Breaking: Emily Skala strikes back at Baltimore
NewsThe principal flute of the Baltimore Symphony, fired on Tuesday for what the orchestra says are disciplinary offences, has responded overnight on Slipped Disc to some of the things being written about her.
In one comment she says: ‘I do believe an incompetent management team which chronically endangers the well being of the organization and makes the musicians eat the costs of their failures needs to be exposed for their contributions to the failures.’
She continues: ‘Who is free to fire the BSO, Inc when they violate their own CBA and in house policies? Is it unilateral or bilateral?’
Further: ‘Several lawyers have explained to me that one cannot be fired for her beliefs, which is what my FB posts reflect, in many peoples’ opinions.’
She goes on to say: ‘If the USA, Inc granted the business license then the business needs to adhere to the laws of the land. If Title VII is important in the workplace, tell me why the 1st Amendment isn’t. If No Smoking is important in the workplace, tell me why HIPPA isn’t. If gassing people to death in WWII was found to be a crime against humanity, tell me why vaccine mandates are acceptable.’
And further: ‘I didn’t actually post anything antisemitic. It was a comment within a post. And antisemitic is an opinion, not a fact. Did you know a Semite is a desert-dweller, or rather a tribe of people from the desert, like the Palestinians? They need to have Hebrew DNA to be a true Semite, and dark skin. The term “antisemite” was a made-up term, by a Jewish journalist, for a German newspaper, in the mid-1930s. Much the way “conspiracy theory” was a term made up by the CIA after JFK’s assassination, and “anti-vaccination” was made up by the pharmaceutical companies. In other words, the very people who want you to buy into their crimes sell you the cancel culture. Think Facebook, Twitter, YouTube…’
Also: ‘Are colleagues who are fearful of an illness which is 95%- 99.995% survivable, depending upon your age group, qualified to opine who is or is not a spreader of “Covid” if their area of expertise is music performance? Not medicine? Is thinking someone spreads a disease a prerequisite for social conformity or lack thereof? Like leprosy?’
Finally: ‘SARS-CoV-2 has been proven not to exist. The CDC has no sample to offer any lab which may require it as a basis for comparison to their other samples. People in Ireland and in Vancouver, Canada have demanded in court to see proof of Covid from their respective Health Departments in order to validate mask and vaccine mandates. The respective Health Ministers had to capitulate and acknowledged that SARS-CoV-2 has never been isolated in a laboratory by any scientific process. What we have been getting sick with, as proven in 1500 samples sent to Stanford University by seven EU Universities, is Influenza A and B; mostly A. There is no pandemic. The causes of deaths have been due to the very same diseases people always die from year after year, and people are dying at the very same rate at which we normally die, between 7%-11% annually. 10% in 2020. There are outlier years. I think 2017 was especially bad yet we wore no masks and closed down no businesses. This is all part of the New World Order plan. Lest you think this belongs only to Klaus Schwab and his ilk, George H. W. Bush can be heard speaking of this often. The true goal here was to get as many people vaccinated as possible by playing up the fear factor of Covid-19. “Covid” stands for “Certificate of Vaccine Idetification.” “19” stands for “AI,” (Artificial Intelligence.) A is the first letter of the alphabet. Which letter is the 9th?
‘I risked my job to warn musicians not to take the bait. I saw it as a moral imperative. Peoples’ lives, I reasoned, are more important than one individual’s job. I hope we all can agree on that point, even if you have a hard time hearing the TRUTH…which is usually uncomfortable.’
We present her views as posted today on slippedisc.com, without comment or endorsement.
I feel sorry for her. She must have quite formidable musical talent to have achieved her (now, former) position and it would be sad for the world to be denied this talent for non-musical reasons.
On the other hand, she seems to be her own worst enemy in publicising unorthodox and widely disparaged views on a topic in which she has no expertise ahead of that discipline in which she clearly has considerable expertise.
well first off- social media is devil incarnate … it will only get you into trouble or at best be so self promoting it is nauseating. fine, her views are unorthodox but so what? the BSO org does not get to police speech. her views -personal i might add. and not from a company account- if this becomes the norm… well, where is the end point? this will not go over well on here but i support her. silencing citizen’s speech is the first step to a totalitarian society. don’t like her views? fine, don’t read it.
Do you support her or her speech? It is entertaining to read her deranged thoughts but adhering to these rules by an employer is not leading us to a totalitarian state. Try not to leap quite so far.
It’s all part of the same continuum. Starts out small, nobody notices, then BOOM.
I support her right to express herself in public.
Her right to express herself in public has not been infringed in the slightest.
Except that it’s cost her her living.
“silencing citizen’s speech is the first step to a totalitarian society. don’t like her views? fine, don’t read it.”
She is not being silenced, she is still free to talk to anyone who will listen to her nonsense, which her employer does not want to be associated with. Orchestras are screwed until the pandemic is brought under control, therefore they have an existential interest in not being associated with her appalling misinformation.
Not to mention that it’s insulting to the families and memories of the millions worldwide who have perished to claim that it doesn’t exist.
And the holocaust comparison completely fails any logic test. One deliberately murdered people, the other is an effort to keep both the individual and others in society alive. No comparison at all.
She was harassing her colleagues and ignoring the mask mandates of the BSO. They didn’t fire her because of the crazy things she said.
But yeah, that sure didn’t help.
Being a crazed, Jew-hating bigot is not just an “unorthodox” view. Have a seat, sicko.
Being a crazed Jew-hater is not just an “unorthodox” viewpoint. Have a seat, sicko.
Flute players have the privilege of not wearing a mask when performing.
Emily Skala reminds me of the Pied Piper and thinks that the rest of the world should follow her footsteps and abstain from protecting themselves.
If one needed any proof why she had to be fired – I believe Ms. Skala provided the most compelling proof herself in these syatements of lunacy. The world cannot afford the danger and chaos by those lunatics denying the panfemic, refusing to be vaccinated or storming the US Senate. Well done the Baltimore Symphony for releasing this lunatic probably racist musician from a position with significant public influence.
No one ‘stormed’ the U.S. Senate. A large and mostly peaceful demonstration went into the House of Representatives. I don’t recall that there were any flutists in the crowd. People who refuse the vaccine are not lunatics – they are sceptics. How does one flutist become a person with significant public influence?
You’ve always posted hateful comments Pat but this is a new low even for you. Several people died or committed suicide due to PTSD, chants of hang Mike Pence, long term mental and physical injuries. We’ve all seen the horrific videos and you come here and say “A large and mostly peaceful demonstration”. Please take the loathsome revisionist nonsense elsewhere.
Grow up. Violent BLM demonstrations were described everywhere in MSM as ‘largely peaceful’ and no-one except those with a brain had a problem with that. The left are never called to account for their iniquities.
I thought they were “only an idea”!! Silly me.
The Left always attempts to project its own perfidy onto others; goes back as far as the Bolshevik Revolution. And that word stems from REVOLTING.
Ferals are ferals – as they were in the Capitol building. But the Left has its own armies of ferals and, funnily enough, they seem to escape sanction. From some.
Don’t forget the unarmed women who was killed by the police. That peaceful protester was the only casualty of the demonstration. And it was a much more peaceful demonstration that the BLM riots over the summer.
Oh right. She was just engaging in normal everyday tourist activities, and was shot for no reason at all. Mmm-hmm.
Well, I’m glad that the building I inhabit
Won’t be invaded by Ashli Babbitt.
Check your premises.
Yep, taps off, windows shut, doors locked. Philistines out.
Hear hear Michael
A skeptic in the best sense of the word is someone who proceeds with doubt and critical thinking on the way to truth.
Vaccine skeptics virtually never embody this view of skepticism. Typically, they doubt on the basis of scientific illiteracy, conspiracy theory and a plethora of reasoning errors.
Perhaps an in-depth study of the history of vaccines would be in order. Also, an in-depth study of the current batch of “vaccines,” what is in them, how the work, how the spike-protein has been seen to enter every organ in the “vaccinated” guinea pigs. Wake up!
Then you have not read much about the history of vaccines.
The demonstration was so peaceful that the Vice President’s life was never under threat, and his security detail did not need to rush him out with the mob mere steps behind them.
The protesters were so peaceful even that one police officer was not killed during the insurrection, and that four others have not since died by suicide as a direct result of the trauma they suffered that day.
You’re living in a sick alternate reality. Wake the f*** up.
More people have died in the GF protests etc. Why don’t you include that in your rant?
Because everything to do with the lobotomised BLM is worthy of canonisation.
Perhaps find out why the four patsies died.
The VP was never under threat. True.
Mob was mere steps behind. Not true.
One police officer was not “killed.”
4 police officers committed “suicide.”
Now THAT’S worth looking into for sure!
Yeah… they stormed the the capitol building and no, it wasn’t remotely peaceful. Please watch the 20-minute video produced by the New York Times that uses video shot mostly by the terrorists themselves along with a timeline to show that it wasn’t just a peaceful demonstration that got out of hand but a very planned and co-ordinated attack with the goal of overthrowing the US government and installing a dictator. They came frighteningly close to doing it.
NYT production values are right up there with CNN
Ain’t that the truth!! Salary and wage dependent activists.
It was a planned and coordinated false-flag attack.
to Vovka: we’re WAAAAAY outnumbered here. as usual.
Jan 6 was an FBI set up by the Deep State to end the Presidency of Trump and any chance of his return. That realization should make some dent in your deranged Liberalism but it never will. The big questions never get asked and the brainwashing never gets questioned.
At last! My b.p. went down a bit reading your post. Bravo and BIS!
The vote in early November did those things.
Fascist and even Nazi-like propaganda worthy of Goebbels. “Mostly peaceful”, LOL. No doubt you would be shrieking in horror if that group were mostly Black and even came anywhere close to entering the building, let alone carrying weapons, yelling racial slurs, and causing several deaths.
??? How is bashing down doors, breaking windows and beating up (and killing) guards not “storming “ the senate. Your an f…ing nut job as well.
God help you, you ignorant ass. Only one person died that day and it was Babbitt. You are really stupid and uninformed. Bet you voted for Biden.
Sounds like you’re describing a BLM demonstration.
Shame on you, utterly. Your right to your opinion does not entitle you to downplay the deaths of multiple people and the ongoing death threats against many others. Officer Fanone has in fact shared the audio of such calls received while he was testifying about the insurrection to Congress. Also, friend, I am shocked that you would downplay the death of Ashli Babbitt, who is held up by your God-King Drumpf along with his minions like Kevin McCarthy as a hero.
Agreed: people who reject the vaccine are not lunatics, just stupid.
