I believe in letting an invader in and then setting a good example. That is the reply Benjamin Britten gave to a tribunal for the registration of conscientious objectors in 1942 when asked "What would you do if Britain was invaded?" I was reminded of it when researching my recent article on Marco Pallis , who was an authority on both Tibetan Buddhism and early music, and, together with Britten, a champion of Purcell . In his best-selling book Peaks and Lamas , which was written in 1939, Pallis tells this story about the Sakyas , the ethnic group of which Gautama Buddha was a member which inhabited the foothills of the Himalayas. News was brought to them of an impending attack by a hostile tribe and it was debated anxiously whether resistance should be offered or not. Eventually they decided that, as followers of [Buddhist] Doctrine, they were debarred from offering armed resistance, but must welcome the invaders as friends, so they threw down their arms... The Tibetans, how...
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Please. Given some of the activities in the news recently of actual police, this comment goes beyond silly.
As I said in a recent comment, I have easy and inexpensive access to a wider variety of recorded, downloadable, streamable, and live classical music than ever before in my 40+ years as a listener.
I understand that you are deeply unhappy about some of the means and mechanisms, but the reality is as I've stated it.
And wouldn't it be wonderful if the music humour police could be persuaded to hibernate as well?