Lizzo played a Founding Father's flute and conservatives lost their minds
The racists in the MAGA movements are proud to display their racism
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https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/why-lizzo-playing-james-madison-s-crystal-flute-not-controversial-n1299179
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Fast-forward a week and suddenly people have thoughts about the propriety and sanctity of Lizzo gleefully playing a few notes on that flute on a stage in Washington on Tuesday. It’s somehow a tragedy and a scandal that anyone would dare be so crass as to remove a Founding Father’s obscure tchotchke from its place of safekeeping to be used as a prop for a twerking symbol of America’s moral decadence.
When I say “people,” what I really mean is “a handful of men who love to be mad on the internet.” And their sudden surge of interest in early American musical instrument lore is as transparent as the crystal flute itself.
The backstory of how the flute went from a hidden-away catalog to appearing on stage in Lizzo’s hands is actually pretty heartwarming. She accepted Hayden’s offer to visit the library’s extensive collection of flutes, spending three hours on Monday exploring and trying out the instruments on hand, according to The New York Times. That included the crystal flute that Hayden had teased in her tweet — and which the superstar asked if she could play during her D.C. performance on Tuesday.
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......These outraged screams aren’t because the flute could have been damaged, or because Tuesday’s performance cheapened the monetary or historical value of the item or denigrates Madison’s legacy. Instead, they are mad because someone who is living her life as unapologetically fat, Black and female dared have a good time in public. They are mad because something that was once owned by a slaveholding Virginian aristocrat would be introduced to America as part of a concert where Lizzo dared jiggle her ass for a second or two while playing it.
The anger directed at her feels like a direct offshoot of the reactionary backlash that we’ve seen to Blackness in pop culture in recent weeks. If anything, Lizzo — who declared to her audience after returning the flute “HISTORY IS SO FREAKING COOL!” — showed more reverence and respect for history in her time at the Library of Congress than many of the conservatives who would prefer to see America’s backstory sanitized into a homogenous sludge of patriotic but ahistorical hero worship.
Do these cranks actually believe what they’re saying? I have doubts — what we’re seeing is the online equivalent of an involuntary spasm in a muscle touched with an electrical wire. But do prominent commentators like Shapiro know that their audiences will have felt a reflexive feeling of revulsion toward Lizzo and want to capitalize on it? Absolutely.
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Lizzo until a recent award show, haven't heard her music of fame yet but I certainly have an appreciation for her given her talent with this instrument. She sounded wonderful and played some astute vignettes quite well, just off the top of her head. If I were her, I would have been excited to be invited to such an opportunity, like when I was able to sing in some very noted rooms in southern England, it was chance-in-a-lifetime stuff. She obviously was excited and showed appropriate respect, anyone who is trained on an instrument is also aware of the care and respect needed to keep it in good condition.
I am glad she was able to do that, I now know about the flute and more about Lizzo all in one event. And I am favorably impressed with the artist, will probably check out her music sooner than later.
Clearly it is the color of her skin that all the hoopla is about. The racism needs to end.
Thought they, of all scum, would appreciate the original ratfucker.
and storming the capitol was okay too. hang mike pence was okay too. grab em by the pussy was okay too. all the shit don jr. spews...... this list could go on for days.
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