On this episode of The Federalist Radio Hour, Abby Roth, or “Classically Abby,” joins Culture Editor Emily Jashinsky to discuss how the culture of free expression is hampered by leftism, especially in artistic fields such as opera, and why speaking up for what you believe matters.
“I think that opera is going to die and then I think it’s going to be revived,” Roth said. “My theory is that it is going to die out because the people who run it, hate it. That’s what it comes down to, right? You love the music and you hate everything that it came from. And if you hate something, it’s not going to survive.”
“The people who watch it, who love it, are not going to want to watch your version of things … they’re trying to take opera and bring it into the modern age by paring it down, paring it down, which honestly to me takes away so much of the beauty,” she said.
One thing Roth said she learned from her time in opera was that it’s important to speak up about what you believe even when no one else appears to support you.
“It’s easy and attractive to follow what everyone else is doing. Social proof is so powerful, the idea that you’re going to look at somebody else across from you and follow what they’re doing because it looks like if they’re doing it, then it must be right … It’s really not easy to go your own way,” Roth said.
Listen here:
