As my thoughts pondered over Bari Weiss, a classical piece came over the radio and remembered, with sadness and anger, the one single question that changed my life, made the Liberals angry, and cut me off from a world that I truly loved.
I recently watched a video from Ben Shapiro where he talked about how centrist Liberals were being ousted from a lot of main-stream media.
Ben had mentioned the resignation letter of Bari Weiss and had commented that many of the Liberals that didn’t have means and power, were not immune to the toxic environment that they created so long ago, and they were being fired from their positions because they didn’t follow the radical-Left party line.
After reading the letter and watching the video, I put the affair aside and proceeded with my life. It wasn’t until this evening while listening to a piece by Bach on an NPR affiliate that I remembered the single question I posed on Facebook 7 years ago that inured the wrath of those centralist Liberals (the radical left was in it’s infancy, but growing) and got me booted out from the world of music that I wanted so desperately to get back.
The question
What was the question you may ask. Well, it was a simple one that brought on a flurry of discussion.
While the comments ranged from genuine, thoughtful discussion, others were quite vulture. I got called by several on the “we all know the “right answer”” portion, to which I replied that we all have our “practiced, nice response”, but I wanted to know what people were really thinking.
But it was too late.
I had been taking voice lessons for quite some time before the destructive query and I had several solo opportunities that were growing more and more frequent. I had recorded each performance and sent them out to people in the field that set up soloists for their choral endeavors.
What came next was a surprise.
An upcoming gig that I was preparing for suddenly dropped out of site with regard to sending me my solo pieces for preparation. I tried to get in touch with the director, but to no avail. Other conductors and coordinators suddenly dropped off the radar, and I was left scratching my head wondering what was going on. It wasn’t until months later that a friend of mine (I won’t mention for their sake) reached out to me and asked me if I had bashed gay weddings on a Facebook post. I told him what I posted, even sending him the link and he was dumbfounded. From what he was told, I was the most hateful person alive and he shouldn’t be associated with me at all. My friend also told me that I had been “black listed”, and would never see work again.
This hurt, and hurt a lot, but this wasn’t the only instance.
The Ellen Show
Back in 2015, I started a project to raise money and awareness for the Green Hills Animal Shelter in my home town. The theme, “365 Days, 365 Songs Under the Overpass“, where I would go to our local overpass and sing a song, record it, post it for an entire year. I never missed a day and raised over $3000.00 for the shelter, bringing awareness. Throughout that time, I (and others) contacted local and regional news outlets (you might have heard about it) and even contacted the Ellen Show.
The Ellen Show was a very big hope for me as that would bring money in and help the shelter out.
I sent them (producers) my story, but no reply. I was sad, but it wasn’t entirely unexpected. Later – a few weeks later – I got a reply from a producer from the show that blew me away.
“I really wanted you on, but they were worried that you were going to talk about Christianity (I had sung several hymns during the year), and there was the whole gay wedding question thing”
That single question…..
It’s been 7 years since that post and while I’m living a blessed life, I still get a little angry and sad when I listen to a piece of classical music. I read about people like Bari Weiss, getting heat in their work place, and I have a hard time feeling anything for them, as people like them created the very environment that we’re living in now. At least they got to work in their dream job for a time…I didn’t.
I write about this now, having grown in my self-image enough to not be afraid of backlash. I write this now to tell about an injustice done to me by monsters that put on the cloak of tolerance and acceptance. I write this now to warn others that wish to speak out about the possible consequences – and to do it anyway. This madness cannot go on, and I look forward to the day that it will one day stop.
