II.7.3. BLACKOUT

 2.7.3. MENU : Blackout  

THE HOMAGE TO TYCOONS IS CAMOUFLAGED WHEN IT'S POSSIBLE, IGNORED WHEN IT ISN'T

 

Pamela Spurdon

In brief

• Tycoons equal to an emperor

• Masking the monument's purpose

• Merch can seem to explain the change

• Ignoring the obvious and getting away with it

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Next,

Tycoons equal to an emperor

TYCOONS EQUAL TO AN EMPEROR

EXCEPT FOR THE MESSAGE ON THE FACADE, THE IMPORTANCE GIVEN EMPEROR AND SUBSCRIBERS IS THE SAME

The rotunda and surrounding voids are the same, on the city's most expensive land:

      Claude Abron

The difference is in the extras that make the voids stand out:

• At the Emperor's entrance, a ramp for horses:  

• At that of the subscribers, a colonnade: 

# # # 

Contrasting caryatides:

• For the Emperor,  layers of drapery clothe a pair.  

•  For subscribers, they are nude, sensual and 14 of them surround the void.  

Nudity, the clothing of gods, in official art represents the Republic, Justice etc., cold abstractions that do not incite desire. 

But before their restoration (please read on) these nudes radiated eroticism. 

Félix Sinpraseuth

Before restoration (in 2016)

Alex Varenne

"Coming, chéri?"

They allude to the ballerinas.

# # #

The colonnade highlights the void's immensity, as lit by the caryatids' lanterns subscribers strolled toward their entrance...

Roland Halbe-Yatzer

...feeling themselves masters of the universe.

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Next,
Masking the Opéra's purpose

MASKING THE MONUMENT'S PURPOSE

THE HOMAGE TO MAGNATES, CAMOUFLAGED OR IGNORED

Their entrance has vanished:

(Since 2011)

The statues have been "restored." Rather than almost palpable,

they are hard, slick and cold:

# # #

But how mask a space so vast that only its center is used? Two-thirds are easily neutralized...

• The section near the department stores is naturally hidden until late afternoon. The light is in the eye and passers-by see the colonnade alone:   

• The center is a restaurant terrace. Tables and parasols divide its immensity...

 ...while greenery and a barrier separate it from the street:

Passers-by do not notice it:

# # #

But the last third is too big to hide. Empty, it stands out. Changing the exit masks the space from visitors leaving the building:

• They used to leave by a vast glass portal, descended a staircase that was short but wide, walked through the whole space and left with a sense of majesty.

The pothole shows disregard for the past and the belief that the new exit will let it pass unnoticed.  

• Now a small, dark, new exit leads directly to the street.*

* Because the much smaller doorway is easier to guard from theft? On the contrary: Half closed, the earlier glass door was of the same size and its luminosity favored control. 

That is another example of a detail that seems to have little importance, yet throws light on what counts most. 

 

But about passers-by 

there is nothing to be done. 

This photo was not posed

and the onlooker seems to wonder

why there should be space 

that is empty except for a pothole.

*     *     *

Merch can seem to explain the change

MERCH CAN SEEM TO EXPLAIN THE CHANGE

RENOVATION MEANS PASSING THROUGH THREE BOUTIQUES TO REACH THE EXIT

 It can make a third of the void

surrounding the subscribers' entrance

 a restaurant terrace.

But it has nothing to do with asepticizing the statues

or changing the exit.

Please click on.

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Ignoring the obvious and getting away with it

IGNORING THE OBVIOUS AND GETTING AWAY WITH IT

THE PAINTING OF AN ORGY COVERS THE WHOLE CEILING OF THE SUBSCRIBERS' SALON

Its most explicit scene strikes the eye on entering.

Yet:

 

• The audio-guide comments minor elements of decoration (busts and small tapestries) and mentions neither subscribers nor ceiling.  

•  A touristic article overlooks the salon itself. 

• Guided tours say nothing. When I'm in the salon with visitors and a group arrives, we listen as the guide omits the ceiling and clients do not ask.*

Web site comments show only one visitor's surprise at that crown of what is said to be one of high culture's great achievements:

Harald Wolff

The Opéra performs the exploit

of turning profit-seeking and pedophilia into grandeur,

and (most of) the public,

 that of ignoring it.

 

 

End of this section.

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Next section

V.2. 
From nymphs to Nazis — 
how the Opéra girls saved the City of Love

"DON'T YOU HAVE AN AGENDA?"

A CONSERVATIVE VISITOR ASKED, FIVE MINUTES INTO A TOUR...

All drawings by Harald Wolff

When the walk was over, he said...

Understanding what's not said 

and exposure to economy-based history

 provides a mental shield against the lies

 that help the mighty keep their power.

History from Fresh Perspectives says more.  

*     *     *

To find these pages' main points immediately,

x.

An index to click into

"YOU'RE TEACHING COMMUNISM TO THE POLICE!"

