[Cerek the Barbaric]

Originally posted by Chewbacca: quote: Originally posted by Cerek the Barbaric: Chewbacca - Your response to Morgeruat completely ignores the fact that this was NOT the first time Ronstadt's comments about Michael Moore were met with a negative reaction from the crowd.

How does this justify the destructive response at the Alladin? How does this justify blaming Ronstadt for the destructive and vandalistic actions of those peope? How does this justify expelling Ronstadt from the premises and not even letting her return to her suite? [/QUOTE]How does the owner justify blaming Ronstadt for the riot-like reaction? Because she was the catalyst that created the negative reaction to begin with. The owner of the Aladdin casino has a performer publicly state that she hopes to eventually annoy him and his casino enough to prevent them from inviting her back before her scheduled performance that evening. Then she makes statements supporting Moore which she knows has received negative reactions at many of her other shows. Since Ronstadt had said she was deliberately trying to "annoy" the Aladdin casino - it's possible that she added a few extra comments that inflamed the crowd more than usual. That's speculation, of course - and Ronstadt may have just been joking about trying to annoy Aladdin - but it is plausible given what we know about the situation from the various articles that have been posted.

Certainly the guests should that actually caused the vandalism should be held responsible and face charges for their actions, but in the heat of the moment, the owner of the Aladdin had to make a decision to control a very dangerous situation as quickly as possible. In that situation - whether fair or unfair - the proper action IS to remove the SOURCE of the problem as quickly as you can (if possible). That could have been followed the next day by an apology on the part of the owner, with an explanation that he did what he felt was necessary to protect the safety of his establishment and the rest of the guests.

Of course, I STILL wonder what the big deal is about him saying he is never going to invite Ronstadt back - since (according to her own words) that is exactly what she had been wanting him to do for some time/ I also still wonder why Ronstadt felt she had to be "annoying" to prevent future invitations to the Aladdin. Why couldn't she just simply say "I refuse to play at your casino anymore, so don't ask me?"

That part of the story keeps nagging at me like an itch I can't scratch.

Originally posted by Chewbacca: quote: Originally posted by Cerek the Barbaric: Just wondering if you feel as strongly about the censorship faced by Toby Keith and Charlie Daniels for thier songs?

Why wouldn't I? What exactly have I posted that even remotely implies I would have a double standard with regards to this issue? [/QUOTE]I didn't say you had a double standard, I asked if you felt as strongly about those cases of censorship as you did about Ronstadt and the Dixie Chicks. Since Toby Keith especially is expressing an attitude you have spoken out against in many different threads, and I was honostly curious how you felt about him being told that NBC was retracting their offer for him to perform because of his new song. Do you feel NBC should have issued a public apology? That is what was demanded by supporters of the Dixie Chicks and Ronstadt. Do you feel that NBC was being ignorant and closed-minded? Again, this was (and apparantly still is) a common sentiment among the supporters of D.C. and Ronstadt. So I just wanted to hear your views on that same situation occurring to an artist expressing an attitude that I know from past posts you disagree with.

I'm not trying to bait you or set you up, and you don't have to answer if you don't want to. It was just an honost question asked to satisfy my curiousity about an incident of censorship that had not been discussed on the forum before.