Conservapedia - User contributions [en]

Sexual discrimination

2009-06-09T16:34:29Z

StephenS: added examples

'''Sexual discrimination''' is maltreatment or disparagement of one sex by the other, or of special preferential treatment given to one.

== Allegations of Sexism against Men ==

=== Women-only Accommodations ===

"Women-only coaches" are becoming increasingly common in large cities in Japan, Brazil, and the Philippines. While proponents of these coaches say they are an effort to prevent rampant sexual harassment on trains <ref>64% of Tokyo women stated that they had been groped in trains.[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article394630.ece]</ref><ref>http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm?aid=2750</ref>, others believe that this [[segregation]] is an instance of sexism against men. Similar female-only accommodations are institutionalized in Muslim countries such as [[Saudi Arabia]].

In Britain there are ''women-only library sessions'', ''women-only swimming sessions'' in public swimming baths and ''women-only gyms''. Feminists do not protest against any of these women-only spaces, but they have campaigned to remove ''men-only spaces'' such as ''gentlemen's clubs'' in London, and ''working men's clubs'' elsewhere in Britain. Feminists have also campaigned to allow women join ''sports clubs'' that were previously men-only such as ''golf clubs'' and ''golf tournaments'' ''(but not to allow men into the equivalent female-only clubs)''.

In some countries, if a rest room for women in department stores or movie houses etc. are full, a woman is allowed to use one for men. ''But not vice versa.''

=== Affirmative Action ===

Some allege that [[affirmative action]] is sexism against men, because it gives advantages to equally or even less qualified women. They point to:

Norwegian Companies: The 500 companies listed on Norway's stock exchange face being shut down unless they install at least 40% women on their boards over the next two years. <ref>http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,16781,1682083,00.html</ref>

Russian Police set up Women-only Unit: Mikhail Tsukruk, the police chief in the southern Russian city of Volgograd, has set up the first women-only traffic police unit saying that 'research' [no details given] showed that women are less inclined to accept bribes. <ref>http://www.feminist.org/news/newsbyte/uswirestory.asp?id=9849</ref>

=== Salary Differences ===

Some point to certain purported salary differences between men and women as evidence of sexism, particularly in the corporate world. Using the slogan "equal pay for equal work", agitators claim that many women in the same positions as men earn less. However, these allegations fail to accurately compare the actual work (i.e. value added to the company) done by the individuals in question. Since men and women naturally have different strengths and weaknesses, it's quite natural in certain jobs for men to perform better (and vice-versa - in certain activities women are better).

===Examples of Sexism===

-Teachers giving boys and girls different exams on the belief that women are inherently inferior to men

(add more)

==References==
<references/>

[[category:sociology]]
[[Category:Affirmative Action]]
[[Category:Feminism]]

Talk:Compulsive profanity

2008-06-04T02:09:37Z

StephenS:

==Sigh...==

This is just another one of those "liberals are bad because..." articles, isn't it? --[[Special:Contributions/AutoFire|trans]][[User:AutoFire|Resident Transfan]][[User Talk:Autofire|form!]] 20:29, 27 April 2008 (EDT)

: I frequently see [[liberals]] use the "sigh". It's almost as popular among them as the "shame on you" feigned outrage! I'll add the "sigh" to [[liberal style]]. Example usage: "Sigh, is this another example of how [[liberal]] culture harms people?" Answer: yes, it is.--[[User:Aschlafly|Aschlafly]] 21:43, 27 April 2008 (EDT)
::"Feigned outrage"? No, I actually am really annoyed by your constant attempts to portray liberals as evil. --[[Special:Contributions/AutoFire|trans]][[User:AutoFire|Resident Transfan]][[User Talk:Autofire|form!]] 21:44, 27 April 2008 (EDT)

::: You're clueless. Ideas have consequences, and denying that does not help. I haven't used the word "evil" to describe [[liberals]], but denying that ideas have consequences comes pretty close to that word.--[[User:Aschlafly|Aschlafly]] 22:05, 27 April 2008 (EDT)
::::Whether you use the word "evil" or not, you do seem to imply that liberals are purposely trying to harm society. --[[Special:Contributions/AutoFire|trans]][[User:AutoFire|Resident Transfan]][[User Talk:Autofire|form!]] 16:28, 28 April 2008 (EDT)

:Isn't it more of a "scoff" than a "sigh"? +_+ [[User:Kektklik|Kektk]] 09:00, 29 April 2008 (EDT)

Andy, you're clueless. I'm sure to the 95% degree that you are against [insert unrelated conservative talking point here]. This proves that your worldview is skewered! You are clearly using "Conservative Style" rule number 36 which is [insert ad hominem attack in a lazy attampt to discredit opponent without actually adressing his points]. You see, Andy, words are tools invented by humans. They are used to express ideas and thoughts, and have no intrinsic value in and of themselves.
There are no such thing as ugly words, only ugly thoughts and ideas. Example: See if you can name the truly offensive sentence of the 2 below.

1. You're f-ing great, man. I love you so f-ing much.

2. Sir, I detest you, and wish for you to writhe in agony for all eternity.

Did you get it? Yes that's right. Sentence 2 is the only one that we should morally object to. To arbitrarily pick combinations of letters and sounds and label them 'offensive' is childish and a waste of time. All the same, good luck and Godspeed, Andy!-[[User:StephenS|StephenS]]

ps, I know the first sentence sounds dumb to you, but that's besides the point. If that's how close friends wish to communicate, what business is it of yours?

: You should be blocked for that!!! Godspeed.--[[User:Aschlafly|Aschlafly]] 09:45, 3 June 2008 (EDT)

My apologies, Mr. Schlafly. I assumed because you routinely call others "clueless" despite other sysop's objections that you would have no problem taking what you habitually dish out, but apparently you are more sensitive a soul than i realized. I will keep that in mind in the future. [[User:StephenS|StephenS]]

Excuse me, I'm new here, but how do you defend the position that profanity is immoral? I do avoid using it around certain people as it offends them; however, I fail to see what makes it intrinsically sinful.

Language is relative and only means as much as it means to the parties in question.
[[User:Trinity123|Trinity123]]
:Every word has an origin and a meaning, and there is no excuse in using profanity even with a different implied meaning. Every language is full of hundreds of thousands of words, why resort to profane words if you can use other, more precise and meaningful words? [[User:SilvioB|SilvioB]] 10:22, 3 June 2008 (EDT)

But why does the origin or denotation of a word matter? And precision, or meaningfulness? The word that best expresses the point may well be a simple profanity.

The origin argument doesn't hold water as there are many words that are either etymologically linked or synonymous with profanities that are generally considered acceptable. For instance, "gosh" is a minced-oath of "God" when using his name in blasphemy. And there are more extreme examples, which I'll reveal only of pressed as they may cause offence.

And not all words that are considered profanities necessarily refer to especially profane topics, so why are they still profane?
[[User:Trinity123|Trinity123]]

==Revert==
I just changed it to say that Comedy Central is a station rather than a show. Not sure how that's liberal bias. '''[[user:FernoKlump | FernoKlump]]''' 21:46, 27 April 2008 (EDT)

May I ask why my reverts are being reversed? They are completely justified. [[User:Kiss20|Kiss20]] 22:18, 27 April 2008 (EDT)

I found it funny. Perhaps my wits are dimmed. :p [[User:Feebasfactor|Feebasfactor]] 22:51, 27 April 2008 (EDT)

== Native Cultures? ==
Where does this come from? Its kinda irrelevant dont you think? I propose its deletion and replacement with something else.
[[User:AdenJ|AdenJ]] 00:32, 28 April 2008 (EDT)

== HBO ==

Besides from [[Big Love]] just about every show on HBO, (The Sopranos, Deadwood, Entourage) has a lot of profanity. '''---[[user:DLerner]]---''' 01:38, 28 April 2008 (EDT)

== Hip Hop groups ==

Wow, another veiled reference to Black culture, my black friends tell me that when when might people write "Hip Hop" they really mean n***** '''---[[user:DLerner]]---''' 01:40, 28 April 2008 (EDT)

I dont mean that at all. It is all persuasive. Eminem anyone?
[[User:AdenJ|AdenJ]] 01:41, 28 April 2008 (EDT)

Talk:Compulsive profanity

2008-06-03T05:38:44Z

StephenS:

==Sigh...==

This is just another one of those "liberals are bad because..." articles, isn't it? --[[Special:Contributions/AutoFire|trans]][[User:AutoFire|Resident Transfan]][[User Talk:Autofire|form!]] 20:29, 27 April 2008 (EDT)

: I frequently see [[liberals]] use the "sigh". It's almost as popular among them as the "shame on you" feigned outrage! I'll add the "sigh" to [[liberal style]]. Example usage: "Sigh, is this another example of how [[liberal]] culture harms people?" Answer: yes, it is.--[[User:Aschlafly|Aschlafly]] 21:43, 27 April 2008 (EDT)
::"Feigned outrage"? No, I actually am really annoyed by your constant attempts to portray liberals as evil. --[[Special:Contributions/AutoFire|trans]][[User:AutoFire|Resident Transfan]][[User Talk:Autofire|form!]] 21:44, 27 April 2008 (EDT)

::: You're clueless. Ideas have consequences, and denying that does not help. I haven't used the word "evil" to describe [[liberals]], but denying that ideas have consequences comes pretty close to that word.--[[User:Aschlafly|Aschlafly]] 22:05, 27 April 2008 (EDT)
::::Whether you use the word "evil" or not, you do seem to imply that liberals are purposely trying to harm society. --[[Special:Contributions/AutoFire|trans]][[User:AutoFire|Resident Transfan]][[User Talk:Autofire|form!]] 16:28, 28 April 2008 (EDT)

:Isn't it more of a "scoff" than a "sigh"? +_+ [[User:Kektklik|Kektk]] 09:00, 29 April 2008 (EDT)

Andy, you're clueless. I'm sure to the 95% degree that you are against [insert unrelated conservative talking point here]. This proves that your worldview is skewered! You are clearly using "Conservative Style" rule number 36 which is [insert ad hominem attack in a lazy attampt to discredit opponent without actually adressing his points]. You see, Andy, words are tools invented by humans. They are used to express ideas and thoughts, and have no intrinsic value in and of themselves.
There are no such thing as ugly words, only ugly thoughts and ideas. Example: See if you can name the truly offensive sentence of the 2 below.

1. You're f-ing great, man. I love you so f-ing much.

2. Sir, I detest you, and wish for you to writhe in agony for all eternity.

Did you get it? Yes that's right. Sentence 2 is the only one that we should morally object to. To arbitrarily pick combinations of letters and sounds and label them 'offensive' is childish and a waste of time. All the same, good luck and Godspeed, Andy!-[[User:StephenS|StephenS]]

ps, I know the first sentence sounds dumb to you, but that's besides the point. If that's how close friends wish to communicate, what business is it of yours?

==Revert==
I just changed it to say that Comedy Central is a station rather than a show. Not sure how that's liberal bias. '''[[user:FernoKlump | FernoKlump]]''' 21:46, 27 April 2008 (EDT)

May I ask why my reverts are being reversed? They are completely justified. [[User:Kiss20|Kiss20]] 22:18, 27 April 2008 (EDT)

I found it funny. Perhaps my wits are dimmed. :p [[User:Feebasfactor|Feebasfactor]] 22:51, 27 April 2008 (EDT)

== Native Cultures? ==
Where does this come from? Its kinda irrelevant dont you think? I propose its deletion and replacement with something else.
[[User:AdenJ|AdenJ]] 00:32, 28 April 2008 (EDT)

== HBO ==

Besides from [[Big Love]] just about every show on HBO, (The Sopranos, Deadwood, Entourage) has a lot of profanity. '''---[[user:DLerner]]---''' 01:38, 28 April 2008 (EDT)

== Hip Hop groups ==

Wow, another veiled reference to Black culture, my black friends tell me that when when might people write "Hip Hop" they really mean n***** '''---[[user:DLerner]]---''' 01:40, 28 April 2008 (EDT)

I dont mean that at all. It is all persuasive. Eminem anyone?
[[User:AdenJ|AdenJ]] 01:41, 28 April 2008 (EDT)

Talk:Compulsive profanity

2008-06-03T05:34:59Z

StephenS:

==Sigh...==

This is just another one of those "liberals are bad because..." articles, isn't it? --[[Special:Contributions/AutoFire|trans]][[User:AutoFire|Resident Transfan]][[User Talk:Autofire|form!]] 20:29, 27 April 2008 (EDT)

: I frequently see [[liberals]] use the "sigh". It's almost as popular among them as the "shame on you" feigned outrage! I'll add the "sigh" to [[liberal style]]. Example usage: "Sigh, is this another example of how [[liberal]] culture harms people?" Answer: yes, it is.--[[User:Aschlafly|Aschlafly]] 21:43, 27 April 2008 (EDT)
::"Feigned outrage"? No, I actually am really annoyed by your constant attempts to portray liberals as evil. --[[Special:Contributions/AutoFire|trans]][[User:AutoFire|Resident Transfan]][[User Talk:Autofire|form!]] 21:44, 27 April 2008 (EDT)

::: You're clueless. Ideas have consequences, and denying that does not help. I haven't used the word "evil" to describe [[liberals]], but denying that ideas have consequences comes pretty close to that word.--[[User:Aschlafly|Aschlafly]] 22:05, 27 April 2008 (EDT)
::::Whether you use the word "evil" or not, you do seem to imply that liberals are purposely trying to harm society. --[[Special:Contributions/AutoFire|trans]][[User:AutoFire|Resident Transfan]][[User Talk:Autofire|form!]] 16:28, 28 April 2008 (EDT)

:Isn't it more of a "scoff" than a "sigh"? +_+ [[User:Kektklik|Kektk]] 09:00, 29 April 2008 (EDT)

Andy, you're clueless. I'm sure to the 95% degree that you are against [insert unrelated conservative talking point here]. This proves that your worldview is skewered! You are clearly using "Conservative Style" rule number 36 which is [insert ad hominem attack in a lazy attampt to discredit opponent without actually adressing his points]. You see, Andy, words are tools invented by humans. They are used to express ideas and thoughts, and have no intrinsic value in and of themselves.

There are no such thing as ugly words, only ugly thoughts and ideas. Example: See if you can name the truly offensive sentence of the 2 below.

