[lbo-talk] Religious fears force off opera in Berlin

[Shane Mage]

>
>...A Berlin opera company cancelled a Mozart production over security
>fears because it features the severed heads of the Prophet Muhammad
>and Jesus.
>
>Deutsche Oper said "incalculable" security risks would be posed by
>staging Idomeneo.
>
>"We know the consequences of the conflict over the (Muhammad)
>caricatures," the opera company said in a statement.
>
>"We believe that needs to be taken very seriously and hope for your 
>support."...
>
>The opera was staged in Berlin in 2003, drawing criticism over a scene
>where the king presents the heads of Greek sea god Poseidon, Muhammad,
>Jesus and Buddha.

I know that European opera directors have long departed from the
shores of sanity, but never could I have imagined such a staging.
Idomeneo takes place at the close of the Trojan War, long before the
birth of Gautama, Jesus, or Muhammad. And if Idomeneus had in
his posession the severed head of Poseidon the whole drama--
dominated by Poseidon's vengance--could never have taken place.
So if "extremists" are responsible for the cancellation of this
farrago, score one for extremism.

Shane Mage

"Thunderbolt steers all things...It consents and does not
consent to be called 
Zeus."                                                         

Herakleitos of Ephesos