They stand in the crowd listening closely as the costumed actors relive dramatic moments in the founding of our country. They clap loudly when an actor portraying Patrick Henry delivers his "Give me liberty or give me death" speech. They cheer and hoot when Gen. George Washington surveys the troops behind the original 18th-century courthouse. And they shout out about the tyranny of our current government during scenes depicting the nation's struggle for freedom from Britain.
"General, when is it appropriate to resort to arms to fight for our liberty?" asked a tourist on a recent weekday during "A Conversation with George Washington," a hugely popular dialogue between actor and audience in the shaded backyard of Charlton's Coffeehouse.
Standing on a simple wooden stage before a crowd of about 100, the man portraying Washington replied: "Only when all peaceful remedies have been exhausted. Or if we are forced to do so in our own self-defense."
The tourist, a self-described conservative activist named Ismael Nieves from Elmer, N.J., nodded thoughtfully. Afterward, he said this was his fifth visit to Colonial Williamsburg.
"We live in a very dangerous time," Nieves said. "People are looking for leadership, looking for what to do. They're looking to Washington, Jefferson, Madison."
"I want to get to know our Founding Fathers," he added. "I think we've forgotten them. It's like we've almost erased them from history."That's right. The Teabaggers are harassing the historical actors in Colonial Williamsburg to be more teabaggy. To stay on script. For the Teabaggers have invaded.
The executives who oversee Williamsburg said they have noticed the influx of tea partiers, and have also noted a rise in the number of guests who ply the costumed actors for advice about how to rebel against 21st-century politicians. (The actors do their best to provide 18th-century answers.)Somewhere, the ghost of George Washington is really, really missing his corporeal form right now so that he could bayonet some people. Repeatedly. Like somehow, an actor portraying John Adams or Thomas Jefferson somehow makes their lunatic arguments more valid, and yet it is exactly this validation they crave. It's insanity wearing a tricorner hat.
"If people . . . can recognize that subjects such as war and taxation, religion and race, were really at the heart of the situation in the 18th century, and there is some connection between what was going on then and what's going on now, that's all to the good," said Colin Campbell, president and chairman of Colonial Williamsburg. "What happened in the 18th century here required engagement, and what's required to preserve democracy in the 21st century is engagement. That is really our message."
Remind me to avoid Williamsburg for a while.
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2 comments:
God, I feel sorry for those actors. It's gotta be freakin' scary.
Ha, whatever, fellas. I commute through Willamsburg twice a week on my way to visit clients. I can barely wait for the chance to wade into a crowd of Teabagger knuckleheads asking the re-enactors silly questions, and give these people, that are cool enough to wear heavy wool suits and teach history all swampy summer, the chance to smack some ignorance right in the chops. To Washington, I'm going to enquire about his distilleries and the Whiskey Rebellion. I'll ask Jefferson why there's a library at the center of UVA and not a chapel. Hamilton will get asked what he thinks about government debt and central banking. Madison will get asked what he thinks about chaplains serving in the military and government. I'll just give Franklin five on the low because the man was the first true American Player.
Yes, Ismael, and the rest of you stump-dumb ninnies, you have forgotten the Founding Fathers. The people you claim to lionize all championed things you claim to be un-American and, eewww... liberal. And they rolled over dummies like you while doing them, too.
Yup, I can't wait to drop in to Billysburg. I'll have a blast, the re-enactors will actually get to teach instead of placate, and Virginia will get their tourism dollars.
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