"THE LEGISLATURE WILL CALL ME!" YELLED THE DEAN OF THE COLLEGE WHERE I TAUGHT HISTORY

All drawings by Harald Wolff

Background:

On May 4, 1970 the National Guard fired on 300 unarmed students protesting the Vietnam War, killing four. It is remembered as "The Kent State* Massacre."

*A public university of the State of Ohio 

No higher resolution / zoom

The government then proposed that police follow classes in State colleges, with salary increases if they received passing grades. It hoped that familiarity would lessen hostility between students and forces of order, the attitude that lay behind the shooting.  

One of those institutions was "William Paterson College in the State of New Jersey" (now William Paterson University), where I taught.

# # #

When students demonstrated against that decision I wrote an article for the school paper, called "Why the Cops are Brothers." It said that the reason for joining the police was not to attack kids, but for job security.

I volunteered to teach the cops, on condition of telling them that I was a Marxist. "Well, I guess you know what you're doing," the department head said.

Things didn't start well...

"Hi, Baby!"

But my assistant was delighted:

I had asked her to pass out a questionnaire and a reading list. It so happened that the last class in the room had been informal, the students sitting in a circle instead of in the usual lines. When she came back she exclaimed with delight, "I told the cops to put their chairs in line, and they did!" For a young Black girl to tell the cops what to do and have them obey was extraordinary.

The police wore civilian clothes but carried hidden guns. Of the thirty, all but one were white. They looked very different from the students, though many were not much older. Their faces were hard. Some had fought in Vietnam. 

On meeting them I said, "There's a rumor going around that I'm a nun. That's not true. There's another that I'm a Marxist. That is true."

A man at the back of the room got up, walked out and slammed the door.

I went on with the class, saying that Marxism had nothing to do with the gulag but showed how basic change comes from economic forces, and that understanding them helps identify the enemy correctly. 

The next day the Dean called me in, as the first drawing shows. I said that I had freedom of speech.

An hour later, the head of the Police program also called me in: "The men are sorry" he said. "They know that telling the Dean was not right. The man who did it is going through a hard time. His wife had a miscarriage. I hope you will forgive him."

A group came up to me and apologized for "Tommy." 

We became friends, and I invited him over. He came in, sat down, put his gun on my table — and fell asleep. That showed the extent of his stress, that it vanished in my presence and that he trusted me. Giving a civilian access to his gun could have gotten him fired. 

To get to know the cops, I asked them to write an essay on why they had chosen that profession. A certain Richard Wright wrote 30 brilliant pages. 

He came from a town 20 miles from a famous university (Princeton), but when I asked him if he had applied for admission there, he said he had never heard of it. He was from the far right and stayed wary of me, but he was one of the most intelligent people I have ever met: Had he come come from a more favored background he could have had an outstanding career, as a lawyer for example. 

Leftist students would sit in on the classes. They, the cops and I were of the same generation. We would gather to play records and talk:

 

I asked one of the cops if next time he'd bring his wife."No," he said, "She thinks the kids would look down on her." Another said, "When I'm in uniform, even the president of this college respects me."

The Dean did not forget the encounter the first drawing shows, and I did not receive tenure. That caused an uproar.

The cops did not join the demonstrations (they would have lost their jobs if they had), but stood by and smiled. 

My last memory:

"Hi, Ritchie, we'll tell you where the bombs are."

"Ho ho!"

# # #

Did they become Marxists? Of course not. Did they come to like and respect people who thought differently? I think so, as did the kids. 

Those classes with the police are my most memorable teaching experience, and I have thought of them often in writing this blook.       

# # #

I was preparing a doctoral thesis

in African history

and left to do research in the Ivory Coast.  

     I had married a Frenchman

and supposed I'd find a university job in France.  

That turned out to be impossible without a French degree,

not to mention that to join the national educational system

one became a civil servant,

and for that one had to be French by birth.

So I continued to teach in another way,

as a tour guide.

In preparing a visit on La Commune,

I discovered a catastrophe 

like that of Kent State...

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"You're misled but you're not bought.

Join us!" 

"YOU'RE MISLED BUT NOT BOUGHT. JOIN US!"

MUCH LATER, I LEARNED OF A FRENCH CATASTROPHE LIKE THAT OF KENT STATE

In 1871 Breton soldiers fired on unarmed demonstrators, killing 11. Their hate had a reason: During the Revolution soldiers of the republic had slaughtered their people. 

Instead of fighting back, Louise Michel, a comrade of the killed shouted out, "You're misled but you're not bought. We need your energy! Join us!"

Harald Wolff

# # #

What I most strongly retain from my experience with the cops is their feeling of liberals looking down on them.

 

Before condemning lower-class extremists we should try to grasp the force of humiliation. Like the Breton soldiers they are misled but not bought, and like the rebel we should say, "Join us!"

Our interests are the same, and we who are relatively wealthy and educated have as much to learn from people with other talents and another experience as they have to learn from us. 

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Next and last,

"Don't you have an agenda?"