But anyone who pours out such breathtaking torrents of illogical nonsense as she does is likely a certifiable lunatic.
Just because you are stupid does not mean you cannot also be a lunatic!
Only someone who avoids newscasts would say this. Take a look at the videos of the event and try to pretend that the Congressional takeover was peaceful. Even the invaders are proud of the fright and damage that they caused.
Sorry, but the Capitol Police will not release the 15,000 hours of video evidence from January 6.
The World has spoken.
I agree people should be fired for their political views. Let’s start with people who vote Democrat or support BLM or teach CRT in schools.
You have my vote.
Propaganda worthy of the CCP, with NYT the new Pravda – refusing to report on the real condition of the Dear Leader. Typical Leftist atavism. But it’s all they’ve got!!!
“Anton Bruckner,” you do the composer a disservice by adopting his name. You don’t deserve it.
268 “lunatics” here, to 180 reasonable and wise people, have voted on your comment so far. What a shame so many musicians, who are supposed to be capable of using both left and right hemispheres of the brain owing to their musical training, are so far misled by the media and in this day and age regard them as an authoritative source of information, despite all of the whistleblowers who have come forward to enlighten us.
Emily: I strongly disagree with your posts. But it seems quite wrong that BSO fired you for publishing them. If you need help contacting the ACLU or protecting your rights, let me know.
It’s good that you’re not endorsing them. They show such a gross ignorance of so many issues it’s actually staggering.
Yet another bright individual who gets her facts from TikTok.
And you get yours from the propaganda mainstream media.
It’s a bit disturbing that you can have inner and private thoughts on the pandemic and other controversial matters of life but if you make your thoughts known on line you can get sacked for it, even though you may not be breaking the law.
It’s actually quite a bit worse than what you describe. Bruckner’s comments above illustrate my point: it’s not only a matter of just voicing one’s opinions, but also those opinions that can and will be attributed to an individual by the opposing group. It usually sounds a bit like this: “Well she didn’t SAY she was a racist, but I bet she IS a racist based on something else she said.” Sound familiar?
Love your username. I presume it’s also ‘sterile’. And missing in action!!
I laughed aloud when Hunter was referred to on Fox as “the Caravaggio of Crack”!!!
Though her social media posts certainly didn’t earn her any friends, her termination was not based on that. As I understand it, she tried to enter her place of work without abiding by the safety protocols and policies that had been put in place. She thought she should be allowed to enter without being vaccinated or masked. That behavior puts other employees at risk, and her employers have every right to terminate her for that. You can think whatever you want, but if you act on those crazy thoughts, you might have problems.
Which is why CNN fired 3 employees just now for showing up to work unvaccinated. United Airlines just stated that if you aren’t vaccinated by Fall you are fired.
Further to what you wrote, today’s news includes a story that CNN in New York fired some of their employees who had entered their workplace without having been vaccinated. CNN allegedly had made clear to all of their workers they had to be vaccinated in order to be allowed on premises. For better or worse, we have ‘at-will employment’ in the U.S. which means your employer can terminate for any reason which in this case includes not having had the COVID-19 vaccine.
This is entirely consistent with the culture of rigid conformity which is on display daily on CNN.
@Sue Sonata Form: you said “This is entirely consistent with the culture of rigid conformity which is on display daily on CNN.
Judging from the general tone of your previous posts, I can hardly imagine that you watch CNN at all, much less every day.
Sisko24, “At Will” terms apply to un-contracted employees.
I tested my key card to see if it would open the door. Nothing more,
HR, that is simply untrue. My media posts have earned me a lot of friends!
…the vaccine mandates aren’t in effect until the new concert season begins. Medical accommodations and Religious exemptions are being considered. I always entered the building with a mask. I did not enter the building on July 23rd. Had no intention of doing so.
Speech is never free, it has consequences. No person has an absolute right to free speech when employed. Employers have the right to fire people who fundamentally disagree with their values and the employer gets to set those values. Do you think the Catholic Church should have to employ an abortion doctor? Should the NAACP have to hire a Klan member? Nope. That’s freedom, too.
Quite possibly the silliest post in the discussion.
Absolutely. Speech is free, but only for left ‘liberals’.
Speech with consequences isn’t free. Obviously the NAACP won’t HIRE a KKK member. And the Catholic priests don’t exactly follow their oaths so I’m not at all sure those nuns are avoiding abortion altogether in the Convents, or other drastic measures. I’ve heard a scary Irish tale or two.
Good comments. Try telling that, though, to the arm of human rights lawyers for people who feel ‘entitled’ otherwise. I attribute a lot of our present problems to those things.
The anti-Semitic thoughts are what got her sacked. She’s free to express her opinions, her employer is free to dismiss her if it reflects badly on the organization. No one forced her to share them.
What anti-semitic thoughts? That Hitler was Jewish? That she made the observation that she was a non Jewish female in a flute section of Jewish men? How is that anti-semitic?
You’re jumping on the anti-semitic bandwagon against her without even knowing exactly what she said.
Why is anyone commenting on the religious or racial make-up of their section?
Getting with the zeitgeist, I expect.
Bill, the so-called “anti-semitic” remarks were either recalling a section of a documentary I had just seen, explaining a portion of the film; or defining the differences between my background and that of my colleagues’ in a previous orchestra. If you are not criticizing them, it is not “ANTI.”
Bill, no they aren’t. I didn’t share them publicly. Colleagues did. The BSO council declared there is no evidence of antisemitism in those emails. The public has strong emotions around that term. Their emotions are being toyed with. Those in power prefer when the people are divided because then the country isn’t strong and a coup d’estat is thoroughly plausible.
Woah there… Jesus, what she writes is… a lot to unwrap…
I should leave the unraveling to her psychiatric team?
Hebrew DNA? Like English DNA? Poor woman needs help.
To my mind she needs an education, most especially in the scientific area…………..
Unfortunately, need and want are two different things.
John Kelly,
Your education has been so corrupted by the Freemasons and the Khazarian cult you will have to relearn everything. Might as well get a running head start.
People’s educations are “corrupted” by the “Khazarean cult”? And you try to assert you are not a Jew hater! (For those who don’t know, the Khazars were a Turkic tribe that lived in Southern Russia, and who converted to Judaism in the 8th century. Some assert, often with mischief on their mind, that the majority of today’s Ashkanazic Jews descend from this group. You’ve definitely got Jews on the brain, my dear lady.
Maybe a basic one on tact, courtesy, consideration of others…basically, manners?
Yes, those cowards insulting Emily certainly need that.
She’s way beyond help. But now she’s free to take that job opening on The View!
Ludwig’s Van, the condescension is off the charts among this group. You guys feel so smug. Which generation do you all hail from?
Emily, Stalin would have loved all the useful idiots posting on this thread.
Yes, Stalin and other leaders like him used the charge of mental illness as an excuse to incarcerate high level dissidents who challenged the collective. That so many people here do not hesitate to find Emily mentally ill is alarming. Now combine that with the considerable power of internet mobbing and the rapidly growing influence of Marxism (via CRT) in our institutions. No one is safe anymore. Today it is Emily, and almost everyone here is trying to outdo each other in stomping on her. But tomorrow it could be anyone else if they step out of line. The precedent has been set.
Marxism, CRT, Stalin. My reich-wing paranoia Bingo Card is almost filled out.
Not paranoia, merely observation of the influence of the hysterical left.
I give up. The one with the cast and assets?
Emily: We are just vastly outnumbered. To be expected in this community. Sad to say we won’t live long enough to see vindication. A colleague died a short time ago due to Wagner. Drs were “baffled”. I dare not say it out loud as it’s against the “narrative”. Extremely shocking and sad. You are incredibly brave.
Conspiracy theorist. They will tell anyone who will listen that they aren’t qualified to know the facts then tell you ‘the facts’ themselves.
They most often have no grasp of the science (although they think they do) and a proportionately scant grasp of how real knowledge is disseminated by the people who actually know what they are talking about. In short they lack the perception and experience to understand how limited their perception and experience is.
But the most frightening thing is just how many of them there are.
I.e., they don’t know what they don’t know. But their vanity convinces them otherwise. Such is the tragedy of ignorance.
Robert, the scientists have all been bought. Have you ever noticed how you can always find a scientist to represent both sides at a trial? How can that be?
“Have you ever noticed how you can always find a scientist to represent both sides at a trial? How can that be?”
That comment in itself testifies to the fact that you have no understanding of Scientific Method. It is always possible to have alternative theories for any observable phenomenon and always possible to find someone who holds them. It is the very existence of them that promotes and tests the strongest evidence for the most likely truth from experimentation, critical examination and peer review.
Good point. Then why all the censorship of opposing views of doctors and scientists by big tech, government and media? I know, all their research must be wrong. Easy enough to prove, right?
Free speech and inquiry means nothing to you people.
Woops: I certainly hope you’re not referring to Climate Change!!!!!
Boy, Robert, I don’t want my defense based on a theory at my trial. I want facts. Especially because we are not supposed to win in Admiralty courts of law. Too much at stake for a theory to be interpreted by a jury, if you ask me.
We didn’t.
I see you’ve gone full-nut job, spouting the nonsense about Admiralty courts. Your case, if there ever is one, would not be heard in an Admiralty court, as it does not involve maritime activity or related law.
If you do your research on the first clinical trials of the covid “vaccine” based on documentation released by Pfizer, and you read it with a clear, intelligent mind, you would not be writing what you wrote.
Poor woman. She’s clearly lost her marbles in a deep fountain of internet conspiracy. (Sorry for the terrible mixed metaphor.)
I hope she finds peace and truth somehow.
Montblanc, when you learn THE truth, I hope you find peace, dear.
The truth is that I and others have been vaccinated, haven’t caught the disease, and suffer no ill effects (I’ve been vaccinated since January). And the truth is that people who refuse to get vaccinated allow the virus to continue to flourish and mutate.
This is nonsense. First, the vaccine does not stop you getting Covid, it just means you are very unlikely to become seriously ill when you catch Covid. Second, given you can catch Covid when you have been vaccinated, then you can also spread Covid when you have been vaccinated.
Third, Covid will gradually mutate over time, just like all other viruses. Fourth, even if most people are vaccinated, Covid will still be around.
Bottom line, the reason to get vaccinated is to stop you getting ill and none of the other things you mention.
Emily, fellow musician of 47+ years here. I support you 100% and applaud you for your diligence and bravery.
She has found peace and truth. In her own conspiracy-filled world.
I simply cannot understand why people who have no medical or scientific background think they know more than they do.
Ok, she is just freakin’ mad.
As a bag of frogs.
