Edinburgh Festival to focus on relative truths
OrchestrasNicola Benedetti has chosen ‘The Truth We Seek’ as her theme for next summer’s festival.
The programme includes Mary, Queen of Scots from Scottish Ballet, an Australian Orpheus and Eurydice and a visit by Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Orchestra 2.
Benedetti says: ‘To be alive is to know the elusive nature of truth. Within our homes or workplaces, amongst loved ones or colleagues, we all experience trying to piece together indignantly expressed, absolutely believed, yet utterly contradictory truths. How often are we able to rise above our own bubble?’
So what’s your truth today? And who’s president of the USA?
If the art is half as bold as the theme, Edinburgh is in for an arresting summer.
The search for truth is an endeavor that keeps humanity busy since a couple of thousands of years, and forms the heart of philosophy. The latest trend in the search is postmodern philosophy that claims that there is no truth and only interpretation, and that this interpretation consists of texts, which are multi-interpretable and are disguised attempts of power attempts from certain classes in society, mainly ‘the boozjwazee’. The worst ‘philosopher’ in this direction was Michel Foucault, who reduced all human ‘discourse’ to social power struggles between the classes, i.e. groups who share certain defined characteristics, and at the heart of his ‘thought’ was liberation from any social norms becasue they went against nature. This idea got very popular in American universities, and laid the groundwork for what we now see all around: everything is reduced to social (in-)justice problems and weaponized. And because the nuances and subtleties of problems of social injustices are washed away, the result is the breakdown of institutions, of values (they are merely weapons of the boozjwazee), of any hierarchy that reality may present (the relativist world view where everything is of equal value and importance and every opinion is as valid as any other). In such climate, where filters are broken-down, totalitarianism and violence get a free hand, as we see it all around nowadays.
Spot on. Lovely paragraph. This was part of my point re Radio 3 the other day – Georgia Mann’s “The very best in Classical Music” – which is an absurd title. Notice that nothing is mediocre, nothing is second- or third-rate (though much of what she plays is – but perish the thought to actually admit it), everything is fantastic (ugh) or amazing (more ugh) or brilliant (even more ugh). Shaffer’s Amadeus must mean nothing to her and people like her: “Mediocrities everywhere… I absolve you all.” But no – we are all valid geniuses and we all have our own truths. Coleridge Taylor is as amazing/fantastic/brilliant as Beethoven. Of course he is.
Spot-on, Lloydie. R3 presenters need to give us more facts and fewer opinions. And less Amy Beach…
America has chosen to reject the post truth nonsense; the rest of the world is slowly following suit.
As they say nowadays, (and I doubt Norman will allow this comment) “it’s happening.”’
Trump is the embodiment of post-truth. Or believing the facts are whatever you want them to be.
Indeed; and the irony that the attempt at “liberation from any social norms” can lead to totalitarianism (via authoritarianism) seems the very definition of irony.
President Biden is the American Commander-in-Chief, Norman. Didn’t you know that?
Of more import than the theme is that NB has also said the EIF programme will be scaled down next year in particular with fewer Usher Hall concerts. That’s a truth I don’t like to hear.