1. You're f-ing great, man. I love you so f-ing much.
2. Sir, I detest you, and wish for you to writhe in agony for all eternity.

Did you get it? Yes that's right. Sentence 2 is the only one that we should morally object to. To arbitrarily pick combinations of letters and sounds and label them 'offensive' is childish and a waste of time. All the same, good luck and Godspeed, Andy![[User:StephenS|StephenS]] ps, i know the first sentence sounds dumb to you, but that's besides the point. If that's how close friends wish to communicate, what business is it of yours?

==Revert==
I just changed it to say that Comedy Central is a station rather than a show. Not sure how that's liberal bias. '''[[user:FernoKlump | FernoKlump]]''' 21:46, 27 April 2008 (EDT)

May I ask why my reverts are being reversed? They are completely justified. [[User:Kiss20|Kiss20]] 22:18, 27 April 2008 (EDT)

I found it funny. Perhaps my wits are dimmed. :p [[User:Feebasfactor|Feebasfactor]] 22:51, 27 April 2008 (EDT)

== Native Cultures? ==
Where does this come from? Its kinda irrelevant dont you think? I propose its deletion and replacement with something else.
[[User:AdenJ|AdenJ]] 00:32, 28 April 2008 (EDT)

== HBO ==

Besides from [[Big Love]] just about every show on HBO, (The Sopranos, Deadwood, Entourage) has a lot of profanity. '''---[[user:DLerner]]---''' 01:38, 28 April 2008 (EDT)

== Hip Hop groups ==

Wow, another veiled reference to Black culture, my black friends tell me that when when might people write "Hip Hop" they really mean n***** '''---[[user:DLerner]]---''' 01:40, 28 April 2008 (EDT)

I dont mean that at all. It is all persuasive. Eminem anyone?
[[User:AdenJ|AdenJ]] 01:41, 28 April 2008 (EDT)

Arthur Miller

2008-04-10T02:35:58Z

StephenS:

'''Arthur Miller''' (Oct 17, 1915 - Feb 11, 2005) <ref>http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/02/11/entertainment/main673266.shtml</ref> was an American playwright whose dramas reflected the unrest of the American people after the Depression and World War 2.<ref>http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/miller_a.html</ref> His best-known work, [[Death of a Salesman]], remains a cornerstone of American theater to this day.

==Life==

Born in Harlem to Jewish working-class parents, Miller would be deeply affected by the ruin of his father's business during the Great Depression. He went to the University of Michigan in 1934 to study journalism, where he first began writing plays.<ref>http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/amiller.htm</ref> Miller would return to New York after graduating, and in 1940, he married Mary Slattery, his college sweetheart. His first play to be produced on Broadway, '''The Man Who Had All the Luck''' (1944), was a failure, closing after only 4 shows.<ref>http://www.theatredatabase.com/20th_century/arthur_miller_timeline.html</ref> His next play, '''All my Sons''' (1947), would do considerably better, earning him a Tony award.

It would be [[Death of a Salesman]], however, that established Miller as a major artist in the world of theater. Produced in 1949, the play tells the story of Willy Loman, an ageing salesman whose desperate clinging to his vision of "The American Dream" blinds him to reality and eventually tears his family apart. The play would earn him a Pulitzer prize, and its first run earned 6 Tony awards.<ref>http://www.imagi-nation.com/moonstruck/clsc10.htm</ref>

His next major work was [[The Crucible]], produced in 1953. Mired by controversy in its day, it is a fictionalized account of the Salem Witch trials of the late 17th century, which deliberately allegorized the mass hysteria of the McCarthy era. He would later be called before the House Committee on Un-American Activities, but refused to give any names of those suspected of supposedly anti-American or Communist activities.<ref>http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/amiller.htm</ref>

Miller was briefly married to film star [[Marilyn Monroe]] between 1956 and 1961, when the couple divorced shortly before the film star's death. In 1962 he married photographer Inge Morath, with whom he remained married until her death in 2002. During this time, Miller continued to write plays, but by the 1970's, his output slowed considerably, although he remained politically active. He died in 2005 of heart failure.

==Legacy==

Miller remains a towering figure in American drama today, and his works are the subject of much in-depth analysis in academic circles. In 2002 he was awarded the Prince of Asturias Prize for Literature in Spain, the first American to recieve this prestigious award. There, he was named "the undisputed master of modern drama".<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1977643.stm</ref>

==Major Works==

All My Sons

[[Death of a Salesman]]

[[The Crucible]]

A Memory of Two Mondays

A View from the Bridge

After the Fall

Incident at Vichy

The Price

The Creation of the World and Other Business

The Archbishop's Ceiling

The American Clock

Danger: Memory!

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Playwrights]]

Arthur Miller

2008-04-10T00:56:39Z

StephenS:

Arthur Miller (1915-2005) was an American playwright whose dramas reflected the unrest of the American people after the Depression and World War 2.<ref>http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/miller_a.html</ref> His best-known work, [[Death of a Salesman]], remains a cornerstone of American theater to this day.

==Life==

Born in Harlem to Jewish working-class parents, Miller would be deeply affected by the ruin of his father's business during the Great Depression. He went to the University of Michigan in 1934 to study journalism, where he first began writing plays.<ref>http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/amiller.htm</ref> Miller would return to New York after graduating, and in 1940, he married Mary Slattery, his college sweetheart. His first play to be produced on Broadway, '''The Man Who Had All the Luck''' (1944), was a failure, closing after only 4 shows.<ref>http://www.theatredatabase.com/20th_century/arthur_miller_timeline.html</ref> His next play, '''All my Sons''' (1947), would do considerably better, earning him a Tony award.

It would be [[Death of a Salesman]], however, that established Miller as a major artist in the world of theater. Produced in 1949, the play tells the story of Willy Loman, an ageing salesman whose desperate clinging to his vision of "The American Dream" blinds him to reality and eventually tears his family apart. The play would earn him a Pulitzer prize, and its first run earned 6 Tony awards.<ref>http://www.imagi-nation.com/moonstruck/clsc10.htm</ref>

His next major work was [[The Crucible]], produced in 1953. Mired by controversy in its day, it is a fictionalized account of the Salem Witch trials of the late 17th century, which deliberately allegorized the mass hysteria of the McCarthy era. He would later be called before the House Committee on Un-American Activities, but refused to give any names of those suspected of supposedly anti-American or Communist activities.<ref>http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/amiller.htm</ref>

Miller was briefly married to film star [[Marilyn Monroe]] between 1956 and 1961, when the couple divorced shortly before the film star's death. In 1962 he married photographer Inge Morath, with whom he remained married until her death in 2002. During this time, Miller continued to write plays, but by the 1970's, his output slowed considerably, although he remained politically active. He died in 2005 of heart failure.

==Legacy==

Miller remains a towering figure in American drama today, and his works are the subject of much in-depth analysis in academic circles. In 2002 he was awarded the Prince of Asturias Prize for Literature in Spain, the first American to recieve this prestigious award. There, he was named "the undisputed master of modern drama".<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1977643.stm</ref>

==Major Works==

All My Sons

[[Death of a Salesman]]

[[The Crucible]]

A Memory of Two Mondays

A View from the Bridge

After the Fall

Incident at Vichy

The Price

The Creation of the World and Other Business

The Archbishop's Ceiling

The American Clock

Danger: Memory!

==References==
<references/>

Arthur Miller

2008-04-10T00:54:59Z

StephenS: New page: Arthur Miller (1915-2005) was an American playwright whose dramas reflected the unrest of the American people after the Depression and World War 2.<ref>http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmast...

Arthur Miller (1915-2005) was an American playwright whose dramas reflected the unrest of the American people after the Depression and World War 2.<ref>http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/miller_a.html</ref> His best-known work, [[Death of a Salesman]], remains a cornerstone of American theater to this day.

==Life==

Born in Harlem to Jewish working-class parents, Miller would be deeply affected by the ruin of his father's business during the Great Depression. He went to the University of Michigan in 1934 to study journalism, where he first began writing plays.<ref>http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/amiller.htm</ref> Miller would return to New York after graduating, and in 1940, he married Mary Slattery, his college sweetheart. His first play to be produced on Broadway, '''The Man Who Had All the Luck''' (1944), was a failure, closing after only 4 shows.<ref>http://www.theatredatabase.com/20th_century/arthur_miller_timeline.html</ref> His next play, '''All my Sons''' (1947), would do considerably better, earning him a Tony award.

It would be [[Death of a Salesman]], however, that established Miller as a major artist in the world of theater. Produced in 1949, the play tells the story of Willy Loman, an ageing salesman whose desperate clinging to his vision of "The American Dream" blinds him to reality and eventually tears his family apart. The play would earn him a Pulitzer prize, and its first run earned 6 Tony awards.<ref>http://www.imagi-nation.com/moonstruck/clsc10.htm</ref>

His next major work was [[The Crucible]], produced in 1953. Mired by controversy in its day, it is a fictionalized account of the Salem Witch trials of the late 17th century, which deliberately allegorized the mass hysteria of the McCarthy era. He would later be called before the House Committee on Un-American Activities, but refused to give any names of those suspected of supposedly anti-American or Communist activities.<ref>http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/amiller.htm</ref>

Miller was briefly married to film star [[Marilyn Monroe]] between 1956 and 1961, when the couple divorced shortly before the film star's death. In 1962 he married photographer Inge Morath, with whom he remained married until her death in 2002. During this time, Miller continued to write plays, but by the 1970's, his output slowed considerably, although he remained politically active. He died in 2005 of heart failure.

==Legacy==

Miller remains a towering figure in American drama today, and his works are the subject of much in-depth analysis in academic circles today. In 2002 he was awarded the Prince of Asturias Prize for Literature in Spain, the first American to recieve this prestigious award. There, he was named "the undisputed master of modern drama".<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1977643.stm</ref>

==Major Works==

All My Sons

[[Death of a Salesman]]

[[The Crucible]]

A Memory of Two Mondays

A View from the Bridge

After the Fall

Incident at Vichy

The Price

The Creation of the World and Other Business

The Archbishop's Ceiling

The American Clock

Danger: Memory!

==References==
<references/>

Theater

2008-04-09T22:56:30Z

StephenS:

[[Image:Boston theatre.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Interior of the B.F. Keith Memorial Theatre, Boston. Opened in 1928]]
{{etymology|From French "''théâtre''", from [[Greek]] "theatron", ''θέατρον'' a public spectacle or venue for such spectacle.}}
'''Theater''' or '''theatre''' is a form of [[art]] in which a person or group of persons act out stories that may be fictional or factual, for the entertainment, instruction, indoctrination, or [[Propaganda|propagandization]] of other people.

A '''theater''' (or '''theatre''') is also the venue in which theater is performed.

Classically, the term ''theater'' refers to actors performing on a stage in the physical presence of their viewers. More broadly, theater includes any form of acting-out, whether one does it "live," in a [[motion picture]], or on [[television]]. It also includes a variety of forms that use [[music]] and/or [[dance]] to tell a story, and other forms that include no dialogue at all and involve one or more performers using gestures only to give an impression of an emotion or emotions.

== History of Theater ==
=== Greece and Greco-Macedonian Civilizations ===
The first instances of theater gave the term its name. It involved actors performing on a stage in the well of a half-circle arena--often called an ''amphitheater'' (from the Greek ''amphi'', a preposition meaning "on both sides of"). The usual subject matter in the Greek theater involved the Greek pantheon and various heroic and military stories of the ancient Hellenic civilizations prior to the [[First Olympiad]]. Besides the paying of homage to pagan gods, the classic Greek plays quite often treated sensitive subjects--famously including incest, adultery, rape and murder--in a mature and forthright manner. Most Greek plays were tragedies, involving characters who came to bad ends, usually by displaying excessive pride and trying to outdo the gods or thwart prophecy.

The people of [[Israel]] received their first exposure to theater with the conquest of restored Israel by [[Alexander the Great]] and their subsequent subjection to the [[Seleucid Empire]]. The leaders of that empire sought to expose their subjects to all things [[Greece|Greek]], a process called "Hellenization" (from the Greek name for the country of Greece, ''Hellas''). The Jews were scandalized and, with the ouster of the forces of [[Antiochus IV Epiphanes]] by [[Judas the Maccabee]], were determined never to partake of theater or any other Greek thing ever again.

=== Rome ===
When [[Rome]] finally conquered Greece, the Romans quickly learned the Greek language and copied many Greek art forms, including theater. The difference was that Roman theater placed less emphasis on religion and more on spectacle and excitement. Roman audiences jaded quickly, however, and often expressed their frustration and impatience with rude, insensitive, and frankly loutish behavior. Roman plays tended to be comedies, though many Roman plays had military themes.

Roman gamesmasters--chiefly the plebeian and curule ''aediles'' (magistrates in charge of public works)--elevated theater to a high art. In addition to the poetic narratives that had characterized Greek theater, Rome introduced athletic competition, especially that famous genre called ''[[gladiator]]ial combat'' (from the [[Latin]] ''gladius'' a short double-edged sword) in which two men would fight duels with military weapons. At first these duels were mock duels. Then, beginning with the Imperial period, these duels became actual duels to the death, usually between slaves, condemned criminals, and/or prisoners of war.<ref name=MoR>See [[Colleen McCullough]]'s ''Masters of Rome'' series of historical novels, and especially their glossaries, that specifically address the subject of pre-Imperial gladiators.</ref> [[Emperor]]s after [[Augustus]] added combat between man and beast--and most famously, Emperor [[Nero]] publicly executed his enemies, especially [[Christianity|Christians]], by releasing carnivorous animals to eat them before a large audience.

=== Medieval and Renaissance Europe ===
[[Image:Foliou.jpg|right|thumb|Portrait of William Shakespeare on the cover of the First Folio (1623), the first collected edition of his plays]]

When Rome fell, theater was out of fashion, primarily because humans abandoned cities and were organized on farms and in villages. With the re-establishment of law and order, dwelling in cities became safe again. Theater came back with the cities.