Maybe the problem was she had too much time to spend on the internet and too little to practice? I haven’t heard a single note from her but surely must have a gift to get where she was, it’s a shame a skillful musician is now fired for posting this, instead of offering her psychological counseling.
It’s not a company’s responsibility to offer mental health services, that responsibility.
Secondly, she was warned about her behavior numerous times and she chose to ignore those warnings. Her termination didn’t just come out of the clear blue sky, she earned it.
There is no doubt the BSO has a record of these warnings, so if she feels that she has been unfairly wronged she should sue the BSO, let it all come out in discovery and hope she doesn’t humiliate herself further.
I hear there is an opening for a principal flute in the Orban Philharmonic Orchestra in Budapest. Maybe she should hire Tucker Carlson to be her agent to secure the gig.
Hungary is a very musical country. She could do worse.
If Orban got wind of this, he probably *would* hire her.
With a second gig in percussion and modern composition; throwing toys out of cots and banging the sides of them, along with screaming, flailing of arms and wailing. All this with only one Left wing!!
https://www.spiked-online.com/2021/08/09/why-tuckers-trip-to-hungary-has-sparked-outrage/
All these ad hominem attacks–some quite vicious–on Emily are validation that the majority in our society have succumbed to the brainwashing; an unwillingness to really try to look into the truth.
Hard for any symphony or business to retain someone with this type of mental incompetency most particularly when it could affect so many others in very negative ways. Should one have some empathy for such an addled head or just dismiss the sting of ‘ideas’ as a form of madness? Oh dear.
“mental incompentency…”
Have you ever played in an orchestra? There are so many in every orchestra.
Me for example:)
La Skala reopens.
Good flute player but completely nuts. I can only imagine what it’s like to deal with this one on a regular basis. It will be interesting to see if provisions in termination in the Baltimore CBA will return her to the orchestra as it did to the two serial harassers in the New York Philharmonic. At the very least, she she get some serious help.
Anti-semiic views/refusing to adhere to pandemic policy…..? Whatever she was dismissed for, I know several professional musicians and they’re mostly irrational. It’s just that they keep quiet about their lunacy!
Norman, I am alarmed that you are letting your site become an “exclusive” platform for this woman’s bizarre and extreme views about Jews and other groups. How can you let her claim without contradiction that the term “antisemitism” is a term coined by Jews in the 1930s? The reference to Klaus Schwab suggests belief in the Great Reset conspiracy theory, concerning a supposed Zionist / New World Order plot. Elsewhere she has claimed that Hitler was half-Jewish or descended from the Rothschilds. She is really just one step away from quoting the Protocols of the Elders of Zion or denying the Holocaust. Are these views not something more than “contrarian” or “sometimes challenging,” as you have mildly put it? Do they not go beyond “the bounds of reasonable expression and discussion”?
Please watch the documentary, “Europa.” Available on Bitcute.com (I know you guys don’t trust that platform but it is just a platform which doesn’t censor). It starts with WWI and the Bolsheviks. World history as it is, not as it was taught to us. Lots of black and white film footage.
Emily. You are doing great and you are not nuts and you are not incoherent. What you will not do is parrot Liberal ideology. Thats all it takes with these people.
Emily, none of the ill-informed care to learn. They just like to act superior to others. Most of them are fact challenged and live in their on little bubble. Best to you.
But can you be fired for being a moron?
If only…
Kman, can YOU be fired for being a moron, because I am not one.
No, you can’t be fired for being a moron. Or for expressing your views, as long as those views don’t undermine your employer (you can’t go around slagging off you boss, for instance, or campaigning against your employer).
…build a wall around the USA and never let us out again.
Oh, please god, YES!!!
Whatever one’s opinions of her views, that she should be fired for what she thinks, is an utter disgrace.
Should she be fired if she claimed the Holocaust was a fraud? How about if she stated that slavery shouldn’t have been abolished? What if she stated that gay people should be killed? At what point are you still thinking this situation is an “utter disgrace”?
It’s an opinion. No-one gets hurt, no-one dies. It’s just an opinion.
People can’t be fired for what they think. Thoughts are private things. They can be for what they publish, by utterance, writing or whatever tweet is.
In other words, for what they think. Why should only they remain silent?
That people can be offended is part of free speech.
That a private company can terminate an employee for speech detrimental to the organization is also free speech.
Josh, what if you had a brain?
She was fired for her actions, not her beliefs.
Perhaps you have some inside knowledge relates to her firing. Otherwise you have no idea what lead to her removal. Perhaps it was a failure to wear a mask while on the BSO premises, get vaccinated or tested for Covid. Perhaps her social website postings were a problem. Maybeit was a combination of these, or even something entirely different. Firing a principal player in a major orchestra is not something done for no good reason,
I would not agree with much of what Skala has written. And quite frankly some of what she has written borders on the bizarre. But she has a right to hold those beliefs and they have nothing to do with her performance as Principal Flutist of the BSO. In the meantime, Orchestras like BSO are caving into “wokism” to such an extreme that they declare themselves as systemically racist devoted requiring a complete to transformation to who knows what. I will not attend any performance of the BSO until she is reinstated. Period.
………..might be a long wait………
Employers fire people all the time if they publicly express views that bring disrepute on the company. I’m sure it’s all in the fine print in the employment contract she signed when she took the job that the employer reserves that right. It’s a pretty common clause in most employment contracts.
You normally need to demonstrate an actual damage resulting from the expression of those views if you want to fire an employer. Having bizarre views about Covid and the vaccine is unlikely to meet that threshold.
Not true in the US, in most cases. You might end up defending yourself against a lawsuit brought by the terminated employee at some point, but such actions are difficult (and expensive) for the terminated employee to win. And here’s the thing: people who lack the ability to understand when they should keep their mouth shut often lack the ability to follow other rules, and give their employers the ammunition to fire them for other reasons as well.
Thank you in advance for not entering our hall anymore. Sincerely, a very relieved member of the BSO
Yup, gotta keep that totalitarianism going…
Lol,
Violating the social media policy I see. Yes, good one, all 26 of you very nice, upstanding people.
Just……WOW!
This one’s tough. I don’t want to live in a country where an individual can be deprived of their livelihood because of their viewpoint. (Remember McCarthyism?) But, good Lord, that woman is bonkers.
Your first point is valid, the second subjective. Stick with the first.
That means you don’t read anything at all about the thousands of people cancelled because they disagreed with the Left. It’s probably nice and cool, though, with your head stuck in the sand.
She wasn’t ‘cancelled’, she was fired from a job, it happens every day. She’s still very much able to spew whatever inane insanity she wants, the BSO simply chose not to associate itself with the rantings of a lunatic.
She is onto something but I think some of the facts she presents are not exact. But if you spend some time looking into history (not TikTok as someone implied) and patent history and publications on government websites in my opinion, you might discover the following:
1. Hundreds of patents show SARS-CoV-2 is a manmade virus that has been tinkered with for decades. Much of the research was funded by the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) under the direction of Dr. Fauci, and may have been an outgrowth of attempts to develop an HIV vaccine.
2. Maybe the North Carolina University she mentions is related to the fact that in 1999, Fauci funded research at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill to create “an infectious replication-defective coronavirus” specifically targeted for human lung epithelium. This appears to be the virus that became known as SARS-CoV. U.S. Patent 7279327 shows we knew the ACE receptor, the ACE2 binding domain, the S-1 spike protein, and other elements of SARS-CoV-2 were engineered and could be synthetically modified using gene sequencing technologies.
3.The CDC holds patents to a SARS coronavirus that is 89% to 99% identical to the sequence identified as SARS-CoV-2, as well as the PCR test to diagnose it.
4. 120 patents detail supposed “unique” features of SARS-CoV-2: the polybasic cleavage site, the spike protein and the ACE2 binding, proving it’s not a novel virus at all.
5. When she says that the virus was sold to China, it wasn’t exactly that. In 2015, Dr. Peter Daszak, head of the EcoHealth Alliance that funneled research dollars from the NIAID to the Wuhan Institute of Virology for coronavirus research, who has promoted the official narrative that SARS-CoV-2 has a natural origin, stated:
“We need to increase public understanding of the need for medical countermeasures such as a pan-coronavirus vaccine. A key driver is the media and the economics will follow the hype. We need to use that hype to our advantage, to get to the real issues. Investors will respond if they see profit at the end of the process.”
I know many of you think that science is what CNN and New York Times are feeding you with but c’mon. It’s definitely not Fox News either lol:) But if you are so opinionated and advising others people to get their shots, at least do just a bit your own research.
“3.The CDC holds patents to a SARS coronavirus that is 89% to 99% identical to the sequence identified as SARS-CoV-2, as well as the PCR test to diagnose it.”
It can’t be 89-99% identical. It’s identical or it isn’t and if it isn’t then it’s different. You’re disseminating nonsense.
Very unique thinking.
The so called variants, delta and delta plus are just that: similar but not identical.
You’re as crazy as she is
https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/covid-19-pseudoscience/patently-false-disinformation-over-coronavirus-patents
Very nice Socratic Method, PK!
I will only add that the CDC holds 57 medical patents, in fact, which rather makes it a pharmaceutical company more so than a disease control center. They also monitor the VAERS system (or is it more accurate to say produce it?) in which the FDA shares a role, but I’m foggy on this relationship as I just learned of it the other day.
Bill Gates owns the American patent on SARS-CoV-2 while the Rothschilds own the European patent. Bill also funded the research on all the versions of the vaccines, so he’s living large off of this pandemic. He and Dr. Fauci are lifelong friends.
Everything you said is 100% correct. Isnt it interesting that the as massive evidence shows that the lead Epidemologist in the USA and the highest paid Govt employee the darling of the Liberal Establishment..actually sent US dollars to a Chinese Communist Military Bio Weapons laboratory to develop even more deadly viruses. After that.. nothing else matters.
@JR Kipling:
You said: “Everything you [i.e. Emily Skala] said is 100% correct.”
Even this?
“Bill Gates owns the American patent on SARS-CoV-2 while the Rothschilds own the European patent.”
Now put this in your pipe and smoke it:
https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/covid-19-pseudoscience/patently-false-disinformation-over-coronavirus-patents
Besides, how can one claim a patent for a virus that doesn’t exist (according to E.S.)?
😉
“They also monitor the VAERS system (or is it more accurate to say produce it?) in which the FDA shares a role, but I’m foggy on this relationship as I just learned of it the other day.”
