David Mamet

I am reading a new book by David Mamet - "Theatre" - in which he shares his knowledge and opinion of the problems with our elite theatre arts and what he feels is important to propogate the theatre as it was and should be.

You might guess he includes some politial thought to make his points, and I thought this excerpt from the chapter titled "Politically Correct" was dead on and stated the problem as clearly as possible. Read this and think about it - then buy the book!



"The essence of democracy is this: that the individual is free to embrace or reject, praise or abominate, any political position - that in this he is accountable to no one and need never, in fact, articulate his reasons or defend his choice.

That any political act could possibly be termed correct posits a universal, incontrovertible, superdemocratic authority - that is, a dictatorship.

Political correctness can exist only in (as it is the particular tool of) totalitarian oppression. The actual meaning of the phrase is "ideological orthodoxy."

Many of us have "good ideas," but those with a day job - in contradistinction to the idealogues - are impeded from inflicting them upon our fellow human beings."



I can't find any faults in his logic! And he does apply this to problems in the "Theatre."