At first, under Roman Catholic dominance, theater consisted of liturgical drama. Eventually, however, theater returned to its secular roots--and by the time of William Shakespeare, the subject matter in theater was, more often than not, vulgar and even obscene. Puritans and other religious leaders objected vehemently to theater--and not merely to its content but to the behavior of many theater attendees. The [[Puritan]] cleric [[Thomas White]] famously said,<blockquote>The cause of plagues is sin, if you look to it well, and the causes of sin are plays; therefore the causes of plagues are plays.<ref name=White>Quoted in [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,821039-2,00.html "In Fair Verona"], ''Time'', December 20, 1954; retrieved on April 6, 2007 from the ''Time'' on-line archive</ref></blockquote>
That the [[Black Death]] had broken out a scant century before he made that statement was regarded as no coincidence. Yet the theater was part of a trend that could not be stopped.

One remarkable consequence of the continued religious opposition to theater was that women could not appear in plays. This did not, however, mean that scripts never featured female characters. Instead, prepubescent boys played those parts, with often shocking realism.

=== Regency, Victorian, and Edwardian Theater ===
During the nineteenth century, theater became more refined, especially as women began to act in plays. This was especially true during the Victorian era, an era given to ostentatious display in visual art and architecture but also to scrupulous modesty in fashion and deportment. This era is also called the "neoclassical" era of theater.

=== Post-Edwardian Theater ===
[[Image:Theater dance.jpg|right|200px]]
After the death of King Edward VII of [[United Kingdom|Great Britain]], a general coarsening of society set in. [[Motion picture]]s, a new medium, began to compete with the traditional stage, but the general principles were the same: theater is theater, whatever the medium. Theater both reflected and accelerated this coarsening. This was far more true of film than of the live stage. Performers on the live stage tended to restrain themselves, out of their own sense of modesty and also of consideration for the sensitivity of the general public to acts depicted by actual persons in the physical presence of others. These considerations operated less obviously in film, and so motion pictures began to feature increasingly sinful plots, and also the sort of spectacle of which Nero would have been proud.

Motion pictures were a [[United States]] invention and were primarily, though not solely, a United States product. Therefore anything that happened in or to "the movies" in the United States affected motion-picture projects throughout the world, ''except'' in certain totalitarian nation-states. In those states--chiefly Nazi [[Germany]] and the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics]]--motion pictures were purely a tool of [[propaganda]] in support of the ruling regime or its ideals.

In 1930, the trade association of motion-picture producers in the United States established the [[Motion Picture Production Code]], in an effort to convince the viewing public that they were sensitive to their concerns. For about four years, they honored this code more in the breach than otherwise. But then former United States Postmaster General [[William Hays]] became President of the Motion Picture Production and Distribution Association, and in that capacity he made sure that the Production Code Administration, or "[[Hays office]]", would enforce the code in fact, rather than with lip service only.

The contrast between "pre-Code" and "post-Code" films was striking. With Hays' trusted friends in charge, salacious plots, plot themes, and plot devices were strictly forbidden--as was the use of obscene language, or any violation of the Third Commandment. No character could commit a criminal act and escape punishment for that act--not even if it were an act of understandable (by human ways of thinking) vengeance. Neither could any character disrobe on camera, nor commit adultery or fornication with impunity.

"Nature abhors a vacuum," and so motion-picture projects came to emphasize non-salacious themes. During this era, most actors in motion pictures transferred to that medium from the stage--and since motion-picture technology was relatively primitive, special effects were necessarily limited. And so the "talent" for acting took precedence over superficial appearance and "set pieces." Plot themes tended to emphasize the sort of human drama requiring responsible decision and action. In addition, this era saw a return of liturgical drama, especially in motion pictures. With the entry of the United States into the [[Second World War]], another theme became prominent: duty, honor, and the often severe demands that these two ideals required of people, men and women both.

=== Further Decline and Coarsening ===
Victory in the Second World War brought with it a rush to mutual indulgence, and theater in all its media--stage, film, and a third medium, [[television]], again both reflected and accelerated this trend. The Motion Picture Production Code came under intense pressure--and finally, with the release of a truly shocking film involving adultery, embezzlement, invasion of feminine privacy, and murder (the last staged with almost nauseating realism), the Code was doomed. It was abandoned completely in 1968. With this abandonment came an abandonment, for many decades, of liturgical drama in favor of stories designed merely to excite, scare, or titillate--and often to propagandize.

Television's moral restraints survived somewhat longer--for though the Hays Office was now disbanded, the US [[Federal Communications Commission]] imposed strict rules on what could, or could not, be shown in a medium that was, after all, transmitted directly into people's homes at a time when minor children might be watching. Thus for two decades, motion pictures had one set of standards, and television had another--though as television turned increasingly to action, adventure, and crime drama, writers found ways to introduce salacious elements that a child might not recognize as such, though an adult would.

With the coming of Community Antenna Television came the notion of ''voluntary subscription'' to certain packages, called ''channels'', of television content. Here the FCC made a critical decision: ''to allow the content of a subscribed channel to be far more obviously salacious than before,'' so long as one had to subscribe to that channel, ''and pay an extra fee to receive it.'' The FCC might have thought that non-subscribed, "broadcast" channels might remain non-salacious, but this hope proved false. Today, on nearly any channel, a viewer might tune in a spectacle at least as shocking, and with just as much appeal to prurient interest, as an attendee of the ancient Greek theater in the days of Antiochus IV Epiphanes might have enjoyed.

The traditional stage is far less well attended than it once was. It, too, has reverted to its perhaps original form, and often is a venue for experiments in forms of acting that severely test a viewer's capacity for ''suspension of disbelief'', a conscious act often critical to a viewer's appreciation of theater in any medium.

===See Also===
Some important American playwrights include:

*[[Tennessee Williams]]

*[[Arthur Miller]]

*[[Sam Shepherd]]

*[[Tony Kushner]]

*[[Neil Simon]]

*[[Eugene O'Neill]]

== References Cited ==
<references/>

== External Links ==
*[http://theater.nytimes.com/pages/theater/index.html Theater] The New York Times.

[[Category:Culture]]
[[Category:Sociology]]
[[Category:Literature]]

Tennessee Williams

2008-04-09T22:51:55Z

StephenS:

'''Tennessee Williams''' (1911-1983) was an important and influential American playwright. He is perhaps best known for two works: [[The Glass Menagerie]] and [[A Streetcar Named Desire]], both of which drew from his life experiences for inspiration.

==Life==

Tennessee (born Thomas Lanier Williams) was born and raised in Columbus, Mississippi.<ref>http://www.imagi-nation.com/moonstruck/clsc9.htm</ref> He was admitted to the University of Missouri in 1929. It was there that he saw a performance of ''Ghosts'' by [[Henrik Ibsen]] and subsequently decided he wanted to become a playwright.<ref>http://www.theatredatabase.com/20th_century/tennessee_williams_timeline.html</ref> He was able to have 2 of his early plays produced in 1937, and the following year, he moved to New Orleans and changed his name to Tennessee. In 1944, he debuted [[The Glass Menagerie]] in Chicago, which, after a successful run, made its way to Broadway. The play helped to establish him as an important American voice in theater. 1947 saw him debut perhaps his most famous play, [[A Streetcar Named Desire]], which would go on to win a Pullitzer prize, the first of 2 he would win in his career (the other one being for his 1955 play, [[Cat on a Hot Tin Roof]]. Tennessee would go on to write regularily until his death in 1983.

==Legacy==

Tennessee Williams is generally recognized as one of the greatest American playwrights, of his or any other time.<ref>http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/english/ms-writers/dir/williams_tennessee/</ref> His plays are performed regularily in theaters across North America to this day.

==Works==

Williams was very prolific and left behind a significant body of work, including:

American Blues (1939)

The Glass Menagerie (1945)

A Streetcar Named Desire (1947)

One Arm and other stories (1948)

Summer and Smoke (1948)

The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1950)

The Rose Tattoo (1951)

Camino Real (1953)

Hard Candy, a book of stories (1954)

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955)

In the Winter of Cities (1956)

Baby Doll (1956)

Orpheus Descending (Battle of Angels, 1957)

Suddenly Last Summer (1958)

Sweet Bird of Youth (1959)

A Period of Adjustement (1960)

Night of the Iguana (1961)

Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore (1962)

The Eccentricities of a Nightingale (1964)

Kingdom of Earth (1967)

In the Bar of a Tokyo Hotel (1969)

Dragon Country (1970)

Small Craft Warnings (1973)

The Two Character Play (Out Cry, 1973)

Eight Mortal Ladies Possessed (1974)

Moise and the World of Reason (1975)

Memoirs (1975)

The Red Devil Battery Sign (1976)

Androgine, Mon Amour (1977)

Vieux Carré (1978)

A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur (1978)

Clothes for a Summer Hotel (1980)

Something Cloudy, Something Clear (1981)

27 Wagons Full of Cotton (1982)

Five O'clock Angel (1991)

Collected Stories (1994)
<ref>http://www.booksfactory.com/writers/williams.htm</ref>

==References==
<references/>

Tennessee Williams

2008-04-09T22:50:37Z

StephenS:

'''Tennessee Williams''' (1911-1983)was an important and influential American playwright. He is perhaps best known for two works: [[The Glass Menagerie]] and [[A Streetcar Named Desire]], both of which drew from his life experiences for inspiration.

==Life==

Tennessee (born Thomas Lanier Williams) was born and raised in Columbus, Mississippi.<ref>http://www.imagi-nation.com/moonstruck/clsc9.htm</ref> He was admitted to the University of Missouri in 1929. It was there that he saw a performance of ''Ghosts'' by [[Henrik Ibsen]] and subsequently decided he wanted to become a playwright.<ref>http://www.theatredatabase.com/20th_century/tennessee_williams_timeline.html</ref> He was able to have 2 of his early plays produced in 1937, and the following year, he moved to New Orleans and changed his name to Tennessee. In 1944, he debuted [[The Glass Menagerie]] in Chicago, which, after a successful run, made its way to Broadway. The play helped to establish him as an important American voice in theater. 1947 saw him debut perhaps his most famous play, [[A Streetcar Named Desire]], which would go on to win a Pullitzer prize, the first of 2 he would win in his career (the other one being for his 1955 play, [[Cat on a Hot Tin Roof]]. Tennessee would go on to write regularily until his death in 1983.

==Legacy==

Tennessee Williams is generally recognized as one of the greatest American playwrights, of his or any other time.<ref>http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/english/ms-writers/dir/williams_tennessee/</ref> His plays are performed regularily in theaters across North America to this day.

==Works==

Williams was very prolific and left behind a significant body of work, including:

American Blues (1939)

The Glass Menagerie (1945)

A Streetcar Named Desire (1947)

One Arm and other stories (1948)

Summer and Smoke (1948)

The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1950)

The Rose Tattoo (1951)

Camino Real (1953)

Hard Candy, a book of stories (1954)

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955)

In the Winter of Cities (1956)

Baby Doll (1956)

Orpheus Descending (Battle of Angels, 1957)

Suddenly Last Summer (1958)

Sweet Bird of Youth (1959)

A Period of Adjustement (1960)

Night of the Iguana (1961)

Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore (1962)

The Eccentricities of a Nightingale (1964)

Kingdom of Earth (1967)

In the Bar of a Tokyo Hotel (1969)

Dragon Country (1970)

Small Craft Warnings (1973)

The Two Character Play (Out Cry, 1973)

Eight Mortal Ladies Possessed (1974)

Moise and the World of Reason (1975)

Memoirs (1975)

The Red Devil Battery Sign (1976)

Androgine, Mon Amour (1977)

Vieux Carré (1978)

A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur (1978)

Clothes for a Summer Hotel (1980)

Something Cloudy, Something Clear (1981)

27 Wagons Full of Cotton (1982)

Five O'clock Angel (1991)

Collected Stories (1994)
<ref>http://www.booksfactory.com/writers/williams.htm</ref>

==References==
<references/>

Tennessee Williams

2008-04-09T21:47:55Z

StephenS: New page: '''Tennessee Williams''' (1911-1983)was an important and influential American playwright. He is perhaps best known for two works: The Glass Menagerie and A Streetcar Named Desire,...

Theater

2008-04-09T21:26:32Z

StephenS:

[[Image:Boston theatre.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Interior of the B.F. Keith Memorial Theatre, Boston. Opened in 1928]]
{{etymology|From French "''théâtre''", from [[Greek]] "theatron", ''θέατρον'' a public spectacle or venue for such spectacle.}}
'''Theater''' or '''theatre''' is a form of [[art]] in which a person or group of persons act out stories that may be fictional or factual, for the entertainment, instruction, indoctrination, or [[Propaganda|propagandization]] of other people.

A '''theater''' (or '''theatre''') is also the venue in which theater is performed.

Classically, the term ''theater'' refers to actors performing on a stage in the physical presence of their viewers. More broadly, theater includes any form of acting-out, whether one does it "live," in a [[motion picture]], or on [[television]]. It also includes a variety of forms that use [[music]] and/or [[dance]] to tell a story, and other forms that include no dialogue at all and involve one or more performers using gestures only to give an impression of an emotion or emotions.

== History of Theater ==
=== Greece and Greco-Macedonian Civilizations ===
The first instances of theater gave the term its name. It involved actors performing on a stage in the well of a half-circle arena--often called an ''amphitheater'' (from the Greek ''amphi'', a preposition meaning "on both sides of"). The usual subject matter in the Greek theater involved the Greek pantheon and various heroic and military stories of the ancient Hellenic civilizations prior to the [[First Olympiad]]. Besides the paying of homage to pagan gods, the classic Greek plays quite often treated sensitive subjects--famously including incest, adultery, rape and murder--in a mature and forthright manner. Most Greek plays were tragedies, involving characters who came to bad ends, usually by displaying excessive pride and trying to outdo the gods or thwart prophecy.

The people of [[Israel]] received their first exposure to theater with the conquest of restored Israel by [[Alexander the Great]] and their subsequent subjection to the [[Seleucid Empire]]. The leaders of that empire sought to expose their subjects to all things [[Greece|Greek]], a process called "Hellenization" (from the Greek name for the country of Greece, ''Hellas''). The Jews were scandalized and, with the ouster of the forces of [[Antiochus IV Epiphanes]] by [[Judas the Maccabee]], were determined never to partake of theater or any other Greek thing ever again.