You could have learned of it directly long ago from the VAERS home page, which says in the first paragraph “VAERS is co-managed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).” There is no sinister cover-up
The notion that the CDC is a pharmaceutical company is debunked here:
https://healthfeedback.org/claimreview/the-cdc-licences-vaccine-technology-but-isnt-a-vaccine-company-the-cdc-doesnt-sell-vaccines-it-buys-and-distributes-vaccines-free-of-charge/
The McGill article referred to by Chris above also gives a clear explanation about coronavirus patents.
She completely lost me when she compared the Holocaust to vaccine mandates. That’s simply the thinking of a nut case.
James Weiss, please read the Nuremberg Code then. Everyone needs to know what this is.
The Nuremberg Code is about experiments on humans (e.g. the murderous atrocities Mengele performed on children in Auschwitz:
https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-30933718)
Vaccination is a scientifically approved practice that saves lives – NOT an experiment.
The one has nothing to do with the other.
It’s an experiment. Did you get all the information on possible side effects including death, so you could give informed consent? If not, a violation of Nuremberg Code.
“it’s an experiment” – the scientific community, health authorities around the globe, my GP, and also a violinist friend of mine (who incidentally is a virologist researching HIV and SARS-Cov-2) disagree with you.
And to answer your question about informed consent:
for the last seven months the German media have been talking about little else than side effects and potential dangers – more importantly, before anyone gets the actual shot, they can speak to a Doctor, after having had to read and fill out this form:
https://www.rki.de/DE/Content/Infekt/Impfen/Materialien/COVID-19-Vektorimpfstoff-Tab.html
(available for every vaccine, in more than 20 languages – and yes, it does explicitly mention “side effects including death”)
Therefore: yes, I (and all the recipients of one of the 95m doses administered in Germany so far) had the chance to give informed consent.
You may be right about Germany. In the US, informed consent doesn’t happen.
“The scientific community disagrees with you.” Sure. Hey, here are some crackpot doctors and scientists who disagree.
https://rightsfreedoms.wordpress.com/2021/05/11/57-top-scientists-and-doctors-stop-all-covid-vaccinations/
There are a lot more but many are afraid to come out publicly.
Let’s face it, the “science” behind all this “vaccine” stuff is beginning to crack. Already look at the booster shot nonsense coming. Why do we need it? Aren’t vaccinated people not supposed to spread it? These agencies to protect the public are contradicting themselves all over the place. And we wonder why people don’t believe what they say. Pathetic.
The booster jab is needed since the effect of the vaccine wears off after a few months.
It diminishes the horror of the Holocaust and that’s what annoys me the most about this and other crazy analogies with that catastrophy; and that includes the comments about Trump and TrumpReich. Equally offensive and belittling of real suffering and genocide.
The woman is clearly delusional and suffering from a variety of mental problems. I feel badly for her, as the stress of COVID exacerbated mental health problems in many people.
Especially under these circumstances, I believe the BSO should have acted with compassion and made efforts in private to get her the clinical help she clearly needs.
I wish her all the best in finding some clarity.
May I inquire as to where you got you degree in medicine? The same place as Bill Gates and Warren Buffet I would guess.
Thanks so much for posting this, Norman. Shedding light on these kinds of views is important. It allows everyone to see what an unbalanced person thinks. You did all of us a public service.
Quote: “…and people are dying at the very same rate at which we normally die, between 7%-11% annually.”
Exactly. Because 99% of all people accept masks, social distancing, curfews, rules to protect others and are grateful to even have the chance to get vaccinated.
Not in this country we don’t, George. We have only done that from March 2020 to present. I’m comparing data over many decades.
Emily, of course from March 2020 till present, as that is when the pandemic started. As in every other country affected by it. And because we follow the rules and take measurements, death rates have not gone up – at least apparently not in the US.
I wish you would spend some time looking at the images from hospitals in Bergamo, Italy last year.
Yikes. Nothing good comes out of reaching the Godwin point early on in your ‘I was fired unfairly’ comments.
And if her lawyers told her she “can’t be fired for [her] beliefs” she needs better lawyers.
So if you believe in vaccines and majority of your community doesn’t and you get fired because of that it is fair? Seriously? Always try to look through other people’s perspective. This being said I do not agree with what she says. And yes this goes too far.
I believe that if you say ‘vaccines are like the Holocaust’ as she does in comment no. 4, you’re not worth listening to, and your employer may very well judge that you bring them into disrepute.
And then there’s comment 5, which blames a “Jewish journalist” for inventing Antisemitism.
I’m gonna go out on a limb and venture that she was probably not too observant of the Orchestra’s health protocols either.
Skala didn’t invent the Holocaust/vax mandate comparison. Cnn is reporting today that many unvaxxed attendees at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally on now are wearing the Star of David. Horrifying.
Indeed – doesn’t make it any less despicable.
I hope Ms .Skala gets well soon, although her kind of mental illness is notoriously hard to treat. She is clearly deluded and paranoid and not particularly well informed. She only needs to recognize how many of her musician colleagues , some previously young and healthy, are now dead or disabled, to admit that this is no ordinary flu.
Career blown, her position at Peabody is next; they won’t take on the insurance risk of an unvaccinated member of their faculty teaching flute in a small studio. (Nor will parents want their children around her if they are advised of the situation.) So outside of Zoom flute classes, her future is taking call center phone calls for Safelite auto windshield replacement, placing calls selling life insurance, or calling for donations to the Republican party, or a conservative PAC from her home. This fiasco was entirely avoidable and she’s found some ambulance chasing attorneys who are giving her lousy advice. An attorney with common sense would not touch this case. Nothing to settle, nothing to take to court that might win. The union won’t stick their neck out for her under these circumstances. Sure she is free to say whatever she wants, but at times there are consequences to that when you make it public. This is over, her fellow musicians want nothing to do with her. Nor do they want to sit in close quarters with an unvaccinated wind instrumentalist. By the way, she made another terrible error in judgement coming here to respond; if it makes it to court, entirely admissible as evidence.
If her colleagues are still CV-free, then she can’t be that much of a risk, can she?
Career at Peabody is already over.
As millions of vaccinated are getting sicker and actually have become the breeding ground for virus mutations.. isnt it time to give up the official narrative?
Never let the facts get in the way of your comment. Not millions, a modest few thousand in comparison to the hundreds of millions who have been vaccinated around the world. Go to the Hopkins site and they have the numbers which are relatively low and in line with what the manufacturers claim. Vaccines are not 100% effective ever, but they damn sure save the vast preponderance of people who receive them from severe sickness and death.
MET,
Best comment on this entire string. Thank you!
MET,
Best comment on this string. Thank you!
Publicly comparing vaccine mandates to Holocaust gassings would be enough for me to not want Ms Skala on my team. If she lectured her “beliefs” to her orchestra colleagues during rehearsals, before concerts or on the bus during tours, I have to believe the Baltimore Symphony will be better off without her.
“If gassing people to death in WWII was found to be a crime against humanity, tell me why vaccine mandates are acceptable” Oy. Well, at least she isn’t a Holocaust denier……….You can’t send your kids to school unless they’re vaccinated – why is this any different? CNN just fired 3 people for coming to work (their offices) unvaccinated. Enough nonsense. Become a citizen and stop thinking only of yourself and your supposed “rights.” You’re not that important.
I agree, you John Kelly are not important. I refuse to submit to junk science and the more Fauci speaks, the more I’m convinced the country has been lied to. .98% survival rate to me does not require the country to go into lockdown or take a experimental shot. To borrow from the Left, “My body, my choice.”
The death rate is about 1-in-300 from Covid if you are unvaccinated. It is a great deal lower if you have had the vaccine.
Check out any of John Campbell’s videos on excess deaths.
You will fit in perfectly with the Nu Perfect World Order!
John Kelly, a vaccine mandate is supposed to MAKE YOU OUTRAGED!!!!! You are not supposed to be fine with it, much less force it on everyone else. What if your employer said we cannot afford family leaves. All women need hysterectomies by September 7th or else you’ll have to go on unpaid leave without health care until you can comply or prove satisfactory religious exemption. We will hire a temp to fill in your position in the mean time. The employer reserves the right to determine if your religious exemption seems genuine or if it will endanger the bottom line to continue to keep you in our employ. What would you do? Or should the analogy be castration? Because this is what the terms of orchestra vaccine mandates look like. With the blessings of AFM HQ.
Emily Skala has been proven not to exist. There is a conspiracy and a social conformity who want to make believe us she is a flutist.
Flautist.
It’s flutist in the US.
Why does she choose to use this website as a “forum” for her views? Why not contact the Baltimore Sun?
Why do you think the Baltimore Sun would publish these deranged rants? They do have standards.
drummerman,
Because you have been brainwashed and you don’t realize you are the ones with the illness.
So sad…They say conspiracy theorists tend to get out of it once their lives in general turn around. Whatever it is that she’s struggling with, I hope she can overcome it, for herself, and for people around that she’s influencing hugely negatively.
In the interests of compassion, SD should stop exploiting this sad person’s ignorance and muddled thinking as click-bait.
Skala: The term “antisemite” was a made-up term, by a Jewish journalist, for a German newspaper, in the mid-1930s …
Correction: “The compound word Antisemitismus (‘antisemitism’) was first used in print in Germany in 1879 as a scientific-sounding term for Judenhass (‘Jew-hatred’) and this has been its common use since then.” (Wiki)
Skala: … much the way “conspiracy theory” was a term made up by the CIA after JFK’s assassination
Correction: “The Oxford English Dictionary … cites a 1909 article in The American Historical Review as the earliest usage example [of conspiracy theory], although it also appeared in print as early as April 1870.” (Wiki)
Skala: and “anti-vaccination” was made up by the pharmaceutical companies.”
Correction: A National Anti-Vaccination League was formed in London in 1896, in response to the British government making smallpox vaccination compulsory. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Anti-Vaccination_League, and https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6122668/
I don’t think she’s helping her case here. She sounds off her meds, frankly.
My dear Emily, your views are 2 19
Just to refute one crazy point that is not an opinion but just plain wrong, the terms antisemite and anti-Semitic go back to the 19th century, as any dictionary will tell you, and was not created in the 1930s.
It’s like the Qanon sickness. Really ordinary people feel special because they have “information” the rest of us don’t have. Or want.
Precisely! Conspiracy theorists want to be able to show people that they are really “in the know.”
We especially saw it after 9/11.
Or believe, when they ram it down our throats.
This. You said it, JR.
I’m revising my earlier opinion. The lady appears to be unwell and some sort of medical exit from the orchestra would have been appropriate. Further, this site is exploiting someone who is clearly not mentally competent.
But who by all accounts was a first-rate flutist.
