Community Commentary -- Paul James Baldwin

I just attended a wonderful show in Maui. It is called “Uelena,” and

it is a story about the history of the Hawaiian Islands. One must pay for

this historical and extravagant production that was produced with the

help of the people that do Cirque du Soleil.

The history of the Hawaiian Islands has the Europeans coming to this

part of the Pacific Ocean and bringing disease, death and different

social mores. The story has a positive conclusion showing the rich

diversity and beauty the Hawaiian Islands now enjoy.

I grew up in Newport Beach, having attended Newport Elementary, Horace

Ensign, and Newport Harbor High School (class of 1972). The controversy

surrounding the high school’s current halftime show really affected me

and made me ponder all aspects of political correctness and

commercialism. It made me think that if you were Hawaiian and saw a show

that depicted the conquering and decimation of your people that this

might be politically incorrect.

But I guess if you pay $60 a person, then it is entertainment and it

is OK. If you go to a Newport Harbor football game and see the halftime

show, don’t pay for it, and are from Orange County (or Westchester), then

you are allowed to be enraged at the insensitivity that part of the

history of the United States -- i.e. the Confederate flag -- brings to

all the people here who should be sheltered from American history and not

exposed to freedom of expression.

Heck, if the halftime show was pay-per-view, I bet it would have been

sold out with a standing ovation. Disneyland remade parts of its “Pirates

of the Caribbean” and “Jungle Cruise” to be politically correct. In the

process, they lost being historically correct, at least as far as

depicting history in an entertainment venue. In my view, they also lost

part of the entertainment.

That’s all we don’t need -- trying to obliterate the truth, ignore the

facts, rewrite history and make our past sanitary even though parts are

very unsavory. Hitler did this by burning books and, more recently, the

Taliban in Afghanistan did it by outlawing all “unapproved” and

“incorrect” entertainment and even thought. Free thought should never be

suppressed, even if you or I don’t like those thoughts. History cannot be

changed, only the representation of it can, just like religion.

* PAUL JAMES BALDWIN a longtime Newport Beach resident whose columns

will appear on an occasional basis in the Community Forum section.