=== Rome ===
When [[Rome]] finally conquered Greece, the Romans quickly learned the Greek language and copied many Greek art forms, including theater. The difference was that Roman theater placed less emphasis on religion and more on spectacle and excitement. Roman audiences jaded quickly, however, and often expressed their frustration and impatience with rude, insensitive, and frankly loutish behavior. Roman plays tended to be comedies, though many Roman plays had military themes.

Roman gamesmasters--chiefly the plebeian and curule ''aediles'' (magistrates in charge of public works)--elevated theater to a high art. In addition to the poetic narratives that had characterized Greek theater, Rome introduced athletic competition, especially that famous genre called ''[[gladiator]]ial combat'' (from the [[Latin]] ''gladius'' a short double-edged sword) in which two men would fight duels with military weapons. At first these duels were mock duels. Then, beginning with the Imperial period, these duels became actual duels to the death, usually between slaves, condemned criminals, and/or prisoners of war.<ref name=MoR>See [[Colleen McCullough]]'s ''Masters of Rome'' series of historical novels, and especially their glossaries, that specifically address the subject of pre-Imperial gladiators.</ref> [[Emperor]]s after [[Augustus]] added combat between man and beast--and most famously, Emperor [[Nero]] publicly executed his enemies, especially [[Christianity|Christians]], by releasing carnivorous animals to eat them before a large audience.

=== Medieval and Renaissance Europe ===
[[Image:Foliou.jpg|right|thumb|Portrait of William Shakespeare on the cover of the First Folio (1623), the first collected edition of his plays]]

When Rome fell, theater was out of fashion, primarily because humans abandoned cities and were organized on farms and in villages. With the re-establishment of law and order, dwelling in cities became safe again. Theater came back with the cities.

At first, under Roman Catholic dominance, theater consisted of liturgical drama. Eventually, however, theater returned to its secular roots--and by the time of William Shakespeare, the subject matter in theater was, more often than not, vulgar and even obscene. Puritans and other religious leaders objected vehemently to theater--and not merely to its content but to the behavior of many theater attendees. The [[Puritan]] cleric [[Thomas White]] famously said,<blockquote>The cause of plagues is sin, if you look to it well, and the causes of sin are plays; therefore the causes of plagues are plays.<ref name=White>Quoted in [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,821039-2,00.html "In Fair Verona"], ''Time'', December 20, 1954; retrieved on April 6, 2007 from the ''Time'' on-line archive</ref></blockquote>
That the [[Black Death]] had broken out a scant century before he made that statement was regarded as no coincidence. Yet the theater was part of a trend that could not be stopped.

One remarkable consequence of the continued religious opposition to theater was that women could not appear in plays. This did not, however, mean that scripts never featured female characters. Instead, prepubescent boys played those parts, with often shocking realism.

=== Regency, Victorian, and Edwardian Theater ===
During the nineteenth century, theater became more refined, especially as women began to act in plays. This was especially true during the Victorian era, an era given to ostentatious display in visual art and architecture but also to scrupulous modesty in fashion and deportment. This era is also called the "neoclassical" era of theater.

=== Post-Edwardian Theater ===
[[Image:Theater dance.jpg|right|200px]]
After the death of King Edward VII of [[United Kingdom|Great Britain]], a general coarsening of society set in. [[Motion picture]]s, a new medium, began to compete with the traditional stage, but the general principles were the same: theater is theater, whatever the medium. Theater both reflected and accelerated this coarsening. This was far more true of film than of the live stage. Performers on the live stage tended to restrain themselves, out of their own sense of modesty and also of consideration for the sensitivity of the general public to acts depicted by actual persons in the physical presence of others. These considerations operated less obviously in film, and so motion pictures began to feature increasingly sinful plots, and also the sort of spectacle of which Nero would have been proud.

Motion pictures were a [[United States]] invention and were primarily, though not solely, a United States product. Therefore anything that happened in or to "the movies" in the United States affected motion-picture projects throughout the world, ''except'' in certain totalitarian nation-states. In those states--chiefly Nazi [[Germany]] and the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics]]--motion pictures were purely a tool of [[propaganda]] in support of the ruling regime or its ideals.

In 1930, the trade association of motion-picture producers in the United States established the [[Motion Picture Production Code]], in an effort to convince the viewing public that they were sensitive to their concerns. For about four years, they honored this code more in the breach than otherwise. But then former United States Postmaster General [[William Hays]] became President of the Motion Picture Production and Distribution Association, and in that capacity he made sure that the Production Code Administration, or "[[Hays office]]", would enforce the code in fact, rather than with lip service only.

The contrast between "pre-Code" and "post-Code" films was striking. With Hays' trusted friends in charge, salacious plots, plot themes, and plot devices were strictly forbidden--as was the use of obscene language, or any violation of the Third Commandment. No character could commit a criminal act and escape punishment for that act--not even if it were an act of understandable (by human ways of thinking) vengeance. Neither could any character disrobe on camera, nor commit adultery or fornication with impunity.

"Nature abhors a vacuum," and so motion-picture projects came to emphasize non-salacious themes. During this era, most actors in motion pictures transferred to that medium from the stage--and since motion-picture technology was relatively primitive, special effects were necessarily limited. And so the "talent" for acting took precedence over superficial appearance and "set pieces." Plot themes tended to emphasize the sort of human drama requiring responsible decision and action. In addition, this era saw a return of liturgical drama, especially in motion pictures. With the entry of the United States into the [[Second World War]], another theme became prominent: duty, honor, and the often severe demands that these two ideals required of people, men and women both.

=== Further Decline and Coarsening ===
Victory in the Second World War brought with it a rush to mutual indulgence, and theater in all its media--stage, film, and a third medium, [[television]], again both reflected and accelerated this trend. The Motion Picture Production Code came under intense pressure--and finally, with the release of a truly shocking film involving adultery, embezzlement, invasion of feminine privacy, and murder (the last staged with almost nauseating realism), the Code was doomed. It was abandoned completely in 1968. With this abandonment came an abandonment, for many decades, of liturgical drama in favor of stories designed merely to excite, scare, or titillate--and often to propagandize.

Television's moral restraints survived somewhat longer--for though the Hays Office was now disbanded, the US [[Federal Communications Commission]] imposed strict rules on what could, or could not, be shown in a medium that was, after all, transmitted directly into people's homes at a time when minor children might be watching. Thus for two decades, motion pictures had one set of standards, and television had another--though as television turned increasingly to action, adventure, and crime drama, writers found ways to introduce salacious elements that a child might not recognize as such, though an adult would.

With the coming of Community Antenna Television came the notion of ''voluntary subscription'' to certain packages, called ''channels'', of television content. Here the FCC made a critical decision: ''to allow the content of a subscribed channel to be far more obviously salacious than before,'' so long as one had to subscribe to that channel, ''and pay an extra fee to receive it.'' The FCC might have thought that non-subscribed, "broadcast" channels might remain non-salacious, but this hope proved false. Today, on nearly any channel, a viewer might tune in a spectacle at least as shocking, and with just as much appeal to prurient interest, as an attendee of the ancient Greek theater in the days of Antiochus IV Epiphanes might have enjoyed.

The traditional stage is far less well attended than it once was. It, too, has reverted to its perhaps original form, and often is a venue for experiments in forms of acting that severely test a viewer's capacity for ''suspension of disbelief'', a conscious act often critical to a viewer's appreciation of theater in any medium.

===See Also===
Some important American playwrights include:

[[Tennessee Williams]]

[[Arthur Miller]]

[[Sam Shepherd]]

== References Cited ==
<references/>

== External Links ==
*[http://theater.nytimes.com/pages/theater/index.html Theater] The New York Times.

[[Category:Culture]]
[[Category:Sociology]]
[[Category:Literature]]

Theater

2008-04-09T21:25:48Z

StephenS:

[[Image:Boston theatre.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Interior of the B.F. Keith Memorial Theatre, Boston. Opened in 1928]]
{{etymology|From French "''théâtre''", from [[Greek]] "theatron", ''θέατρον'' a public spectacle or venue for such spectacle.}}
'''Theater''' or '''theatre''' is a form of [[art]] in which a person or group of persons act out stories that may be fictional or factual, for the entertainment, instruction, indoctrination, or [[Propaganda|propagandization]] of other people.

A '''theater''' (or '''theatre''') is also the venue in which theater is performed.

Classically, the term ''theater'' refers to actors performing on a stage in the physical presence of their viewers. More broadly, theater includes any form of acting-out, whether one does it "live," in a [[motion picture]], or on [[television]]. It also includes a variety of forms that use [[music]] and/or [[dance]] to tell a story, and other forms that include no dialogue at all and involve one or more performers using gestures only to give an impression of an emotion or emotions.

== History of Theater ==
=== Greece and Greco-Macedonian Civilizations ===
The first instances of theater gave the term its name. It involved actors performing on a stage in the well of a half-circle arena--often called an ''amphitheater'' (from the Greek ''amphi'', a preposition meaning "on both sides of"). The usual subject matter in the Greek theater involved the Greek pantheon and various heroic and military stories of the ancient Hellenic civilizations prior to the [[First Olympiad]]. Besides the paying of homage to pagan gods, the classic Greek plays quite often treated sensitive subjects--famously including incest, adultery, rape and murder--in a mature and forthright manner. Most Greek plays were tragedies, involving characters who came to bad ends, usually by displaying excessive pride and trying to outdo the gods or thwart prophecy.

The people of [[Israel]] received their first exposure to theater with the conquest of restored Israel by [[Alexander the Great]] and their subsequent subjection to the [[Seleucid Empire]]. The leaders of that empire sought to expose their subjects to all things [[Greece|Greek]], a process called "Hellenization" (from the Greek name for the country of Greece, ''Hellas''). The Jews were scandalized and, with the ouster of the forces of [[Antiochus IV Epiphanes]] by [[Judas the Maccabee]], were determined never to partake of theater or any other Greek thing ever again.

=== Rome ===
When [[Rome]] finally conquered Greece, the Romans quickly learned the Greek language and copied many Greek art forms, including theater. The difference was that Roman theater placed less emphasis on religion and more on spectacle and excitement. Roman audiences jaded quickly, however, and often expressed their frustration and impatience with rude, insensitive, and frankly loutish behavior. Roman plays tended to be comedies, though many Roman plays had military themes.

Roman gamesmasters--chiefly the plebeian and curule ''aediles'' (magistrates in charge of public works)--elevated theater to a high art. In addition to the poetic narratives that had characterized Greek theater, Rome introduced athletic competition, especially that famous genre called ''[[gladiator]]ial combat'' (from the [[Latin]] ''gladius'' a short double-edged sword) in which two men would fight duels with military weapons. At first these duels were mock duels. Then, beginning with the Imperial period, these duels became actual duels to the death, usually between slaves, condemned criminals, and/or prisoners of war.<ref name=MoR>See [[Colleen McCullough]]'s ''Masters of Rome'' series of historical novels, and especially their glossaries, that specifically address the subject of pre-Imperial gladiators.</ref> [[Emperor]]s after [[Augustus]] added combat between man and beast--and most famously, Emperor [[Nero]] publicly executed his enemies, especially [[Christianity|Christians]], by releasing carnivorous animals to eat them before a large audience.

=== Medieval and Renaissance Europe ===
[[Image:Foliou.jpg|right|thumb|Portrait of William Shakespeare on the cover of the First Folio (1623), the first collected edition of his plays]]

When Rome fell, theater was out of fashion, primarily because humans abandoned cities and were organized on farms and in villages. With the re-establishment of law and order, dwelling in cities became safe again. Theater came back with the cities.

At first, under Roman Catholic dominance, theater consisted of liturgical drama. Eventually, however, theater returned to its secular roots--and by the time of William Shakespeare, the subject matter in theater was, more often than not, vulgar and even obscene. Puritans and other religious leaders objected vehemently to theater--and not merely to its content but to the behavior of many theater attendees. The [[Puritan]] cleric [[Thomas White]] famously said,<blockquote>The cause of plagues is sin, if you look to it well, and the causes of sin are plays; therefore the causes of plagues are plays.<ref name=White>Quoted in [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,821039-2,00.html "In Fair Verona"], ''Time'', December 20, 1954; retrieved on April 6, 2007 from the ''Time'' on-line archive</ref></blockquote>
That the [[Black Death]] had broken out a scant century before he made that statement was regarded as no coincidence. Yet the theater was part of a trend that could not be stopped.

One remarkable consequence of the continued religious opposition to theater was that women could not appear in plays. This did not, however, mean that scripts never featured female characters. Instead, prepubescent boys played those parts, with often shocking realism.

=== Regency, Victorian, and Edwardian Theater ===
During the nineteenth century, theater became more refined, especially as women began to act in plays. This was especially true during the Victorian era, an era given to ostentatious display in visual art and architecture but also to scrupulous modesty in fashion and deportment. This era is also called the "neoclassical" era of theater.

=== Post-Edwardian Theater ===
[[Image:Theater dance.jpg|right|200px]]
After the death of King Edward VII of [[United Kingdom|Great Britain]], a general coarsening of society set in. [[Motion picture]]s, a new medium, began to compete with the traditional stage, but the general principles were the same: theater is theater, whatever the medium. Theater both reflected and accelerated this coarsening. This was far more true of film than of the live stage. Performers on the live stage tended to restrain themselves, out of their own sense of modesty and also of consideration for the sensitivity of the general public to acts depicted by actual persons in the physical presence of others. These considerations operated less obviously in film, and so motion pictures began to feature increasingly sinful plots, and also the sort of spectacle of which Nero would have been proud.

Motion pictures were a [[United States]] invention and were primarily, though not solely, a United States product. Therefore anything that happened in or to "the movies" in the United States affected motion-picture projects throughout the world, ''except'' in certain totalitarian nation-states. In those states--chiefly Nazi [[Germany]] and the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics]]--motion pictures were purely a tool of [[propaganda]] in support of the ruling regime or its ideals.

In 1930, the trade association of motion-picture producers in the United States established the [[Motion Picture Production Code]], in an effort to convince the viewing public that they were sensitive to their concerns. For about four years, they honored this code more in the breach than otherwise. But then former United States Postmaster General [[William Hays]] became President of the Motion Picture Production and Distribution Association, and in that capacity he made sure that the Production Code Administration, or "[[Hays office]]", would enforce the code in fact, rather than with lip service only.