You can go to youtube and see a few videos of her performing. Then watch Emmanuel Pahud. If Emily was first-class, Emmanuel is hors catégorie.
So unless you play like Pahud you’re not worth listening to?
“if gassing people to death in WWII was found to be a crime against humanity, tell me why vaccine mandates are acceptable.’”
She is actually comparing the nazi genocide in WWII to the Covid vaccine programmes? Oh dear!
Read the Nuremberg Code. Court cases against mandatory vaccination are won with it. There’s one going on right now. Your ignorance is painful. But this is the sum total of our highjacked education system. They want us to be stupid and not to know our rights and to have forgotten the Nuremberg Code!!! Do you get it?!
The Nuremberg Code is about medical experiments on humans.
Vaccination is a scientifically approved practice – NOT an experiment.
The one has nothing to do with the other.
(and that’s even before considering the ethical question of mandatory vaccinations)
But each new vaccination has to be approved separately. Emily is right. Forcing or in any way coercing anyone to undergo any kind of unapproved medical experimentation is strictly prohibited by the Nuremberg Code, a very short, simply worded document, and easy to find. Vaccines and drugs can easily take a decade to properly vet, and even then are sometimes found wanting and pulled in the years that follow. I agree that vaccinations (although they are not without side effects, and some cannot handle them) can be helpful in principle, but each and every new product must still be tested fully. It has to work in the long term. The products for covid from many companies were released for sale in a matter of months. To me, this fact alone sets an alarming precedent. What if major side effects surface in the coming years? Who will be held accountable?
Drug companies have often been found guilty in court of testing medical products on various groups of people, remote tribes, minorities, mentally ill, etc. in recent decades and when properly challenged, have had to pay large fines on several occasions. Summaries and books have been written. This information too is easy to find.
Meanwhile, for 2021 Pfizer alone is projecting 33.5 Billion in covid vax sales. Clearly, they are not a charity. The profit motive in all this is not to be taken lightly.
Yes, the profits made by the pharmaceutical industry might be an interesting topic – but they are not relevant to the question of efficacy and safety of a specific drug.
Again, vaccinations in general are not experimental. They are a scientifically approved procedure.
In the case of vaccines against SARS-Cov-2: yes, mainly bureaucratic procedures have been sped up, but (in the case of Germany) all currently used vaccines separately have completed the usual process of approving new medicines successfully.
After research, development, clinical trials and documentation by pharmaceutical industry and university institutes they were individually assessed and approved by the relevant authorities and independent institutions (EMA and Paul-Ehrlich-Institut) using the same standards applied to any other vaccine or drug.
“Forcing or in any way coercing anyone to undergo any kind of unapproved medical experimentation is strictly prohibited by the Nuremberg Code” –
it’s not forced on anyone,
it’s not experimental,
it’s not unapproved!
So now Germany wants to vaccinate kids, just like they want in the US. Informed consent I suppose. Here’s the editor in chief of Bild apologizing for scaring the crap out of kids.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDC2RlPTB5Q&t=3s
you are misinformed
(and I’m not surprised: BILD might not be the most reliable source of information…):
there’s an election coming up in Germany, so politicians do what politicians do –
however, there is an open and free debate, widely reported on by the media, about this question.
the relevant independent body (STIKO – Ständige Impfkommission) deciding such matters DOES NOT recommend vaccinating children (unless they are vulnerable, for example by being immunocompromised):
https://www.rki.de/DE/Content/Infekt/Impfen/ImpfungenAZ/COVID-19/Impfempfehlung-Zusfassung.html
and again: no adult or child is getting the shot against their will (and I doubt that doctors force the needle into unwilling victims in the US, either – if they did, that would indeed clearly be criminal)
I’ll say it for the last time:
these vaccinations have nothing to do whatsoever with the Nuremberg Code.
Ok, so 12 year old children can give informed consent in Germany. Thanks.
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-08-germany-covid-shots-kids.html
Since the “vaccines” have not been tested long term, how is it possible to give informed consent?
Fortunately, the vaccines being used in the US are not unapproved medical experiments, as they have all been approved for emergency use by the FDA. And soon they will have full approval, so this whole line of argument will evaporate, just like someone’s career.
As for the claim that people win anti-vaccination cases by shouting “but the Nuremberg Code” over and over to the court, would you please provide a citation for even one such case?
The FDA is a revolving door with the pharma companies. Everyone knows that. They get 45% of their funding from big pharma. Approving vaccines takes between 5-7 years at least. My question is, why is the FDA taking so long to approve it? I’m serious. They’re so corrupted, why are they delaying approval? I don’t have an answer.
This musician and other employees can say whatever they wish publicly, but there are consequences. Under US law, free speech is the protection from the GOVERNMENT censoring viewpoints that are not otherwise in violation of the law. There is no such thing as free speech at private employers. Outside of existing labor laws, the BSO and any private employer can and long have fired employees for controversial public statements that put the employer in a bad light. Having lost family and friends to COVID, I find her wacko conspiracy theories insulting. Her anti-Semitic viewpoints are just more evidence that BSO did the right thing.
I’ve never really enjoyed Mad Libs, but now I see the potential.
Legend has it that Kathleen Battle was fussing at a recording session, until an assisting artist finally became exasperated enough to say “Bitch, just shut up and sing!” Perhaps that’s the way to deal with Ms. Skala.
This is beyond KB nonsense. There is also a difference between bitchy and deranged.
First, it’s HIPAA, not HIPPA.
Second, if you have to explain what a Semite is to explain how you’re not anti-Semitic (because it’s an opinion?), you’ve lost the mission.
Third, she’s nuts.
She has made her difficult, delusional, racist personality clear in this rant. A symphony is a collection of musicians who combine their effort, talent, and artistry to create a shared vision of expression. At a minimum, mutual respect is necessary for its success; reciprocal good will is even better. It would be impossible to achieve that with someone like this in the fold. Her dismissal wasn’t just justified, it was necessary.
Anyone not confirming to collective thoughts will be removed from the body.
You are an uneducated fool. If you cannot see by all of these comments that no one knows how to be respectful who comes from the liberal left, including my colleagues, than you ALL are the ones with the mental illness. The incivility, the sanctimonious, prideful, merciless judgements coming out of your ignorant minds is horrifying. It’s as if Rome is falling again. Your parents have failed you. Your teachers have failed you. Your inner, higher selves have failed you. Go pray to a higher power for guidance. You need it. May the Angels come to walk beside you from now on, to clear out that negative energy, because at the moment you walk with the devil for sure.
Emily, I think there are a large number of your critics who are just jealous of your success and revel in your being dismissed. Jealous people love to see successful people fall. Most of your critics are just like what we see on college campi, immature and ignorant.
Oh, yeah, we’re all jealous of her “achievements” — not. Blowing not 1 but 2 cushy tenured jobs is quite an achievement!
Why are you doing a Cletus Safari with this imbecilic bigot? Why are you publishing her toxic and dangerous drivel and regurgitated Reichwing propaganda?
Because censorship is the preserve of idiotic totalitarians.
honestly norman, love the site.. but you have a collection of the most brain dead commentators ever. that you post them is testament to your tolerance, and support of free speech.
Surprised about the thumbs ups. I suspect he is talking about us, not the occasional guest commentator occasionally featured on the top right.
I take it you’re referring to the ‘caring left’, who unfailingly indulge in ad hominem attacks on people who think differently from them.
Ok, so this is a totally unprecedented situation in classical music. No way do I agree with her or what she’s done, but music is a competitive profession. Flute players, particularly, need to be resourceful to succeed. Since she is completely unrepentant, in her situation I would lean into it and make it work. She could be a huge success!
She should get an agent and become the darling of the right wing press. She likes Trump? Great, he has a hard time getting musicians on his side, now he has an established, well trained flutist lately of a major US symph orch squarely in his camp. She needs to make that connection. Offer to give a recital at Mar-a-Lago. Meet wealthy right wing sponsors who support her causes. She’d garner support and funding for a major legal case against Baltimore in a heartbeat.
She should get to know Marjorie Taylor Green. Holy crap, if Green can get elected to Congress and get millions in donations every time she opens her mouth against masks and vaxxes, Skala could easily become the darling of the right wing. The far right needs a cultural emissary. Skala would be ideal.
Get on Fox News. They lost the My Pillow Guy, now they could have a flutist. Give an interview on One America News. Bring the flute & serenade the right wing anti vax public. Can you even imagine how popular that would be? Everyone loves the flute!
If Baltimore is going to throw her to the dogs, she has nothing to lose. She needs to align herself publicly with others being persecuted for similar views and run with it. She can have an astounding second career as a public figure representing people who share her views. If a flute player can lead the Belarus revolution (Maria Kolesnikova) https://www.haaretz.com/world-news/.premium.MAGAZINE-maria-kolesnikova-flute-player-belarusians-topple-tyrant-lukashenko-minsk-1.9109040
a flute player can be an effective spokesperson for the anti-vaxxers. She needs to polish up her image, get with an agent and get to work.
And she needs to get the book deal, ASAP. Start negotiating now. This could even be a Hollywood script or at least a Lifetime movie. Forget Baltimore Symphony. Skala’s been there, done that. She could be on the brink of a major new career.
As I say, I do not condone her beliefs, but I know exactly how hard it is to make it as a flutist. You do what it takes to survive. If she’d get her head out of her a** for once, this could be Emily Skala’s golden ticket!
She and the My Pillow Guy. She playing Brahms Lullaby. He drifting off to sleep.
Ariel Pink certainly tried that approach, going on to Tucker Carlson to plead for his career after his record label canned him when he was spotted at the January 6 rally.
“She needs to align herself publicly with others being persecuted for similar views and run with it.”
Yeah — how’s that working out for Laurence Fox?
Tutti, you would make an excellent career counselor!
I’ve found that referring to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act [HIPAA] as HIPPA is a pretty good predictor that what is to follow is complete nonsense, and Ms. Skala is no exception.
HIPAA does many things, but the thing most misunderstood here is that HIPAA shields your protected health information from being disclosed without your permission by your health cares providers or insurance company. It does not however mean that you cannot be asked to provide such information yourself, for example to provide proof of immunization before enrolling at school or taking a job.
From the WSJ:
A June 3 letter suggests that conditioning access to shops or malls on presenting negative Covid-19 results is somehow a violation of the privacy provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, commonly known as HIPAA. This is legally incorrect. HIPAA only applies to “covered entities,” which consist of certain health-care providers, health plans (e.g., health insurers, Medicare) and health-care clearinghouses. HIPAA also applies to a covered entity’s business associates, e.g., those providing certain services to the covered entity. It does not apply to individuals, who are always free to reveal to anyone their health information, nor does it prevent a store owner, nursing home, theme park or restaurateur from requesting Covid-19 information as a condition of admission. Other laws, however, may come into play here, but not HIPAA.
