Desensitized

The nebulosity of John Adams political views, in The Death of Kinghoffer, has audiences and critics alike disputing the idea that his work is infused with anti Semitic undertones; among other controversial topics. Honestly, Adam’s work presents facts, events and raw emotions that people can’t handle; and personally I find these reactions to be refreshing. Our culture has been desensitized through media, which presents gruesome images that flood our TV’s and newspapers. Before Desert Storm happened, civilians were sheltered from the brutality of the battlefields, but this war was the first to be broadcast on national television. Since the birth broadcasting a war, I feel like our culture has taken a quantum leap in the wrong direction. I think back to a time when soldiers were praised more heavily than they are now for their sacrifice and bravery. In today’s society we are so inundated with violence that we don’t view it as a horrific event anymore. Instead, we thrive on movies that incorporate violence and kids play brutal video games that promote murder. Allow me to give a personal example. Around the holidays my family had a get together, or a pig-out if you will, to celebrate the season. As I walked into the living room my 16-year-old cousin was playing a shockingly murderous video game, where the objective was to kill people; it was a manhunt. I asked him what possessed him to play such a violent games and he simply replied, “It’s okay Shelley, I’m killing terrorists, so it’s okay.” First of all, the fact that he was able to quickly respond with a justified answer that was so appallingly ignorant, insensitive and shocking was quite unsettling to me. I think that our society has succumbed to insensitivity, thus producing a generation of people who either don’t care or don’t find murder and violence utterly intolerable. Our youth accepts violence as part of daily life, either indirectly or vicariously through other filters.

With that being said, Adam’s The Death of Klinghoffer evoked a strong visceral reaction in me. Sadly, in order to get through the opera I had to turn the music off for a second to compose myself. The juxtaposition of the music, story and the images was too much of a stimulus to handle. The opera was a vehicle for empathy to encourage the viewer to understand where people come from and what drives them to such drastic measures. At one point, in the article Klinghoffer in Brooklyn Heights, Fink says, “ No one was trying to justify murder, the composer argued, ‘but there was also violence perpetrated on the other side. Keeping someone bound up in a refugee camp his entire life is a different kind of violence than assassination, but nevertheless violence. I think that’s very hard for comfortable, middle-class Americans watching the world go by via their TV sets to get in touch with.’” I will openly admit, I am living a beautiful, comfortable, happy life. Thus far, I have never been a victim of suppression, oppression, sever discrimination, nor have I been subjected to violence, so I don’t know what desperate measures I would take to change my world if I lived in a violence filled milieu. I cannot even begin to fathom it. I watch the news and I see, only a fraction, how others live; poverty, lack of food and safe drinking water. I am aware of those who live their life in fear of being persecuted, but I can’t even begin to sympathize or relate to such turbulence. I think the most disturbing part in the opera was when one of the terrorists was describing his first gun, which he received at the age of five. All I felt was an intense outpouring of sorrow for this man. The fact that he played with guns was his reality because that is the world that he lives in. What is worse is that our society is “playing” with guns as well, but by his or her choice!

I guess what I’m trying to get at, is this opera not only showed actions and events, it was charged with raw human emotions and personal stories. In essence, Adam’s removed the rose colored glasses from either side, and that was a bitter medicine to swallow. In the end it didn’t matter to me who was at fault because everything came around full circle, everyone was hurting and everyone was to blame. Adam’s opera represents more than just the story he was telling; it’s a picture or snapshot of history repeating itself through misunderstandings, anger, religious differences and revenge. Truly, this opera only reminded my of the sadness that plagues humanity on a daily basis. If anything, empathy and amnesty is what this world needs; in the mean time I will count my blessings.