The contrast between "pre-Code" and "post-Code" films was striking. With Hays' trusted friends in charge, salacious plots, plot themes, and plot devices were strictly forbidden--as was the use of obscene language, or any violation of the Third Commandment. No character could commit a criminal act and escape punishment for that act--not even if it were an act of understandable (by human ways of thinking) vengeance. Neither could any character disrobe on camera, nor commit adultery or fornication with impunity.

"Nature abhors a vacuum," and so motion-picture projects came to emphasize non-salacious themes. During this era, most actors in motion pictures transferred to that medium from the stage--and since motion-picture technology was relatively primitive, special effects were necessarily limited. And so the "talent" for acting took precedence over superficial appearance and "set pieces." Plot themes tended to emphasize the sort of human drama requiring responsible decision and action. In addition, this era saw a return of liturgical drama, especially in motion pictures. With the entry of the United States into the [[Second World War]], another theme became prominent: duty, honor, and the often severe demands that these two ideals required of people, men and women both.

=== Further Decline and Coarsening ===
Victory in the Second World War brought with it a rush to mutual indulgence, and theater in all its media--stage, film, and a third medium, [[television]], again both reflected and accelerated this trend. The Motion Picture Production Code came under intense pressure--and finally, with the release of a truly shocking film involving adultery, embezzlement, invasion of feminine privacy, and murder (the last staged with almost nauseating realism), the Code was doomed. It was abandoned completely in 1968. With this abandonment came an abandonment, for many decades, of liturgical drama in favor of stories designed merely to excite, scare, or titillate--and often to propagandize.

Television's moral restraints survived somewhat longer--for though the Hays Office was now disbanded, the US [[Federal Communications Commission]] imposed strict rules on what could, or could not, be shown in a medium that was, after all, transmitted directly into people's homes at a time when minor children might be watching. Thus for two decades, motion pictures had one set of standards, and television had another--though as television turned increasingly to action, adventure, and crime drama, writers found ways to introduce salacious elements that a child might not recognize as such, though an adult would.

With the coming of Community Antenna Television came the notion of ''voluntary subscription'' to certain packages, called ''channels'', of television content. Here the FCC made a critical decision: ''to allow the content of a subscribed channel to be far more obviously salacious than before,'' so long as one had to subscribe to that channel, ''and pay an extra fee to receive it.'' The FCC might have thought that non-subscribed, "broadcast" channels might remain non-salacious, but this hope proved false. Today, on nearly any channel, a viewer might tune in a spectacle at least as shocking, and with just as much appeal to prurient interest, as an attendee of the ancient Greek theater in the days of Antiochus IV Epiphanes might have enjoyed.

The traditional stage is far less well attended than it once was. It, too, has reverted to its perhaps original form, and often is a venue for experiments in forms of acting that severely test a viewer's capacity for ''suspension of disbelief'', a conscious act often critical to a viewer's appreciation of theater in any medium.

===See Also===
Some important American playwrites include:

[[Tennessee Williams]]

[[Arthur Miller]]

[[Sam Shepherd]]

== References Cited ==
<references/>

== External Links ==
*[http://theater.nytimes.com/pages/theater/index.html Theater] The New York Times.

[[Category:Culture]]
[[Category:Sociology]]
[[Category:Literature]]

Theater

2008-04-09T21:25:02Z

StephenS: added a 'see also' for a link to american playwrites

[[Image:Boston theatre.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Interior of the B.F. Keith Memorial Theatre, Boston. Opened in 1928]]
{{etymology|From French "''théâtre''", from [[Greek]] "theatron", ''θέατρον'' a public spectacle or venue for such spectacle.}}
'''Theater''' or '''theatre''' is a form of [[art]] in which a person or group of persons act out stories that may be fictional or factual, for the entertainment, instruction, indoctrination, or [[Propaganda|propagandization]] of other people.

A '''theater''' (or '''theatre''') is also the venue in which theater is performed.

Classically, the term ''theater'' refers to actors performing on a stage in the physical presence of their viewers. More broadly, theater includes any form of acting-out, whether one does it "live," in a [[motion picture]], or on [[television]]. It also includes a variety of forms that use [[music]] and/or [[dance]] to tell a story, and other forms that include no dialogue at all and involve one or more performers using gestures only to give an impression of an emotion or emotions.

== History of Theater ==
=== Greece and Greco-Macedonian Civilizations ===
The first instances of theater gave the term its name. It involved actors performing on a stage in the well of a half-circle arena--often called an ''amphitheater'' (from the Greek ''amphi'', a preposition meaning "on both sides of"). The usual subject matter in the Greek theater involved the Greek pantheon and various heroic and military stories of the ancient Hellenic civilizations prior to the [[First Olympiad]]. Besides the paying of homage to pagan gods, the classic Greek plays quite often treated sensitive subjects--famously including incest, adultery, rape and murder--in a mature and forthright manner. Most Greek plays were tragedies, involving characters who came to bad ends, usually by displaying excessive pride and trying to outdo the gods or thwart prophecy.

The people of [[Israel]] received their first exposure to theater with the conquest of restored Israel by [[Alexander the Great]] and their subsequent subjection to the [[Seleucid Empire]]. The leaders of that empire sought to expose their subjects to all things [[Greece|Greek]], a process called "Hellenization" (from the Greek name for the country of Greece, ''Hellas''). The Jews were scandalized and, with the ouster of the forces of [[Antiochus IV Epiphanes]] by [[Judas the Maccabee]], were determined never to partake of theater or any other Greek thing ever again.

=== Rome ===
When [[Rome]] finally conquered Greece, the Romans quickly learned the Greek language and copied many Greek art forms, including theater. The difference was that Roman theater placed less emphasis on religion and more on spectacle and excitement. Roman audiences jaded quickly, however, and often expressed their frustration and impatience with rude, insensitive, and frankly loutish behavior. Roman plays tended to be comedies, though many Roman plays had military themes.

Roman gamesmasters--chiefly the plebeian and curule ''aediles'' (magistrates in charge of public works)--elevated theater to a high art. In addition to the poetic narratives that had characterized Greek theater, Rome introduced athletic competition, especially that famous genre called ''[[gladiator]]ial combat'' (from the [[Latin]] ''gladius'' a short double-edged sword) in which two men would fight duels with military weapons. At first these duels were mock duels. Then, beginning with the Imperial period, these duels became actual duels to the death, usually between slaves, condemned criminals, and/or prisoners of war.<ref name=MoR>See [[Colleen McCullough]]'s ''Masters of Rome'' series of historical novels, and especially their glossaries, that specifically address the subject of pre-Imperial gladiators.</ref> [[Emperor]]s after [[Augustus]] added combat between man and beast--and most famously, Emperor [[Nero]] publicly executed his enemies, especially [[Christianity|Christians]], by releasing carnivorous animals to eat them before a large audience.

=== Medieval and Renaissance Europe ===
[[Image:Foliou.jpg|right|thumb|Portrait of William Shakespeare on the cover of the First Folio (1623), the first collected edition of his plays]]

When Rome fell, theater was out of fashion, primarily because humans abandoned cities and were organized on farms and in villages. With the re-establishment of law and order, dwelling in cities became safe again. Theater came back with the cities.

At first, under Roman Catholic dominance, theater consisted of liturgical drama. Eventually, however, theater returned to its secular roots--and by the time of William Shakespeare, the subject matter in theater was, more often than not, vulgar and even obscene. Puritans and other religious leaders objected vehemently to theater--and not merely to its content but to the behavior of many theater attendees. The [[Puritan]] cleric [[Thomas White]] famously said,<blockquote>The cause of plagues is sin, if you look to it well, and the causes of sin are plays; therefore the causes of plagues are plays.<ref name=White>Quoted in [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,821039-2,00.html "In Fair Verona"], ''Time'', December 20, 1954; retrieved on April 6, 2007 from the ''Time'' on-line archive</ref></blockquote>
That the [[Black Death]] had broken out a scant century before he made that statement was regarded as no coincidence. Yet the theater was part of a trend that could not be stopped.

One remarkable consequence of the continued religious opposition to theater was that women could not appear in plays. This did not, however, mean that scripts never featured female characters. Instead, prepubescent boys played those parts, with often shocking realism.

=== Regency, Victorian, and Edwardian Theater ===
During the nineteenth century, theater became more refined, especially as women began to act in plays. This was especially true during the Victorian era, an era given to ostentatious display in visual art and architecture but also to scrupulous modesty in fashion and deportment. This era is also called the "neoclassical" era of theater.

=== Post-Edwardian Theater ===
[[Image:Theater dance.jpg|right|200px]]
After the death of King Edward VII of [[United Kingdom|Great Britain]], a general coarsening of society set in. [[Motion picture]]s, a new medium, began to compete with the traditional stage, but the general principles were the same: theater is theater, whatever the medium. Theater both reflected and accelerated this coarsening. This was far more true of film than of the live stage. Performers on the live stage tended to restrain themselves, out of their own sense of modesty and also of consideration for the sensitivity of the general public to acts depicted by actual persons in the physical presence of others. These considerations operated less obviously in film, and so motion pictures began to feature increasingly sinful plots, and also the sort of spectacle of which Nero would have been proud.

Motion pictures were a [[United States]] invention and were primarily, though not solely, a United States product. Therefore anything that happened in or to "the movies" in the United States affected motion-picture projects throughout the world, ''except'' in certain totalitarian nation-states. In those states--chiefly Nazi [[Germany]] and the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics]]--motion pictures were purely a tool of [[propaganda]] in support of the ruling regime or its ideals.

In 1930, the trade association of motion-picture producers in the United States established the [[Motion Picture Production Code]], in an effort to convince the viewing public that they were sensitive to their concerns. For about four years, they honored this code more in the breach than otherwise. But then former United States Postmaster General [[William Hays]] became President of the Motion Picture Production and Distribution Association, and in that capacity he made sure that the Production Code Administration, or "[[Hays office]]", would enforce the code in fact, rather than with lip service only.

The contrast between "pre-Code" and "post-Code" films was striking. With Hays' trusted friends in charge, salacious plots, plot themes, and plot devices were strictly forbidden--as was the use of obscene language, or any violation of the Third Commandment. No character could commit a criminal act and escape punishment for that act--not even if it were an act of understandable (by human ways of thinking) vengeance. Neither could any character disrobe on camera, nor commit adultery or fornication with impunity.

"Nature abhors a vacuum," and so motion-picture projects came to emphasize non-salacious themes. During this era, most actors in motion pictures transferred to that medium from the stage--and since motion-picture technology was relatively primitive, special effects were necessarily limited. And so the "talent" for acting took precedence over superficial appearance and "set pieces." Plot themes tended to emphasize the sort of human drama requiring responsible decision and action. In addition, this era saw a return of liturgical drama, especially in motion pictures. With the entry of the United States into the [[Second World War]], another theme became prominent: duty, honor, and the often severe demands that these two ideals required of people, men and women both.

=== Further Decline and Coarsening ===
Victory in the Second World War brought with it a rush to mutual indulgence, and theater in all its media--stage, film, and a third medium, [[television]], again both reflected and accelerated this trend. The Motion Picture Production Code came under intense pressure--and finally, with the release of a truly shocking film involving adultery, embezzlement, invasion of feminine privacy, and murder (the last staged with almost nauseating realism), the Code was doomed. It was abandoned completely in 1968. With this abandonment came an abandonment, for many decades, of liturgical drama in favor of stories designed merely to excite, scare, or titillate--and often to propagandize.

Television's moral restraints survived somewhat longer--for though the Hays Office was now disbanded, the US [[Federal Communications Commission]] imposed strict rules on what could, or could not, be shown in a medium that was, after all, transmitted directly into people's homes at a time when minor children might be watching. Thus for two decades, motion pictures had one set of standards, and television had another--though as television turned increasingly to action, adventure, and crime drama, writers found ways to introduce salacious elements that a child might not recognize as such, though an adult would.

With the coming of Community Antenna Television came the notion of ''voluntary subscription'' to certain packages, called ''channels'', of television content. Here the FCC made a critical decision: ''to allow the content of a subscribed channel to be far more obviously salacious than before,'' so long as one had to subscribe to that channel, ''and pay an extra fee to receive it.'' The FCC might have thought that non-subscribed, "broadcast" channels might remain non-salacious, but this hope proved false. Today, on nearly any channel, a viewer might tune in a spectacle at least as shocking, and with just as much appeal to prurient interest, as an attendee of the ancient Greek theater in the days of Antiochus IV Epiphanes might have enjoyed.

The traditional stage is far less well attended than it once was. It, too, has reverted to its perhaps original form, and often is a venue for experiments in forms of acting that severely test a viewer's capacity for ''suspension of disbelief'', a conscious act often critical to a viewer's appreciation of theater in any medium.

===See Also===
Some important American playwrites include:

[[Tennessee Williams]]
[[Arthur Miller]]
[[Sam Shepherd]]

== References Cited ==
<references/>

== External Links ==
*[http://theater.nytimes.com/pages/theater/index.html Theater] The New York Times.

[[Category:Culture]]
[[Category:Sociology]]
[[Category:Literature]]

Talk:Theater

2008-03-24T20:24:00Z

StephenS:

Everyone:

Any material regarding non-Western theater, in any medium, would constitute a welcome addition to this article.--[[User:TerryH|TerryH]][[User talk:TerryH|Talk]] 16:56, 6 April 2007 (EDT)

== Serious Re-write needed ==

This article regarding the theater is un-encyclopedic. Saying "Nero would be proud" is an unsubstantiated and unprovable claim and has no place in scholarly writing of any kind.

Secondly, if this article is to focus on the theater, then any discussion about the Hays production code is completely irrelevant and ought to have its own article devoted to the subject.