Robert Charrow
General Counsel
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Washington
So by this logic, we can and should ask about, say, hepatitis or AIDS/HIV status if one is working in, say, the hospitality or food service industries since its all about public safety, yes? What about construction where employees are likely to work with sharp and hazardous tools and materials which could break the skin? If it’s all about public safety why allow any privacy of any communicable disease status?
Thank you for the correction. I was spelling it the way we all pronounce it, with a short “i.”
“ SARS-CoV-2 has been proven not to exist.” And all this time I’d thought that it was created at Johns Hopkins, stolen by Mossad, and handed to George Soros, who then sold it to the Chinese for use as a bioweapon.
I guess not everything on the Internet is true?
Funny, my wife had an antibody test and she has antibodies for SARS-CoV-2. Never was sick from that plague, the doctors had no explanation, but it was there in the test results. As I said before in response to Skala, Oy Vey!
About half the people who have Covid have no noticeable symptoms. Only a relatively small proportion get seriously sick (even fewer of those who have been vaccinated). There is nothing difficult to explain about the positive antibody test.
This might be of interest:
https://awakening.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/05122457/transcriptofcourtcase.pdf
…I think this went over everyone’s heads.
Who is Melissa Whimbish and what is her connection to any of this? The NY Times mentioned that she posted leaked emails and organized an online petition for Skala to be punished.
I also find it odd that Whimbish, described by the Times as “a soprano in Baltimore”, would be interviewed regarding this by the NY Times.
Melissa Wimbish is the girlfriend of Dolf Kamper, who is the ex-husband of Marcia Kamper, another flutist in the Baltimore Symphony.
From this you can figure out exactly where the leaks and confidential information leaked to the media came from.
Wimbish is self promoting wanna-be singer with huge anger issues and a lot of resentment for pretty much anyone in classical music mainstream. She wants to blame her own career challenges on racism. (she’s half Black).
She aimed her resentment squarely at Emily Skala. She culled what she knew about Emily and made it suit her cause.
She lives on social media, has a throng of angry millennial followers who hang on her every word and never question her facts. She threatens physical violence and revenge to any one who doesn’t agree with her.
She’s a truly frightening person and fame whore that she is, she’s probably over the moon that she was mentioned in NYTimes.
(Oh, and expect this post to be downthumbed and attacked by the legions of Melissa Wimbish’s trolls).
No downthumbing as yet; maybe you’ve struck a nerve.
You are so comically obsessed with thumb ratings
Oh, and here’s a tidbit. On her FB page, Melissa Wimbish is, indeed, celebrating being mentioned in NYTimes.
But she’s whining that NYTimes didn’t plug her upcoming album as she asked them to.
That’s pretty much how this whole campaign against Skala snowballed: Melissa Wimbish (who wrote and circulated the petition against Skala) demanded various press sources to report on Skala exactly as she told them to, slanted to her perspective, her dubious set of facts.
Every time this didn’t happen, every time a story appeared in the press which reflected actual facts and not her slant, she’d throw a hissy fit on her FB page about how bad the news source was, how lame the writer was, etc. She and her followers verbally attacked and insulted every major news publication which wrote about Skala, including the author of this site. She and her followers were especially incensed that Slipped Disc allowed comments by readers who supported Skala.
Since many commenters use pseudonyms here, she and her followers began viciously accusing any poster who expressed support for Skala as actually BEING Skala. It was hilarious, hugely entertaining and a conspiracy theory unto itself.
They claimed one person who commented here must be Skala because she had a cat with a similar name. Another commenter was accused of being Skala because their pen name was a composer she’d just performed a piece by. It went on and on. Finally frustrated with tilting at the windmills of pseudonymous commenters, Melissa and her crew turned on the author of this blog and insulted him.
So now Melissa and her followers are annoyed at NYTimes because they refused to plug her new album in the article about Skala’s dismissal. They are also bickering on her FB page about the fact that NYTimes requires a subscription and they can’t read the article for free.
So, yeah, Melissa Wimbish and her followers, spear headed by her lame ass boyfriend Dolf Kamper who’s the ex husband of another flutist in the Baltimore section, had a big role in this. You just can’t make this stuff up. . .
https://mobile.twitter.com/melissawimbish
Is it illegal or unethical for an orchestra member to leak private emails from within an orchestra?
Has anything like this (leaking private messages intended for a particular group) ever happened in any orchestra?
Employees in orchestras should be careful what they write in an email if it can easily end up on Twitter.
Once again – we don’t know why Skala was fired. If she was fired for her actions, rather than her speech (as I’m almost certain is the case), then what she wrote does provide some hints as to what those actions might have been:
“If No Smoking is important in the workplace, tell me why HIPPA isn’t. If gassing people to death in WWII was found to be a crime against humanity, tell me why vaccine mandates are acceptable.”
Someone who doesn’t believe that COVID is real is likely to resist masking and testing requirements, both of which were near-universal last season for those American orchestras who performed. The flute is an air-jet instrument that cannot be played while masked, making her COVID status quite important. We can assume that she’s not vaccinated, I think. So, if she refused testing (which was a normal requirement for un-vaccinated musicians last season), or refused to wear a mask while not playing, that would be a serious health risk to her colleagues and a liability risk to her employer. Also worth noting is that (at least according to her) she had already been suspended, and that the BSO claimed they had followed the doctrine of progressive discipline, which strongly implies repeated violations of whatever rule was allegedly violated.
Saying crazy things is not generally a cause for dismissal in a unionized workplace. Doing crazy things is a different matter entirely.
You know, Robert, in a court of law they use evidence to come to an understanding of a situation, not powers of reason absent evidence. This is a pointless exercise, making assumptions. Just because they used the language verbatim from the CBA to justify their action doesn’t mean my behavior literally became progressively worse. In fact, the discipline remained exactly the same and the Union deemed it excessive in every instance. So you see, people say things that end up not being true. Best not to spend so much energy trying to believe the BSO.
“Progressive discipline” refers to the discipline, not the offending behavior. The first time you steal a car, you might just get probation. The second time, a short jail sentence. Keep doing it and you’ll find that people want to throw the book at you, even if you are still stealing comparable cars.
Emily, your comment here sounds perfectly reasonable, so I’m wondering why you’d write such a self-destructive and seemingly irrational post like the one Norman excerpted above. Even if you hold such beliefs, to present them in that way is very unstrategic, to say the least. I can’t help but believe that there are times when the stress of the conflict and perhaps other issues cause your mind to run away with itself.
If you are going to legally challenge your firing, your lawyer will tell you stop making any public statements. This isn’t just because your views are highly provocative and can be used against you (to say the least,) it is standard practice to avoid public statements in almost any legal dispute since your opponents will be watching and will attempt to exploit anything you say.
If you simply can’t resist making public statements (which you shouldn’t,) you should have some trusted friends first review your posts, and you should heed their advice. And even better, you should have your lawyer vet what you say, though he will tell you to not say anything.
I’m not a lawyer, but I think your best course of action would be to argue that the administration did not stop you from being harassed and mobbed in your workplace due to your political beliefs and that this led to problems with your mental health. (I should note that I strongly disagree with your political views.)
You might be able to negotiate a reinstatement on that basis including conditions that your colleagues leave you alone, that you leave them alone, and that you take a medical leave involving a program of therapy that you are obligated to complete. The administration will resist, but with enough legal pressure (if that can even be achieved) they might agree.
In general, even if you decide not to oppose your dismissal, I hope you will spend a good deal of time talking to your closest friends and family about how you are approaching the social issues that concern you. It seems like your concerns have overtaken you and that friends and family might help you get grounded again. Just my uninformed opinion, of course.
For those interested, some of Emily’s playing here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDy54Ik13dQ&list=OLAK5uy_kNdllqFtWMBN2yfcZ8ALtQQTwPoYZGSGo&index=4
The whole album here:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcz0HasgEENIsUuW5r0DBvg
Bravisimo, William. Thank you for your clarity and compassion. I also do not agree with her views, but someone needs to try to see things from her side.
It’s so easy to join the mob and to condemn her. The comments here are horrific. It’s like a public stoning. The challenge is to try to understand why this has happened and how she should proceed. You’ve given her great advice and I hope to God she reads it.
Politics and religion are seldom good dinner conversation because they often lead to controversy. Same in the workplace. An orchestra is a collective of diverse people. It’s a place to blend in. It’s not the place to peddle controversial beliefs. Not religious, not political, not scientific. You remain neutral. You never create controversy. Doesn’t every orch player know to live by this rule?
I don’t think Emily should try to be reinstated. There seems to be a generational gap between Emily and the younger players in her orchestra and I don’t think she’ll ever be comfortable or fully accepted at her age, with her mindset.
33 years is a good run. As much as we don’t want to admit it, orch wind players have a shelf life. There’s a time to step back and you have to be sensitive as to when that time is, because it doesn’t always correspond with one’s standard retirement age. This is Emily’s time to step down graciously from her Principal Flute position, IMHO.
I think her goals now should be financial: getting a good settlement. I also think that her career is far from over. We can see that she is thoughtful and expresses herself well. She’s clearly done a lot of research to justify her opinions. She wants to share these ideas. But she’s chosen exactly the wrong audience with Baltimore Symphony.
There are many people in the world who hold the same beliefs as Emily. Her views would be of great interest to these people. She is educated and literate. She would be credible to a far right, conspiracy-theory or Qanon oriented audience. This is where she should be explaining herself. She will never find approval from other classical musicians, because her ideas are abhorrent to most of us.
Historically, in the world of classical music, she’s hardly alone. Bruckner, Beethoven, Satie, Moussorgsky all swam against the current of society. Tchaikowsky was ostracized for being gay. Performers like Glen Gould, Kathleen Battle, Jessye Norman and even the illustrious Grigory Sokolov were/are extraordinarily eccentric. Karajan aligned himself with the Nazis, Wagner pandered to a Mad King with a swan fetish and Levine was a pedophile. Who are we to sit in judgement of a flutist who favors Donald Trump and the beliefs that his followers espouse?
Thank you, William, for finding the good in Emily Skala and for not being part of the mob. Someone has to. . .
Quite a few of us do, as it happens.
Wrote a letter to the orchestra:
Dear Ladies and gentlemen,
“Nothing travels faster than the speed of light, with the possible exception of bad news, which obeys its own special laws.”
And so it came to my Dutch ears that your orchestra fired Emily Skala.
