Study of the life of Russian composer, Shostakovich, shows a life of governmental persecution, as well as strangulation of creativity, freedom of thought, and individualism under Stalin's regime.
As I receive notice from the Chattanooga Symphony & Opera regarding the necessity of showing papers in order to attend a symphony performance, I am disheartened.
When I hear that pregnant musicians with religious exemption have been fired because they were not vaccinated, I am appalled.
When I hear a child cannot play in the youth symphony unless vaccinated, I simply do not understand.
I am a 'young' lover of classical music. I dedicated my doctoral research to the study of classical music.
I believe in freedom. I believe in artistic freedom. I believe the CSO should recant its mandatory vaccination prerequisite for playing in the symphony, or simply attending a performance.
Dr. K. Engels
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I am the first to admit I know next to nothing about classical music but I enjoy immensely listening to live performances of any symphony, especially our own CSO. Are they really going to require you to show a vax card to attend future concerts?
I have had two vaxes and have my card but I refuse to show proof of such to attend a future CSO concert. Does anyone else have a problem with this? Nazi Germany?
You vill show your papers.
Dennis Wooden
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Chattanooga has a gem of a symphony. The musicians are outstanding and conductor Kayoko Dan brings musical excellence and charm to every performance. A night at the symphony is enriching, melodious, and a good value. The Chattanooga Symphony & Opera season is upcoming, and the CSO board feels obligated to protect their patrons from COVID. The CSO board’s rules are:
1) All symphony attendees must have proof of vaccination, or a negative COVID test within 72 hours of the performance.
2) All symphony attendees must wear masks.
Are these rules adequate to protect symphony patrons from COVID?
According to Harvard Medical School the COVID test has a high false negative rate. Early tests have a false negative rate up to 100 percent. After five days the false negative rate drops to 20 percent. More than one in five patrons who attend the CSO performance with a negative test may be infected. Obviously, a negative test is not an effective way to screen infected patrons.
Dr. Fauci, Dr. Walensky, and the President of the United States have all stated that the vax does not protect the vaxxed from the unvaxxed. Breakthrough cases are common. Breakthrough cases can be severe and may cause death. Even for the vaxxed, symphony attendance is unsafe because the CSO board allows unvaxxed patrons with false negative tests to attend.
Symphony concerts are at Memorial Auditorium this season. The seats are much closer together than the mythological Six-Foot-Social-Distanced-Virus-Free-Zone. Every patron’s exhaled COVID flows through the auditorium throughout the performance. HEPA filters do not filter virus at 100 percent efficiency.
The CSO board doesn’t require an effective N95/N100 or gas mask. Paper and cloth masks do not filter virus entirely or even very efficiently. Fragrance and manure particles are both significantly larger than COVID; but you can smell fragrance and manure right through paper or cloth masks. Masking all patrons at the symphony is not an adequate method of protection.
If you attend a CSO performance, vaxxed, unvaxxed, tested, untested, masked, or unmasked, the CSO rules do not keep you safe from COVID.
To guarantee patron safety the CSO could implement two simple rules.
1. To keep yourself safe while attending the symphony, Do Not Inhale.
2. To protect your fellow patrons while attending the symphony, Do Not Exhale.
Admittedly, those simple but effective rules have some drawbacks, so more complicated rules are required:
1. If you believe the government-medical complex is truthful and the experimental vax protects from COVID, get the vax, wear a mask and attend the symphony, it’s a free country.
2. If you believe the vax and a mask protects you from COVID, but not the unvaxxed, do not attend the symphony. The CSO permits unvaxxed patrons with unreliable negative tests to attend. It may be a free country, but the CSO sets the symphony attendance rules.
3. If you believe the government-medical complex is untruthful (or ignorant), but are willing to take an unreliable test and wear a mask, attend the symphony, it’s a free country.
4. Patrons whose freedom comes from God, not government, who don’t kowtow to the government-medical complex, or get experimental vaxxes, or wear ineffective masks must stay home and listen to John Phillips Sousa. It is a free, rugged individualist, patriotic, and exceptional country, but the CSO politburo sets the symphony rules.
5. If you are either the CSO board or a fellow patron, and think CSO patrons need your oversight because they are too stupid to figure out if being vaxxed, unvaxxed, tested, or masked is best for them, mind your own business, it’s a free country.
Sadly, as the CSO will not implement these more effective rules, I will miss the CSO again this year. At least the CSO can have some fun with their rules. For performances of Shostakovich, instead of inquiring about vaxxes and tests and masks, ushers could ask: “Papers, please?”
Norman Good