An afternoon of tolerance

Today we went to see an event in the middle of Aarhus. Several Danish authors, musicians and other cultural figures took part in celebrating and promoting tolerance, broad-mindedness and joy. Inspiring words soared over a crowd of a couple of thousand people, as the people on stage introduced their views on what has been going on in Denmark ever since a fistful of cartoonists chose to speak out in living (blasphemic?) colour.

Kim Larsen still knows how to keep his idealistic convictions fertile. It seemed like the artists on stage certainly did know how to speak out against a situation that got out of hand. But what struck me was that apart from a young rapper called Ali Kazim, all the artists were 40+. Artists that probably remember how to speak out and rock the vote; maybe they know how to because they grew up in a time where your tongue could move mountains.

I came home and found myself idealizing the 60'-70's revolutionairy state of mind, apart from the acid-induced one. Because it seems to me that what we are entertained by today, e.g. rock bands that give us loads of good experiences, has been refined and cultivated in their form by a time where protesting and speaking out was the norm rather than the exception.

I think we can learn a lot in these turbulent times by what fueled the protesters of the past.
It seems like all the bad things are on everyone's lips, but often their tongues don't seem to move some of the mountains that stand in the way of a more just and peaceful world.

What is missing today? Are we spoiled?

Tell me what you think


Frank