The article also claims that plots became "increasingly salacious" without giving any concrete examples or statistics to back it up. Not only that, but it completely lacks any reference to the major playwrights of the late 19th and early 20th century. There is no mention of Anton Chekov or Henrik Ibsen (essentially the fathers of modern drama) no discussion of the varying methods of acting and how they changed over the centuries, no mention of the realism movement from the 30's to the 50's (ie the works of Arthur Miller and Tenesee Williams, as well as others)

Instead it veers off into a discussion of televison and film censorship. I don't know if there are any qualified theater historians in this camp (I myself am only a student) but this article deserves to have another look at by someone who has studied the theater extensively and who will write a concise, focused article on theater itself. {{unsigned|StephenS}}

:I don't think we have any theater historians, so feel free to fix it. Errrr I see that it has been locked. [[User:HelpJazz|Help]][[User talk:HelpJazz|Jazz]] 20:49, 20 March 2008 (EDT)
:Actually, a separate article titled [[Motion Picture Production Code]] does exist. However, I still desire that this article retain its broad focus. Theater is theater, whether the medium be the ancient [[Greek]] amphitheater, or [[William Shakespeare]]'s famous Globe, or the Victorian proscenium stage, or the sound stage in [[motion picture]]s or on [[television]].
:Nevertheless, if you have material on the playwrights of the Regency/Victorian/Edwardian era, and on the further development of the stage through the two World Wars, that would be welcome.
:What would be more welcome would be additional articles on each era of the theater, like [[Elizabethan theater]], [[Broadway]], etc. And, of course, articles on each of the great playwrights, with overviews of their work.--[[User:TerryH|TerryH]][[User talk:TerryH|Talk]] 22:07, 20 March 2008 (EDT)
:I see that [[Broadway]] already exists. I wouldn't object to placing a link to it in this article.
:The article--originally written by myself, BTW--is now unlocked. But I will watch it closely, as will other senior sysops. I have given everyone some proper guidelines. Let us hope that any interested editors will adhere to them. Please propose major reorganization on this Talk page first; I will watch that as well.--[[User:TerryH|TerryH]][[User talk:TerryH|Talk]] 22:12, 20 March 2008 (EDT)

While etymologically speaking, your definition of theater is correct, I'd like to point out that modern usage of the word in the majority of cases pertains strictly to the variety of theater that is performed live on stage without any cameras. I know many people in the acting business, and believe me, there is a huge distinction between "theater acting" and "acting for film/tv". That is why one will have an agent for theater, and another for film and tv because it is now recognized that these are 2 separate mediums. It is for this reason that I propose this article be narrowed in focus, as most people reading the title will assume it pertains to live theater, and thus in its current state is rather misleading. That aside, to encompass such a broad array of subjects without mentioning any pioneers in any of the genres while giving Hays a disproportionate amount of space is an insult to those who actually furthered the craft (in film, television or live theater). If I were writing an article on classical music, for example, i would not focus on those who attempted to restrict or undermine the composers, but rather on the composers themselves. It's only appropriate. I would also like it if the article could have a slightly more objectice tone; (saying plots became more sinful is a personal judgement call, not an undisputed fact). [[User:StephenS|StephenS]] 14:37, 21 March 2008 (EDT)
:I disagree with you with regards to the influence of William Hays and Joseph I. Breen--which probably ought to surprise no one, least of all you. Maybe ''you'' appreciate what the stage, [[motion picture]]s, and [[television]] have all become today. But ''I'' do not.--[[User:TerryH|TerryH]][[User talk:TerryH|Talk]] 20:51, 21 March 2008 (EDT)
: StephenS, if you are saying that sinfulness is a personal judgement, then I disagree. If you are saying that claiming that (many of) the plots are sinful is a personal judgement, then I disagree. If you are saying that claiming that they have become ''more'' sinful is a personal judgement, I might agree with that, but on the other hand, I think it's fairly obvious when you compare modern plots with plots from 50 years ago, for example.
: Having said all that, I'm not sure that it's relevant to mention what Nero would have thought of them.
: [[User:Philip J. Rayment|Philip J. Rayment]] 00:42, 22 March 2008 (EDT)

== Skating on thin ice ==

[[User:StephenS]], if that is the best you can do--call that which is sinful not sinful, and imply that Christian conventions are "narrow" and ought to be ignored--then your proposal to "correct" this article is not promising.

Do you deny that [[Nero]], Emperor of [[Rome]], would be proud of some of the spectacles that made it into film shortly before the enforcement-in-fact of the [[Motion Picture Production Code]]? Not to mention some of the spectacles produced today? I cannot even describe them in any detail without violating every rule of family friendship that I, as a senior administrator, am sworn to enforce here.

If you want to mention men like Henrik Ibsen and Anton Checkhov, mention them. But that is not what you started out doing. You started out watering down the criticism of what theater has become that I fully intended to convey and that I insist shall remain.

Now you know what I meant by "discuss that on this page first."--[[User:TerryH|TerryH]][[User talk:TerryH|Talk]] 21:01, 21 March 2008 (EDT)

I neither deny nor endorse the idea that Nero would be proud of today's spectacles. The whole argument is silly to begin with, since Nero is dead and cannot speak for himself. Your claim is purely speculative and entirely unfalsifiable, thus rendering it a personal opinion, which last time I checked does NOT belong in an encyclopedia.

I apologize if my edit offended. I thought conservapedia would embrace writing with a more scholarly and objective tone. Was I wrong? In any case, I should have time this week to add the edits regarding important playwrights I promised, and I won't interfere with your criticisms again.

Still, I beg you to reconsider 2 things:

1. Your assertion that theater is theater no matter the medium, is a view not commonly shared by people in the industry, nor the general public. I would very much like it if the article entitled "theater" would emcompass live theater only, as that is the modern understanding of the word. Television and film require completely different styles of acting, scriptwriting, directing, etc.

2. The attention given to Hays over people who actually contributed to the medium.

I understand that I have no power here, and I will not do any drastic edits without your blessings. As an amateur actor and a lover of the theater, I just want to make sure that people coming here can understand what a wonderful and powerful medium it can be when done correctly.

Theater

2008-03-21T18:45:53Z

StephenS:

[[Image:Boston theatre.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Interior of the B.F. Keith Memorial Theatre, Boston. Opened in 1928]]
{{etymology|From French "''théâtre''", from [[Greek]] "theatron", ''θέατρον'' a public spectacle or venue for such spectacle.}}
'''Theater''' or '''theatre''' is a form of [[art]] in which a person or group of persons act out stories that may be fictional or factual, for the entertainment, instruction, indoctrination, or [[Propaganda|propagandization]] of other people.

A '''theater''' (or '''theatre''') is also the venue in which theater is performed.

Classically, the term ''theater'' refers to actors performing on a stage in the physical presence of their viewers. More broadly, theater includes any form of acting-out, whether one does it "live," in a [[motion picture]], or on [[television]]. It also includes a variety of forms that use [[music]] and/or [[dance]] to tell a story, and other forms that include no dialogue at all and involve one or more performers using gestures only to give an impression of an emotion or emotions.

== History of Theater ==
=== Greece and Greco-Macedonian Civilizations ===
The first instances of theater gave the term its name. It involved actors performing on a stage in the well of a half-circle arena--often called an ''amphitheater'' (from the Greek ''amphi'', a preposition meaning "on both sides of"). The usual subject matter in the Greek theater involved the Greek pantheon and various heroic and military stories of the ancient Hellenic civilizations prior to the [[First Olympiad]]. Besides the paying of homage to pagan gods, the classic Greek plays quite often treated sensitive subjects--famously including incest, adultery, rape and murder--in a mature and forthright manner. Most Greek plays were tragedies, involving characters who came to bad ends, usually by displaying excessive pride and trying to outdo the gods or thwart prophecy.

The people of [[Israel]] received their first exposure to theater with the conquest of restored Israel by [[Alexander the Great]] and their subsequent subjection to the [[Seleucid Empire]]. The leaders of that empire sought to expose their subjects to all things [[Greece|Greek]], a process called "Hellenization" (from the Greek name for the country of Greece, ''Hellas''). The Jews were scandalized and, with the ouster of the forces of [[Antiochus IV Epiphanes]] by [[Judas the Maccabee]], were determined never to partake of theater or any other Greek thing ever again.

=== Rome ===
When [[Rome]] finally conquered Greece, the Romans quickly learned the Greek language and copied many Greek art forms, including theater. The difference was that Roman theater placed less emphasis on religion and more on spectacle and excitement. Roman audiences jaded quickly, however, and often expressed their frustration and impatience with rude, insensitive, and frankly loutish behavior. Roman plays tended to be comedies, though many Roman plays had military themes.

Roman gamesmasters--chiefly the plebeian and curule ''aediles'' (magistrates in charge of public works)--elevated theater to a high art. In addition to the poetic narratives that had characterized Greek theater, Rome introduced athletic competition, especially that famous genre called ''[[gladiator]]ial combat'' (from the [[Latin]] ''gladius'' a short double-edged sword) in which two men would fight duels with military weapons. At first these duels were mock duels. Then, beginning with the Imperial period, these duels became actual duels to the death, usually between slaves, condemned criminals, and/or prisoners of war.<ref name=MoR>See [[Colleen McCullough]]'s ''Masters of Rome'' series of historical novels, and especially their glossaries, that specifically address the subject of pre-Imperial gladiators.</ref> [[Emperor]]s after [[Augustus]] added combat between man and beast--and most famously, Emperor [[Nero]] publicly executed his enemies, especially [[Christianity|Christians]], by releasing carnivorous animals to eat them before a large audience.

=== Medieval and Renaissance Europe ===
[[Image:Foliou.jpg|right|thumb|Portrait of William Shakespeare on the cover of the First Folio (1623), the first collected edition of his plays]]

When Rome fell, theater was out of fashion, primarily because humans abandoned cities and were organized on farms and in villages. With the re-establishment of law and order, dwelling in cities became safe again. Theater came back with the cities.

At first, under Roman Catholic dominance, theater consisted of liturgical drama. Eventually, however, theater returned to its secular roots--and by the time of William Shakespeare, the subject matter in theater was, more often than not, vulgar and even obscene. Puritans and other religious leaders objected vehemently to theater--and not merely to its content but to the behavior of many theater attendees. The [[Puritan]] cleric [[Thomas White]] famously said,<blockquote>The cause of plagues is sin, if you look to it well, and the causes of sin are plays; therefore the causes of plagues are plays.<ref name=White>Quoted in [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,821039-2,00.html "In Fair Verona"], ''Time'', December 20, 1954; retrieved on April 6, 2007 from the ''Time'' on-line archive</ref></blockquote>
That the [[Black Death]] had broken out a scant century before he made that statement was regarded as no coincidence. Yet the theater was part of a trend that could not be stopped.

One remarkable consequence of the continued religious opposition to theater was that women could not appear in plays. This did not, however, mean that scripts never featured female characters. Instead, prepubescent boys played those parts, with often shocking realism.

=== Regency, Victorian, and Edwardian Theater ===
During the nineteenth century, theater became more refined, especially as women began to act in plays. This was especially true during the Victorian era, an era given to ostentatious display in visual art and architecture but also to scrupulous modesty in fashion and deportment. This era is also called the "neoclassical" era of theater.

=== Post-Edwardian Theater ===
[[Image:Theater dance.jpg|right|200px]]
After the death of King Edward VII of [[United Kingdom|Great Britain]], a general coarsening of society set in. [[Motion picture]]s, a new medium, began to compete with the traditional stage, but the general principles were the same: theater is theater, whatever the medium. Theater both reflected and accelerated this coarsening. This was far more true of film than of the live stage. Performers on the live stage tended to restrain themselves, out of their own sense of modesty and also of consideration for the sensitivity of the general public to acts depicted by actual persons in the physical presence of others. These considerations operated less obviously in film, and so motion pictures began to feature plots that deviated more substantially from standard Christian morals and societal conventions.

Motion pictures were a [[United States]] invention and were primarily, though not solely, a United States product. Therefore anything that happened in or to "the movies" in the United States affected motion-picture projects throughout the world, ''except'' in certain totalitarian nation-states. In those states--chiefly Nazi [[Germany]] and the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics]]--motion pictures were purely a tool of [[propaganda]] in support of the ruling regime or its ideals.

In 1930, the trade association of motion-picture producers in the United States established the [[Motion Picture Production Code]], in an effort to convince the viewing public that they were sensitive to their concerns. For about four years, they honored this code more in the breach than otherwise. But then former United States Postmaster General [[William Hays]] became President of the Motion Picture Production and Distribution Association, and in that capacity he made sure that the Production Code Administration, or "[[Hays office]]", would enforce the code in fact, rather than with lip service only.

The contrast between "pre-Code" and "post-Code" films was striking. With Hays' trusted friends in charge, salacious plots, plot themes, and plot devices were strictly forbidden--as was the use of obscene language, or any violation of the Third Commandment. No character could commit a criminal act and escape punishment for that act--not even if it were an act of understandable (by human ways of thinking) vengeance. Neither could any character disrobe on camera, nor commit adultery or fornication with impunity.

"Nature abhors a vacuum," and so motion-picture projects came to emphasize non-salacious themes. During this era, most actors in motion pictures transferred to that medium from the stage--and since motion-picture technology was relatively primitive, special effects were necessarily limited. And so the "talent" for acting took precedence over superficial appearance and "set pieces." Plot themes tended to emphasize the sort of human drama requiring responsible decision and action. In addition, this era saw a return of liturgical drama, especially in motion pictures. With the entry of the United States into the [[Second World War]], another theme became prominent: duty, honor, and the often severe demands that these two ideals required of people, men and women both.

=== Further Decline and Coarsening ===
Victory in the Second World War brought with it a rush to mutual indulgence, and theater in all its media--stage, film, and a third medium, [[television]], again both reflected and accelerated this trend. The Motion Picture Production Code came under intense pressure--and finally, with the release of a truly shocking film involving adultery, embezzlement, invasion of feminine privacy, and murder (the last staged with almost nauseating realism), the Code was doomed. It was abandoned completely in 1968. With this abandonment came an abandonment, for many decades, of liturgical drama in favor of stories designed merely to excite, scare, or titillate--and often to propagandize.

Television's moral restraints survived somewhat longer--for though the Hays Office was now disbanded, the US [[Federal Communications Commission]] imposed strict rules on what could, or could not, be shown in a medium that was, after all, transmitted directly into people's homes at a time when minor children might be watching. Thus for two decades, motion pictures had one set of standards, and television had another--though as television turned increasingly to action, adventure, and crime drama, writers found ways to introduce salacious elements that a child might not recognize as such, though an adult would.

