James Webb, J.K. Rowling and The Ukulele Orchestra of Toronto

 

The flowers in my garden this year: no watering, no infestations, nothing that dies.

This past week, I listened to podcasts about the furor over the naming of the James Webb telescope, and the furor over the tweets JK Rowling made about trans people. I also attended a concert, its first since the COVID lockdowns, put on by the Ukulele Orchestra of Toronto.

The podcasts either attempted to understand the background to the furor (Rowling), or told the story of an attempt by a third party to understand the background to the furor (James Webb). 

For both podcasts, attempts to bring further understanding to the furor just pissed people off more. 

Think of it this way. You likely wouldn't want to hear arguments in favour of something without any redeeming social value, such as, say, drunk driving. In the same way, people mad at Rowling don't want to hear her perspective that women are losing hard won rights to trans people. And the people mad at James Webb don't want to hear that it wasn't him personally who purged hundreds of gay people from the US federal public service in the 50s and 60s. 

For the people angry at Rowling and Webb, the stakes are the basic right to live in society. So there's nothing else to understand.  

You may be wondering what this has to do with ukuleles?

Well, this:

A friend of mine plays with the Ukulele Orchestra of Toronto.  Another friend and I went to the concert together. On our way there, we wondered how much ukulele music we could stand before we had to bolt for the door. We had an exit strategy and everything.

But, when we got there, the only seats left made escape impossible, so we had to sit through the whole show. 

I suppose, given what I've already said, it would be better if we completely hated the concert and sat uncomfortably through it. That way it would be a good analogy for at least suffering through someone else's perspective -- that argument in favour of drunk driving, say -- just so you heard it and made the effort to understand. You probably wouldn't change your mind about drunk driving (or ukuleles), but at least you'd know where the other side was coming from. At least you'd have listened.

The ukulele concert was completely delightful. I had no idea ukuleles could be such emphatic, subtle instruments. But I can still make the point that just because you think you won't like something - like someone else's opinion - you should grant them the courtesy of hearing them out.

If you do that, you never know what you might hear, like, perhaps, Bruce Cockburn's "Momma Just Wants to Barrelhouse" played on the ukulele.

Thanks for reading!

Karen

My friend may not be comfortable
that I've posted this picture, 
so I won't say which one is her.