Please see this survey by Wall Street Journal, where you may find that a lableaked virus is not so much a conspiracy as it might seem.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-science-suggests-a-wuhan-lab-leak-11622995184
Dutch radio also mentioned misses Skala having questioned the efficacy of the vaccines. Misses Skala is in good company, because the worlds most respected medical journals, the Lancet and British Medical Journal, have stated the same:
the Lancet, here: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanmic/article/PIIS2666-5247(21)00069-0/fulltext
And britisch Medical Journal on several occasions:
https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2021/01/04/peter-doshi-pfizer-and-modernas-95-effective-vaccines-we-need-more-details-and-the-raw-data/
https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4347/rr-4
The dismissal of misses Skala is worrying: One might be entitled to utter Christian, Islamic or atheist views, or whatever political ones, but not Covid- or vaccine-critical ones? Do you realize that even serious scientist have been shut out, threatened, etc? This is also stated by BMJ:
https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4425
I sure hope you will re-install misses Skala to your orchestra.
Sincerely,
ir.Michaël de Vos, NL
The Lancet? Wasn’t that the magazine that had to retract a report that vaccines cause autism? That false report probably did more to promote an anti vaccine mentality in people than anything Donald Trump or Tucker Carlson ever said, so that journal might not be my go to source for information on this topic.
As for the first British Medical Journal article you cite, it was published way back in January. I would assume the data has been made available by now, at least to those in the medical field who could understand it, if not to the public in general, and I’m certain much more data is out there being generated daily by all of us human lab animals who have willingly agreed to participate in this great experiment. I seem to read articles weekly with vaccine efficacy data.
So that’s why you’ll get your booster jab this fall. The “vaccine” is becoming obsolete. Efficacious? Absolutely!
“misses” indeed, as in the point. Wish _you_ the best of luck in your future endeavors, too.
Surely this will help!
Hope she sees this man
Kookoo for Cocoa Puffs, that one! Don’t let the door hit you on the behind Emily!
What I would pay to hear her play if her unorthodox views also extended to her musical interpretations!
– I know Debussy wrote piano, sweet and expressive here, but what he obviously meant was fortissimo, angry and staccato, so that’s how I’m playing the opening to the Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun…on my piccolo.
– I know the composer wrote the solo for trombone, but it really is better for the flute, so I’m taking the solo, and tell that principal trombone with the Hebrew DNA to shut the fuck up.
etc
Sounds like somebody could use a check-up from the neck up.
Amazing how many musicians commenting are also free speech attorneys. I should have applied myself more in school, I just practiced and smoked weed.
I know 2 (science) professors at major research universities claiming 9-11 was faked and the Nanjing massacre never happened. The former claim is on one professor’s website. They still have their jobs. Just sayin…
They also work for institutions which have an interest in academic freedom, often manifested as freedom of speech. Ms. Skala does not work for a university any longer, though it would be interesting to know if Peabody fired her or simply made her life unpleasant enough that she quit. She rants a bit about it on one of the SD threads.
How one can be fired from an orchestra for being a vax skeptic? I mean, it gives orchestra management and orchestra quite a strange reputation and I wouldn’t want to work at such place. Regardless of my own opinion of the pandemic we aren’t in the times of DDR.
You are assuming that she is in fact being fired for being a “vax skeptic” when the truth is undoubtedly otherwise. If the orchestra’s management and counsel are at all competent, she will have been documented as repeatedly violating various parts of the employment rules and whatever requirements the CBA provides for terminating a tenured player will have been met.
Bill,
Key words being, “if [they] are at all competent…”
So she hates Jews too and spreads rightwing conspiracy theories against them as well as re: Covid etc. What a lovely “human being”. Can’t imagine why this organization doesn’t want to be associated with her.
She speaks well of you, though.
Just read her response. This woman is deranged, stupid, and creepy. Imagine having to sit next to her in an orchestra. Yuck…
A loved one needs to take the shovel out of Ms. Skala’s hands.
Maybe she could go play in your orchestra. But if her message is really as important as you suggest, it would be a shame for her not to spend all of her energy spreading it to the masses, don’t you agree? The world is not lacking flute players, even at her level.
Baltimore is home to Johns Hopkins, one of the leading medical institutes in the world. If you are in doubt of the whole covid thing, just drive down there, talk to a medical professional, ask to tour the ID ward and see for yourself. Its not that hard – definitely easier than playing the flute!
Yes, Gerald, Hopkins is the largest employer in Baltimore. They participated in Event 201, led by Bill Gates, where the topic of conversation was primarily how to keep the truth hidden from the public. Bill Gates paid Hopkins $87M to keep count of the world cases, based on a fraudulent counting system, the PCR test, which is not a diagnostic tool and delivers 97% false positives, as published by the NY Times over a year ago. Now the FDA is tabling the PCR by the end of the year because it cannot distinguish between Covid-19 and Influenza A. (See earlier comments referencing influenza A). Johns Hopkins also created the nanotechnology on the end of the PCR swabs, meant to be jammed far enough back and rotated often enough so as to distribute this technology near the naso-cerebral barrier so that it can work its way up into one’s brain. Sound good to you? Would you like to take this needless test once a week so you can be onstage, as per your bosses uninformed rule? For a final touch, the fibers of the swab are also soaked in cyanide. For these reasons, I asked the BSO to reconsider this part of the safety protocols. Sent them video documentation of this as evidence. I do not think they watched it. If you think this sounds crazy, then you do not understand how deep, dirty and wide-reaching “the swamp” is.
We can be fairly certain that any statement of fact offered by Ms Skala is partly or wholly false, and easily shown to be so. She is a victim of misinformation. It would be kind not to encourage her to disseminate these mis-statements further.
And I thought Donald Trump was insane! The biggest difference here is she actually has talent, but her mind is apparently a sewer.
“George H. W. Bush can be heard speaking of this often.”
That’s impressive, since he died in 2018.
recordings, Patti
that’s fucking awesome
I honestly feel bad for her. Your typical orchestral musician doesn’t suffer this kind of penalty for being just as crazy on the other end of the political spectrum.
Her arguments for free speech are the usual last gasp of someone who has made a fool of themselves publicly. Usually it’s the far-right type that would believe in private employers’ rights to terminate employees, mandate testing, vaccines, etc. And the courts agree. Objecting by crying “first amendment” is asymmetrical on its face.
Beyond all this, there seems to be a real pile-on to this woman and that concerns me nearly as much as her conspiracy-YouTube-driven views. Both from strangers and her colleagues, the comment sections are just as hideous as always.
The internet allows her to learn and broadcast conspiracies publicly, creates a PR disaster for the BSO, and then allows the peanut gallery to just tear her apart. It’s disgusting and we should all want distance from all of this.
In a more compassionate world, she doesn’t seek refuge in internet garbage, get captured by it, and perhaps even if she did, there would be help for her in the form of love and understanding.
All this being said, she likely has a long track record and any disputes relating to her termination will be settled in a court, not on the internet.
Well, Bob Loblaw, I do thank you for the thought of being compassionate. I think my case might be settled in the newspapers. We’ll have to see. Lots of evidence coming forward, from people unknown to me, being mailed in directly to Marin Alsop and BSO management, letting them know they are gravely mistaken and that my FB posts were right on the money. One of them even shared here in a comment, on Slipped Disc, his entire letter…and he attached the evidence from the British Journal of Medicine, and I believe a journal from his own country, the Netherlands. You all can check it out.
Wow!
The tip-off that we are in another dimension here is the reference to George H.W. Bush. By citing him seemingly in contrast to Schwab, she seems to ignore the fact that 43 was not unknown at Davos or to the WEF.
He did throw around the extremely objectionable term “new world order” a lot, but his connection to this issue is surely peripheral as he died long before we were visited with Coronavirus,
Bush Sr. was 41st. Get your facts straight.
V. Lind, you misread me. I didn’t cite George in contrast to Klaus. I cited him as a partner to Klaus. They worked on this plan simultaneously, along with many, many others. Look who attended his funeral, for starters. Wait for the moment where special envelopes are passed out to those in the first few rows.
Welp if I were contracted to perform with this person and she started spouting off anti-vaxx, conspiracy-theory laden diatribes like these, I’d be making my concerns known to the steward and not getting within 10 meters of her except when absolutely necessary. I’m glad that she had a successful career and now she is quite welcome to move on to pretty much anywhere else.
More sane comments than not on this thread. I am encouraged.
Gerald, this is backwards thinking. The Freemasons and CIA would be very proud of themselves, to mention a few.
Do you enjoy Mozart’s music?
I don’t want to be impolite and say what she sounds like, but “If gassing people to death in WWII was found to be a crime against humanity, tell me why vaccine mandates are acceptable.’” is one of the most ignorant sentences I have ever read.
James, I don’t enjoy saying this to people, but this statement only reveals to all of us your own ignorance. Do a little research to see what the correlation might be.
I hope you let this stand, Norman; she is right over the, ever-so-inconvenient, target.
Don’t quit your day job.
Perhaps she should volunteer in the Hospitals Covid ICU unit without a mask…..
…if she can find one with enough patients to treat.
Do you know how many hospitals’ covid ICUs in Texas are at 100% capacity? Look it up idiot!
Her faulty logic and faulty information are just stunning.
The lawyers she allegedly spoke to are probably some of the same attorneys who are now being sanctioned all over the country for their misfeasance and malfeasance in representing Donald Trump. She has no First Amendment claim, full stop, as she works for a private employer. Any claim she has against either the BSO or the union, would come in the arena of labor and employment law. Any claim she might have would likely be against the union for failing in its duty of representation. None of us is privy to what the BSO’s CBA says, but I doubt it protects members against willful violations of health protocols.
Also, not sure why you elected to publish her asinine comments, whether you disclaim endorsement of the beliefs or not. Not every word written by a troubled soul needs to be published. Would you publish a neo-Nazi condemnation of “degenerate art,” or a neo-Stalinist condemnation of “formalism?” I rather think not. Nor should you have published this.
Euphonium Al : it is precisely your suggestion that she should be silenced which lends credibility to her otherwise ostensibly ridiculous allegations
It would be interesting to hear what the Meyerhoffer Family has to say about Ms. Skala.
Who are the Meyerhoffer Family? If you’re referring to name which Baltimore’s hall bears, please get it right. It’s not Meyerhoffer.
And just to clarify, David Geffen Hall is a concert hall in NYC. There’s been confusion about that here too.
Geez, people, just google the damn name before you post. Get it right.