With the coming of Community Antenna Television came the notion of ''voluntary subscription'' to certain packages, called ''channels'', of television content. Here the FCC made a critical decision: ''to allow the content of a subscribed channel to be far more obviously salacious than before,'' so long as one had to subscribe to that channel, ''and pay an extra fee to receive it.'' The FCC might have thought that non-subscribed, "broadcast" channels might remain non-salacious, but this hope proved false. Today, on nearly any channel, a viewer might tune in a spectacle at least as shocking, and with just as much appeal to prurient interest, as an attendee of the ancient Greek theater in the days of Antiochus IV Epiphanes might have enjoyed.

The traditional stage is far less well attended than it once was. It, too, has reverted to its perhaps original form, and often is a venue for experiments in forms of acting that severely test a viewer's capacity for ''suspension of disbelief'', a conscious act often critical to a viewer's appreciation of theater in any medium.

== References Cited ==
<references/>

== External Links ==
*[http://theater.nytimes.com/pages/theater/index.html Theater] The New York Times.

[[Category:Culture]]
[[Category:Sociology]]
[[Category:Literature]]

Talk:Theater

2008-03-21T18:37:00Z

StephenS:

Talk:Theater

2008-03-21T18:35:26Z

StephenS:

Talk:Theater

2008-03-21T01:15:36Z

StephenS: /* Serious Re-write needed */

Talk:George W. Bush

2008-03-21T01:14:33Z

StephenS:

== Liberal Media? ==
um, isn't that an opinion phrase? I don't really think there's a scientific basis for such a remark.

:::Didn't you hear? This is conservapedia, a place where ignorance coalesces into a gungy goo of people who think their opinions are always right. Anyone who doesn't agree with them is a goshdang Communist! Liberal Media, haha, oh boy that's a larf.

:::::Everyone thinks their opinions are right. That's why they're their opinions. But you are right, the phrase "liberal media" has become an oft-lampooned indication of conservative paranoia. The use of it will only serve to make this article sound Stephen Colbert-ish. Not only do I think the phrase should be deleted; I think it should become the policy of conservapedia to strive to avoid it in the future. --[[User:Mechrobioticon|Mechrobioticon]] 18:42, 31 March 2007 (EDT)

::::::The [[Liberal-Biased Media]] is the GOP's equivalent of Hillary Clinton's [[Vast Right-wing Conspiracy]], as well as being an all-purpose scapegoat from when the facts turn out to have an anti-Bush agenda. --[[User:BDobbs|BDobbs]] 21:49, 1 April 2007 (EDT)

:::::::Considering this page has been locked, I'd greatly appreciate it if an administrator would remove this clearly biased phrase.--[[User:Ge Ming|Ge Ming]] 15:38, 6 April 2007 (EDT)

::::::There IS no Liberal Media! [[User:MrDubya|MrDubya]] 01:27, 2 June 2007 (EDT)

*Don't you mean "there is no cabal!" ? --[[User:TK|Sysop-TK]] [[User_talk:TK|/MyTalk]] 01:39, 2 June 2007 (EDT)

== Edits ==

1) Removed the line about Bush executing Saddam. Saddam was executed by the Iraqis under Iraqi law.
2) Removed the un-encyclopediac comment about John Kerry.

Why's this page locked? It's not going to get any better if you don't let people add to it.

The SysOp locked it b/c of rampant vandalism. It's an obivous target for such action{{citation needed}}.

This page should be unlocked. All of Bush's good (and bad) deeds will not be known to the world until this page is unlocked. The point of our site here is to inform the people, and without people interacting and adding information, Conservapedia will die out. People will go elsewhere to a more democratic environment, and that is not good for this site.

That's just fine. The Liberals can go to Communistpedia, and the people who want a more REPUBLICAN Wiki can come here! --[[User:Ballon|Ballon]] 21:03, 11 March 2007 (EDT)

The liberals would probably be far more intelligent than the people that frequent this site and go to wikipedia [[User:You're wrong|You're wrong]] 15:17, 4 April 2007 (EDT)

:::communists can go to http://eng.anarchopedia.org/index.php/Main_Page [[User:Jaques|Jaques]] 15:21, 4 April 2007 (EDT)

:I'd rather Communism if Fascism were the other choice. If you really need to think you're always right to sleep at night, then be my guest my lil' Yank friend.

Shouldn't the first sentence read Name, birth date, political party, etc. and then say only President of the United States? After all, it's not like there is a Democratic President. --[[User:ColinR|ColinR]] 16:48, 12 March 2007 (EDT)

If they didn't know bush was republican we don't want them on the site.

::I think by "democratic," the above poster (who failed to sign his/her comment) was referring to the political idea of democracy rather than the American political party, [[User:Ballon|Ballon]]. And let's try not to deride each other with pejoratives like "commie" and "fascist." Anyway, I agree that this page needs to be watched closely. It is an obvious location for vandalism. However, very sensible changes (exempli gratia: moving references of George Bush's religious values to a section other than "Foreign Policy") have been suggested on this page, and they seem to have been largely ignored. This article is not passable in its current state. The sysops must either unlock the page or at the very least make changes that we agree upon on this talk page.
::[[User:Mechrobioticon|Mechrobioticon]] 17:09, 2 April 2007 (EDT)

== Photo ==

Somebody deleted the body of this page and substituted a photo-- can anybody verify that this photo actually is President Bush? (Could we maybe print the photo as a thumbnail, and link to the large photo?)

I believe the photo is one of Prince Harry, who has recently taken up active duty in Iraq for the UK, in compliance with the American notion that leaders such as George Washington and the sons of prominent and wealthy people should be involved in and at risk from armed conflict for their country in equal measure to the legions of the poor they send to do their work for them.

==Lacking Substance==
Conservapedia will go absolutely nowhere if its alternative viewpoints from wikipedia consist purerly in pejorative adjectives and vague speculative references. Disprove alternative opinions with facts, not derogatory adjectives and slanted phrases. I would provide examples, but they are more than clear and numerous.

This article is useless. It is a stub, which is fine, except that this is GWB, not some arcane entry. This is made more eggregious since this page has undergone many edits, and nobody has decided to actually make it a full article, just back and forth fluff. I admit that I don't particularly want to put the work in, because I don't care about this entry, I just think that conservapedia needs a credible entry for GWB to be taken seriously. Compare with [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_W._Bush Wikipedia's entry].

As a starting point, how about information that would be useful, that you don't hear about in the liberal media; Major (and minor) legislative pushes, both successful and not. Who were his good conservative judicial appointments? --[[User:Whatter|Whatter]] 01:51, 24 February 2007 (EST)

== Nation building ==

It's interesting that Bush's stated opposition to nation building isn't modified to show that he has been involved in exactly that in both Afghanistan & Iraq for over half his time in office.

I'd argue he hasn't done much nation-building in either of those places. :(
It is weird, though--having a site for Conservative politics and having such dinky articles about President Bush and Iraq is like having a wiki about oceanography and not mentioning water. --[[User:Sandbagger|Sandbagger]] 14:38, 11 March 2007 (EDT)

I am concerned that the entry reads as if it were written by a gushing fan instead of one who spent significant time researching the President. If the point of conservapedia is to become a credible resource intellectually honest about its bias, we must demand these entries be written at the highest standard possible. This is gossipy drivel; the libs are bound to cackle over it. }-(

== Economy ==

Since when is Exxon Mobile the bellwether of the US economy?

Does it bother the reader that while citing Exxon Mobile profits being at record highs, gas prices also are at record highs? This may not be a very good supporting argument as it raises suspicion that our current American way of life is at risk due to the high costs of fuel, which is hurting real estate as more and more people re-urbanize living closer to their workplaces in the city as well as the overall economy as people go out less because they want to conserve fuel. {{unsigned|Tchen}}
::Does it bother the reader that [[China]] has one fifth of the planets population and only 1% drive cars? Does it bother the reader that China's economy is growing at 17%? Does it bother the reader that when 2% of China's population own cars, gas will go from $3 to $6 per gallon? Does it bother the reader that US politicians in Washington DC can nothing about this? Does it bother readers that implied solution here is to exterminate the Chinese? Yes, it does bother this reader. [[User:RobS|RobS]] 15:28, 24 May 2007 (EDT)

:Whoever wrote that is probably a Liberal grousing about the fact that Bush has made his corporate benefactors a great deal richer by strip-mining the American economy. --[[User:Ballon|Ballon]] 18:25, 11 March 2007 (EDT)

Paul O'Niell (the man who rescued Alcoa) tried to talk economic sense to Bush. Good advice fell on deaf ears. Then Cheney arranged his dismissal.

I've just visited the Yahoo! article linked to by reference 7, and it says nothing about unemployment being at an all-time low in March, 2007. In fact, the article's assessment of the economy is quite bleak.

Regarding “the Clinton years which lead to the lowest point of the stock market in January 2000 AD since the great depression of 1929 AD” it should be noted that the source that is cited states the opposite. The stock market hit it’s highest in January 2000, before GWB took office.

Per the article quoted: “Oct. 9, 2002, the Dow Jones industrial average, battered by the worst stock market meltdown since the 1929 crash, hit bottom. It closed 4,437 points below its January 2000 all-time high”.

The major blow to the stock market took place in 2002, about 20 months after Bush took office. It should be noted that this took place exactly one week after Congress authorized Bush to invade Iraq. Investors claimed this as a reason for the drop in the stock market.

Such frequently found mistakes underlines why Conservapedia is more propaganda than an online encyclopedia and should never be used as a source of information. The information is at best one sided, and more frequently, blantently false. The truth does not have a conservative or liberal slant. There seems to be a trend, however, in the last 12 or so years of American political media to baselessly proclaim an extream slant in media. Just because the reader does not like the truth does not mean that the carrier is slanted.
Artical

:"As we all know, the facts have an anti-Bush agenda." -- Steven Colbert. (Or, to be more accurate, it looks like Bush has an anti-facts agenda. :( --[[User:BDobbs|BDobbs]] 15:32, 1 April 2007 (EDT)

== Skull and Bones Club ==

MountainDew, why did you take that part out? It's a matter of public record (and any number of jokes) that Bush and Kerry are in the same club.

The guy who put that in there was a known vandal, so I was just reversing all his edits at once. [[User:MountainDew|MountainDew]] 18:53, 13 March 2007 (EDT)

== Locked Page ==

Should we really lock a page with so many typos? [[User:Czolgolz|Miguel_Cervantes]] 09:13, 14 March 2007 (EDT)

I can understand why the page is locked, obviously people will target Bush, but the page needs LOTS of improvement, not just typos, but the Economy section is laughable.

: Indeed. No mention of the 8 trillion (is it 9 now) debt? [[User:GofG | GofG]] [[Special:Contributions/GofG||||]] [[User talk:GofG | Talk]] 20:07, 15 March 2007 (EDT)

:: Debt only matters if you ever intend to pay it off. --[[User:BDobbs|BDobbs]] 15:29, 1 April 2007 (EDT)

== Economy ==

''Though the liberal media continues to disparage Bush's handling of the economy, they often neglect to report the many aspects of the economy that Bush has improved. For example, during his term Exxon Mobile has posted the largest profit of any company in a signle year, and executive salaries have greatly increased as well [5]. This is due to changes in the stock market that lead to a record high in 2006, recovering from the Clinton years which lead to the lowest point of the stock market in January 2000 AD since the great depression of 1929 AD, and "Companies are churning out double-digit profit growth" currently.[6] Even the working class is benefiting from the Bush economy, as unemployment hits an all time low in March 2007.[7] Bush worked with Democrats to raise the minimum wage to a more livable level.[8]''

The information in this section appears to have either been written by a liberal who was interested in subtly undermining the informative authority of this particular entry (and possibly Conservapedia in general), or by someone who is perhaps good-intentioned but very badly informed.

First of all, using Exxon-Mobil and executive salary increases as an indication of how much Bush has done for the economy is actually quite bad press for him. The majority of Americans are not voting to line the pockets of the people at the very top. They prefer to have their own pockets lined, even if it is just in small ways, like in tax cuts for the middle class. Suggesting that Bush has done good for our economy as evidenced by the economic boon of the elite would seem to give credit to Bush's detractors who have accused him of being concerned only with his "oil buddies" and largest contributors. Let's not add more wood to that fire, please. That's how we lost the mid-terms - shooting ourselves in the foot.

Second point, please, whoever has write permissions, clean up the spelling errors at the very least (Exxon-Mobile, signle - in this section)

Third, someone else cited the error in referencing January 2000 as the lowest point of the stock market. In addition to their points (including the quote from the article that was supposedly used as reference for that inaccurate "fact"), I think it's important to clarify that while the market has never dropped as low as it did following the crash of 1929, the *percentage* drop could again be as great as it was in 1929. In 1929 the percentage drop was 23%. In 1987, the crash of October caused a dip of 22.7%. The actual numbers of 1929 were in the 200-400 range, whereas the Dow Jones is over 12,000 right now. If, in the modern era, the DJIA ever dropped as low as it did in 1929, i.e., down ot the 200-400 range, then we may as well prepare for Armageddon, because the state of the world would probably be *that* bad.

Fourth, is it necessary to place A.D. after every year, even when it is obvious that the referenced year is In the Year of Our Lord (i.e. Anno Domini)? It seems unnecessary, and certainly cumbersome to have A.D. following years that are obviously referring to U.S. political events. Our conservative audience is not so dumb as to be confused about whether the Clinton administration of the year 2000 is in reference to 2000 years before or 2000 years after the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. Mostly I agree that we should not be concerned about the stereotypes our liberal brothers and sisters have placed upon us, but when possible for us to avoid looking stupid and playing into the stereotypes the liberals have assigned to us, I think we ought do so.

Fifth, the unemployment rate is dropping for March 2007, and this is wonderful and it speaks well of Bush's handling of the economy. It is not the lowest rate of all time, however. I don't feel compelled to provide sources here, because this information is readily available in under 2 minutes of searching for "U.S." and "unemployment rate" on any search engine of your choosing. The Bureau of Labor Statistics, for example, can tell you that the lowest unemployment rate of the last 60 years was in 1953 at just under 3%. It's an easy fact to check, and a ridiculous error to lock into an entry about our President. There are true pieces of information about President Bush that make him worthy of admiration. There is no need to attempt to bolster his image with false information.

