dismissed as one of today’s random pop stars, turns out to be a classically trained flautist who, offered the opportunity during a visit to the Library of Congress, made Madison’s flute sing beautifully.
• The Church of the Perpetually Offended gains more converts every day, especially as the election season progresses.
Let’s all chill.
