Organizers made sure the people on stage at the benefit were smart rockers and folk-rockers like Peter Buck and Sister Psychic. Much of the rest of the art and music scenes, though, are addicted to the adrenaline high from sustained hatred. You don't have to be a right-winger to be controlled by the power of hate. We all have to confront our own bigotries, not just those of other people. We have to get out there too, and we'll have to leave our snobbery behind.
Bohemian elitism is an aesthetic of divisiveness.
The homophobes use divisiveness too, far more effectively. We've gotta fight fire with water, fight division with unity. The biggest toy news this season is that all the Ninja Turtles junk has been replaced by Barney junk, a ploy toward a new generation of pacifist parents. We may be seeing the end of breakfast cereal as a modern art form. Nabisco has sold its admittedly weak line-up of brands to Post.