And finally, let's please be honest about the minimum wage situation. The decision to raise the minimum wage is controversial among conservatives, and I am having difficulty finding a reliable source that suggests Bush supports, in isolation, the idea of raising the minimum wage (i.e. without tax-cuts for small-businesses also tacked on as a proviso). In terms of economic growth, raising the minimum wage may not be helpful, and everything I have read about President Bush seems to indicate that he knows that. So any suggestion that his personal opinion is that the minimum wage should be raised is questionable. Aside from his personal opinion, in his professional capacity, he most certainly hasn't been placed in a position of "working with the Democrats to raise the minimum wage to a livable level." The Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007 has passed in both the House and the Senate, but it has not yet been presented to our President to be signed into law, because it is pending committee review. Additionally, crediting Bush with "working with Democrats" on this is erroneous. Bush has reached across partisan lines on many occasions, but this particular bill was brought on entirely by Democratic feather-ruffling during their "First 100-Hours" campaign. It was an attempt by the Dems to make a garish display of their new "authority," having gained the majority in Congress.

:For starters, what powers do the executive branch have over economics? --[[User:JamesLipton|JamesLipton]] 22:29, 19 March 2007 (EDT)

::My personal political philosophies aside, I completely agree that Exxon-Mobile is probably the worst company that could have been chosen to show support for Bush's economic policies. This is an encyclopedia for conservatives, but if it's going to stand up to the criticisms of the liberal community and not be a major source of embarrassment for conservatives as a whole, it must hold itself to a higher level of political awareness. Whether one believes Exxon-Mobile's booming business is proof the economy is in great shape or not, the majority of those who read this (including conservatives) will fall out of their chairs when they read that. I guarantee you, liberal citizens all across America will copy and paste the paragraph into their blogs for their readers to laugh at.

::This is probably the most important article on conservapedia. It HAS to be beyond reproof. --[[User:Mechrobioticon|Mechrobioticon]] 14:42, 1 April 2007 (EDT)

: When is this going to be fixed? The "lowest unemployment rate in history" is not true, it was far lower in the 60s, and lower during the later years of the Clinton administrator. The claim isn't even supported by the reference, which claims "the lowest in five years", which I suppose is true enough. Concise and fact based indeed. --[[User:Abrown|Abrown]] 16:02, 6 April 2007 (EDT)

== Ridicolous claim ==

"He is now working tirelessly to end the Iraqi insurgency and stabilize the region."

Eh, ok? Source? A silly attempt to try to create some kind of sympathy for the man. It's like saying "Jesus was very kind." in his entry. It has got nothing to do with facts and people should be given facts on this site and then determine for themselves if Jesus was kind and if GWB is working tirelessly.

:Agreed. Authors establish bias effectively by utilizing fact selectivity and through awareness of the perspective from which those facts are related. Ineffective authors establish bias by simply writing their opinions. An openly biased article is not the same thing as an opinion column. An encyclopedia does not need to allow itself to be tainted with opinions in order to be biased. This is supported by conservapedia itself in its article "Examples of Bias in Wikipedia." (Wikipedia, however biased it may or may not be, never allows anything close to the candid opinions of its editors to pollute articles.)
:[[User:Mechrobioticon|Mechrobioticon]] 17:29, 2 April 2007 (EDT)

== "Hard Work" ==

George W Bush has never done a day's hard work in his lifetime.

Oh wait, he was having trouble reading his children's book when he heard about 9/11. Dang, forgot about that.

:Sarcasm and exaggeration are the didactic devices of idiots.
:[[User:Mechrobioticon|Mechrobioticon]] 17:31, 2 April 2007 (EDT)

== Ridicolous Article ==

This whole article is a joke, right? How can you put this out as fact when it has been debunked so many times?

==Better Picture==
[[Image:Busio.jpeg|thumb|right]]

::I agree, that is a much better picture. It's the same one used on wikipedia, but it's public domain. I'd use it, but get a higher resolution copy of the image at http://www.defenselink.mil/DODCMSShare/NewsPhoto/2003-02/030114-O-0000D-001.jpg
::[[User:Mechrobioticon|Mechrobioticon]] 14:49, 1 April 2007 (EDT)
This article does not just neglect important information, but also gives incorrect facts. Al Gore won the popular vote in the 200 election. Also, this I laugh out loud that people are actually believing this conservopedia crap.

== Requested edits ==

* The article needs to have <tt style="background-color:#bfb"><nowiki>{{DEFAULTSORT:Bush, George W.}}</nowiki></tt> added just above the categories at the bottom, so its category sortkey is set properly. Thanks. --[[User:Interiot|Interiot]] 17:02, 31 March 2007 (EDT)

:Please add <nowiki>[[Category:Military Commanders]]</nowiki>
:He is after all our [[Commander in Chief]] leading the hugely successful war against [[terrorism]] in [[Iraq]] and elswhere.
::"Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people." (Isaiah 55:4)
:[[User:JC|JC]] 10:26, 1 April 2007 (EDT)

:::"Hugely successful?" I missed the announcement that they'd caught Osama Bin Laden. --[[User:BDobbs|BDobbs]] 15:56, 1 April 2007 (EDT)

== Poor addition to a poor article ==

You neglected to mention that Bush lost the popular vote in 2000 by a half-million votes. Your refusal to address it is just plain sad. Jesus hates liars.

The line, "Many people feel that George W. Bush's faith is sincere and profound. The Faith of George W. Bush, a non-political book by author Stephen Strang, made the New York Times best-sellers list" should be quickly deleted from this article. I know wikipedia doesn't allow such B.S. qualifiers as "many people feel," and neither should conservapedia if it's going to be taken seriously. Just state that he's a Christian. How profound his Christian-ness is is both irrelevant and unquantifiable.

At least move it out of the "Foreign Policy" section of the article.

--[[User:Mechrobioticon|Mechrobioticon]] 18:53, 31 March 2007 (EDT)
:I don't agree with the first paragraph by Mechrobioticon, but I do agree with the second paragraph. I think that faith statement should be moved from the "Foreign Policy" section to a new "Faith" section. There is tons of material from the book ''God and George W. Bush''. [[User:Crocoite|Crocoite]][[User Talk:Crocoite|talk]] 02:30, 1 April 2007 (EDT)

::OK, maybe requesting that the reference be completely omitted is a little harsh to ask of a conservative encyclopedia, but I still stand by my statement that it needs to be drastically reworded. "Many people feel" is simply a phrase that should never be used in scholarly writing. It's an obvious euphemism for "I feel," and a bad attempt to cover up personal bias. It makes the article appear very amateurish and will become a point of ridicule for knowledgeable readers.
::[[User:Mechrobioticon|Mechrobioticon]] 14:28, 1 April 2007 (EDT)

:::Who cares how 'sincere' he is? [[Marshall Applewhite]] was 'sincere', but that didn't stop him from being lethally deluded. Or are we hoping the [[Great Pumpkin]] will visit Bush this Halloween? --[[User:BDobbs|BDobbs]] 15:51, 1 April 2007 (EDT)

::::I agree that how "profound" or "sincere" one's faith in something is is a poor indicator of one's character (not to mention highly arbitrary and impossible to confirm), but this isn't my encyclopedia. It's conservapedia. The ideas of the secular humanist must yield to the consensus of the conservative majority. I think that even bearing this fact, however, that there is a good case to be made for the removal of the sentences in question on the basis that they are, in fact, an opinion that can't be indisputably confirmed. But again, that's not my place to decide, and if the conservative editors and sysops of conservapedia say "it stays," then it stays. Secularists should always remember that we are here to advise and help, not to ridicule and lampoon.
::::[[User:Mechrobioticon|Mechrobioticon]] 16:54, 2 April 2007 (EDT)

== No information ==

There's no information about how GWB is being named the Worst President in History [http://www.rollingstone.com/news/profile/story/9961300/the_worst_president_in_history] by alot of people, as well as having some of the lowest approval ratings ever.[http://www.hist.umn.edu/~ruggles/Approval.htm][http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/02/27/opinion/polls/main1350874.shtml] And lack of information about major events in his presidency. Such as Katarina, September 11th and stuff like that.

==No Information==
Period. This isn't an encyclopedia entry, this is more like the bio somebody writes for the program to their high school musical. Could it be more bland? Ish. [[User:Flippin|Flippin]] 16:02, 24 April 2007 (EDT)

Nothing about his childhood, his college, or his time as Texas governor. And there never will be. Conservapedia doesn't trust their editors to write about this icon. (They might mention, for instance, his drunk driving arrest or allegations of cocaine use). [[User:Czolgolz|Czolgolz]] 13:36, 30 April 2007 (EDT)

== Someone tell me when this article is fixed ==

I'm quickly coming to the conclusion that this article is hopeless. It's not my opinion that George W. Bush's "sincere and profound faith in God" doesn't belong in the foreign policy section of this article. It's a demonstrable fact. Someone tell me what qualifies his religion as a formal written policy by which America's interactions with other countries are deliberated, and I will shut up. The addition is also poorly written, vague, unscholarly, conjectural, impossible to confirm, and dripping with bias and ethnocentrism, but I'll ignore that. Just move it. Please just move it. If this ever happens, please email me at happyhealey@gmail.com, and will resume contributing to Conservapedia. It's ludicrous for a wiki project to be unable to correct its own typographical errors. It's been a month. A whole month. If this were Wikipedia it would have been corrected in less than five minutes. This is, without exaggeration, pitiful.
[[User:Mechrobioticon|Mechrobioticon]] 23:24, 29 April 2007 (EDT)

Well, at least you changed the picture. Good to know the article isn't completely stagnant.
[[User:Mechrobioticon|Mechrobioticon]] 23:32, 29 April 2007 (EDT)

== How can I edit this article? ==

There are some spelling mistakes (Exxon Mobil not Exxon Mobile) and grammar that need correcting but I can't get on to fix it. [[User:Erasmus|Erasmus]] 11:19, 1 May 2007 (EDT)

Could someone add "Category:Christian warriors" which I created specifically for Dubya?[[User:Muschifresser|Muschifresser]] 08:23, 3 May 2007 (EDT)

== Protected articles ==

Protected articles infringe on the right to free speech. I am greatly opposed to this policy. Bush happens to be one of my favorite people and you are depriving the fact that I can't contribute to this article is appalling. I know you are worried about vandals, but you are just punishing the innocent. The world is being deprived of my great knowledge, these are sad times.--[[User:BushRules12|BushRules12]] 23:22, 8 May 2007 (EDT)

== Eavesdropping program ==

When it becomes possible to edit this article again, something should be added about the NSA eavesdropping program. As today's New York Times indicates, this program is extremely controversial even among conservatives and almost led to the resignations of Attorney General Ashcroft and FBI Director Mueller.--[[User:Amyz]] 10:04, May 16, 2007 (EDT)

== This is one sad page... ==

....And since it's locked, only the syspos (who have enough to do as it is) can DO anything with it. --[[User:Gulik3|Gulik3]] 02:37, 21 May 2007 (EDT)

*I quite agree, Gulik3. Me, for instance, I have been reading your many posts, all seeming to be unhappy ones. I hope you will straighten us out with good, solid examples of article production so that we may learn from you! --[[User:TK|Sysop-TK]] [[User_talk:TK|/MyTalk]] 05:16, 21 May 2007 (EDT)

::That's be a good trick on my part, seeing how everything worth editing is locked. --[[User:Gulik3|Gulik3]] 23:53, 21 May 2007 (EDT)

:::There actually is a real simple way around that: try, for the first time in known history, to actually write an article according to WP's NPOV. It would actually work here. [[User:RobS|RobS]] 00:15, 22 May 2007 (EDT)

::::'''Wikipedia's''' NPOV? The onbe that's "Six times more Liberal than America"? That NPOV? I can try... --[[User:Gulik3|Gulik3]] 00:29, 22 May 2007 (EDT)
:::::Yep. Since WP does not enforce its only policies, perhaps we can have the first ever NPOV article written here. [[User:RobS|RobS]] 00:42, 22 May 2007 (EDT)

== template ==
I think this article should use a template similar to the others in Presidents of the United States category.. see [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] for example. --[[User:Colest|Colest]] 13:03, 24 May 2007 (EDT)

== Public Criticisms? ==
Shouldn't Bush's page have a public criticisms page as suggested in the manual of style? It is an issue significant to his presidency. And what about his handling of 9-11? And why does the economic section sound sarcastic with respect tp executive salaries. This article needs a lot of help. [[User:Pokowpane|Pokowpane]] 18:00, 31 May 2007 (EDT)
:What? You think you can do it? [[User:RobS|RobS]] 22:28, 31 May 2007 (EDT)

This page should have a criticism title like those for other President's. I don't think it has much credibility unless it does. [[User:Priestspez|Priestspez]] 10:24, 18 June 2007

== Comment ==

Bush had an alcohol problem until 1986, as he has openly admitted in the past. The severity of this problem remains open to doubt. Comment by User: Darkmind1970 (08:23, 4 January 2008)

== Threats ==

We can't have a threats section. Otherwise, every liberal/communist would be on it!

== Economic Policy ==

To write that Bush worked with the Democrats to raise the minimum wage is a little disingenuous. The minimum wage increase was a platform of the 2006 Democrats. While Bush didn't specifically issue a veto threat, as per the article referenced, the White House wanted tax breaks for small businesses to offset the cost to those businesses. I think the current revision is a better recount of the minimum wage increase. It credits both Democrats, as it was their issue, as well as Bush, who signed the provision after he got what he wanted in the bill.

I'm not trying to vandalize, merely provide more context to the actions.--[[User:Jdellaro|Jdellaro]] 12:22, 17 January 2008 (EST)

:Yes, "worked with" is the operative phrase. In general, Republicans oppose increases in the [[minimum wage]], on the grounds that it hurts [[inner city]] youth - making it harder for them to get [[entry-level]] jobs. --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] [[User talk:Ed Poor|Talk]] 12:44, 17 January 2008 (EST)

== Poll #'s Are Wrong ==

His most recent poll rating, according to ARG on 2/20/08, is 19%! http://americanresearchgroup.com/economy/

==Faith==

"Most people feel his faith is sincere and profound". Evidence please? Polls showing this to be true? This is clearly the writer's personal belief and not an encyclopedic fact. Please remove this sentence.

Talk:Theater

2008-03-21T00:19:10Z

StephenS: Serious Re-write needed