Thank you
You are quite right anon and here is some info about the illustrious Meyerhoff family, in whose home Emily was privileged to play:
The Baltimore-based Joseph and Harvey Meyerhoff Family Charitable Funds, which for years worked to assist high-profile causes in Israel and cultural institutions in the United States, is shifting its focus to address Baltimore’s struggling middle class, the Baltimore Sun reports.
The shift in focus comes amid a leadership change at the $100 million group of funds, as Terry Meyerhoff Rubenstein succeeds her father, Harvey “Bud” Meyerhoff, as director, and her three siblings take on greater responsibilities related to the operation of the funds.
In the past, the family’s philanthropy had supported organizations such as the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., Johns Hopkins Hospital, and Baltimore’s symphony hall, which bears the family’s name.
What a nutjob.
“If gassing people to death in WWII was found to be a crime against humanity, tell me why vaccine mandates are acceptable.”
….said no sane person ever.
Patrick, read the news. The holocaust – vax mandate comparison has become a standard paradigm for the far right. Anti vaxxers are wearing the Star of David in protest. In the US and Europe as well.
This holocaust comparison is not some random, unique creation of Emily Skala. It’s a fundamental, well publicized belief of a very large no. of people internationally. She is simply echoing what other right wing conspiracy theorists have already said. Horrible but true.
https://www.israelhayom.com/2021/08/02/oklahoma-gop-compares-unvaccinated-americans-to-jews-during-holocaust/
Anon, et tu, Brutus? Please read the Nuremberg Code! This is fact. Therefore it cannot be conspiracy, and it is not theory. It is justice, not right wing. Since all of this is true, now you have nothing left to do but to question your media.
Emily, you are advocating a very controversial interpretation of the Nuremberg Code which his been soundly refuted by a number of authorities worldwide.
It’s a fringe theory and you are alienating people by promoting it because in the words of the article below, comparing a vax mandate to the atrocities endured by Nazi prisoners is a “morally grotesque” comparison.
https://fullfact.org/health/nuremberg-code-covid/
You have the right to believe what you wish, but do it quietly. If your beliefs prevented you from complying with workplace regulations, you should have remained on a leave of absence or retired early. We musicians are accustomed to a lot of autonomy but in this case you have to follow the rules. If you can’t, you leave or you get fired.
Your employer set rules to benefit the collective good of every employee at Meyerhoff Hall. Some may agree, some may not but they are all obligated to follow those rules. You are a flutist, not a medical dr. or a social scientist. You are not in a position to challenge what management decided was best for the collective good of their workforce. You can disagree with it, but if you want your job you have to obey the rules.
How many times have you had to aquiesce to a conductor’s wishes and play an interpretation, or articulation or phrasing you didn’t agree with? Did you stand up and shake your fist at her/him in front of the orchestra and refuse to do it, citing some controversial musical treatise supporting your opinion? No, of course not! You are a good professional, and good professionals support the collective interests of the orchestra, even when they don’t agree.
Can’t you see that continuing to try to explain your beliefs here is the very definition of lunacy?: repeating the same actions with the same results over and over again. You are not changing minds. You are alienating people. Believe what you will, but keep it to yourself, at least in the music profession.
I know great conductors/artists who are Buddhists, Scientologists, 7th Day Adventists, Opus Dei, you name it. They don’t go around the orchestra talking about their personal religious beliefs, trying to win people over. This is something you keep it to yourself. Your beliefs in this situation are a very private matter.
I’m chastising you because you just don’t seem to get it. You are still talking about Nuremberg thinking you can change what people think. It’s not going to happen.
What CAN happen, if you truly wish to keep promoting these ideas, is that you can get good legal counsel, get the best possible settlement from BSO – perhaps over free speech issues – and embark on a new career not as a flutist, but as an advocate for your ideas to more receptive audiences. You cannot be a flutist in a major orch to do that. It’s not compatible. Your ideas are simply not in line with the majority in the classical music world.
Write a book. Give interviews. If it’s important for you to speak out, then do it, but to the right audiences and after you’ve gotten a settlement.
Bravo. This is all excellent advice. What a tragedy that this exemplary musician should wind up with her career swirling in the bowl. And for what? Conspiracy theories. It hurts to think about.
Patrick, yes, a perfectly sane person said this. A person who knows about and understands the Nuremberg Code of Medical Ethics, which is a direct result of the atrocities of WWII.
The code applies to medical experimentation, which this is not.
For reference, here is the code (which does not have the force of law anywhere, btw):
The voluntary consent of the human subject is absolutely essential. This means that the person involved should have legal capacity to give consent; should be so situated as to be able to exercise free power of choice, without the intervention of any element of force, fraud, deceit, duress, overreaching, or other ulterior form of constraint or coercion; and should have sufficient knowledge and comprehension of the elements of the subject matter involved as to enable him to make an understanding and enlightened decision. This latter element requires that before the acceptance of an affirmative decision by the experimental subject there should be made known to him the nature, duration, and purpose of the experiment; the method and means by which it is to be conducted; all inconveniences and hazards reasonably to be expected; and the effects upon his health or person which may possibly come from his participation in the experiment. The duty and responsibility for ascertaining the quality of the consent rests upon each individual who initiates, directs, or engages in the experiment. It is a personal duty and responsibility which may not be delegated to another with impunity.
The experiment should be such as to yield fruitful results for the good of society, unprocurable by other methods or means of study, and not random and unnecessary in nature.
The experiment should be so designed and based on the results of animal experimentation and a knowledge of the natural history of the disease or other problem under study that the anticipated results will justify the performance of the experiment.
The experiment should be so conducted as to avoid all unnecessary physical and mental suffering and injury.
No experiment should be conducted where there is an a priori reason to believe that death or disabling injury will occur; except, perhaps, in those experiments where the experimental physicians also serve as subjects.
The degree of risk to be taken should never exceed that determined by the humanitarian importance of the problem to be solved by the experiment.
Proper preparations should be made and adequate facilities provided to protect the experimental subject against even remote possibilities of injury, disability, or death.
The experiment should be conducted only by scientifically qualified persons. The highest degree of skill and care should be required through all stages of the experiment of those who conduct or engage in the experiment.
During the course of the experiment the human subject should be at liberty to bring the experiment to an end if he has reached the physical or mental state where continuation of the experiment seems to him to be impossible.
During the course of the experiment the scientist in charge must be prepared to terminate the experiment at any stage, if he has probable cause to believe, in the exercise of the good faith, superior skill and careful judgment required of him that a continuation of the experiment is likely to result in injury, disability, or death to the experimental subject.
Is there a transcript of the whole interview? Please please post!
What’s great about slipped disc is that music attracts people from the right-wing and left-wing, and they each descend from their separate echo chambers to duke it out in their one shared space.
Yes, it’s called debate. Fun, isn’t it?
Prost, may I suggest we stop polarizing everything we talk about and just share ideas and thoughtful conversation. Perhaps we could learn from each other that way.
“Several lawyers have explained to me that one cannot be fired for her beliefs, which is what my FB posts reflect, in many peoples’ opinions.”
This is nonsense: she needs new lawyers.
No, fflambeau, these were Baltimore area lawyers speaking to me in consultation. Not hired by me. You need a better understanding or your rights, that’s all. We all do, so we can stand up for them.
You weren’t fired for your opinions. You were fired for violating the terms of your employment.
The bigger question: why was a fool like this commissioned to write anything at CD?
This is why FB (and for that matter Slipped Disc and all the other comment-heavy sites) are a plague. Her flute playing has earned its way to wide exposure, while her “opinions” need to stay within the circle of people she actually knows personally and has conversations with in what we used to call “real life.”
If the person playing next to me is a good musician, I’m happy. If they are crazy in private, I would rather not know.
hi emily, I hear the Coburg Sinfonietta is looking for a flautist…you might sell your crock in Germany, but bye bye Baltimore and any other respectable North American orchestra who refuse to allow their musicians to manipulate facts to distort logic and history.
Coburg is a beautiful little town with an important castle, but why the ad hominem attack?
in fact, it is one of smallest towns in Germany and a far cry from cosmopolitan Baltimore
I know both and know where I’d rather live.
I know both and tout Germany as well, and I made my choice hands down, for better I think.
That was your decision. I hope it’s worked out for you.
Thank you. By the way, are you related to the Free Mason Sayer?
No.
We know you, and where we’d prefer you live as well!
Thank you
Norm really knows what gets those views up, bravo chap!
Mask up, vax up, or ship out ya hooligans.
I think she’s an idiot.
If Covid has not been isolated, why do we know its DNA? Or are we not to believe in DNA.
It could be that Ms. Skala needs to feel superior to others. One only need read her many replies herein to come to this conclusion. It has been noted before, even on this thread, that the QAnon and other conspiracy-minded folk enjoy the sensation of “knowing things” that the regular Joes are not privy to. In reading Ms. Skala’s responses along this thread, I have noted her tendency to belittle critics (in bitter terms) while at the same moment complaining that the “Left” are bitter, etc. I say, Hypocrite. Her diatribes are an embarrassment. Left or right, when we plug our ears, we can not longer claim to be compassionate. Nor can we claim the moral high ground.
Elsewhere in this thread, in an especially compassionate entry, it was suggested that Ms. Skala should consult with trusted friends before posting her comments. This poster presupposes that she HAS trusted friends. That her private emails were leaked belies this assumption.
There is far to delve. I feel great sorrow for Ms. Skala. Whether or not it is a First Amendment issue is beside the point. Is it worth the destruction of a career? Clearly she is a consummate musician, a world-calibre flutist. Can any of you imagine the depths of the destruction of her life? I cannot. But I try.
If you are a musician in the BSO, and you “like” her post which reads “For all my supporters…” does that make you complicit?
Bravissimo. She is 100% correct. People are in a cult. Why were prisoners with covid sent into Nursing Homes, why didn’t Cuomo use makeshift hospitals? Why were ventilators being used for a flu? Why were hospitals empty? Why were nurses forced to say patients died of covid? Why were criminals sent into nyc to terrorize and destroy our city? Come on wake up.
These Satanic Globalist want to destroy everything exterminate billions and make people slaves. Are people insane? Walking around with a mask? People are so stupid they deserve it. Get your mark of the beast that has already killed people ,and yes people are still getting COVID from the vax that never had it. The COVID VAX is poison!
Good effing riddance. I hope she’s not only gone, but long gone, and for good.
I wonder if Ms. Skala was wandering around Dealey Plaza, November 2, awaiting the arrival of JFK Jr, Debbie Reynolds, and the Easter Bunny? When they didn’t appear did she then Uber over to Fairpark where, apparently, JFK Jr rescheduled his appearance….
Not sure about many of her views, but the lab theory is no longer being treated as conspiracist.