I'm not suprised how this topic appears to be heading when I look at the global picture, everyone has their own perception of people based on their own personal experiences. It's a shame that we can't all be privy to everything about each other, that way we could universally decide whether someone is worthwhile or not.
In my honest opinion no one can benefit from this thread in the long run, even those who feel that they have been stitched up. The Burlesque scene, like many other scenes, is loaded full of political wranglings and deals, and a lot of it goes on privately so none of us will ever see the entire picture; we are forced to make our opinions based on what we know and believe.
I feel that the biggest issue here is that a person has openly complained about the BWI, a forum and organisation that blatantly has bad blood with the MoB. Whether the issue is real or otherwise I feel that the MoB and James are in a no win situation if they reply. If this issue was about the MoB and was posted on the BWI, then one of their representatives came back with a similar reply I feel it would be just bad.
I have been in situations where I have been friends with 2 people in the scene who genuinely don't like each other for valid reasons. Whilst it would have been very easy for me to take sides and disassociate myself from one or other of the parties, instead I chose to find what I liked about both and I found a way to effectively say that their dispute is between them although I don't condone my friends doing bad things to each other.
I know from experience that even having an open and civilised debate about issues in the scene can easily get out of hand or be seen as getting out of hand. Performers may have damaged their chances of working with promoters just by joining in a debate. I firmly believe that my own past openness about certain individuals has damaged the chance of my wife working with them, despite the fact that Angel and I do not see eye to eye on everything the other does.
My question is this; if no-one should air their grievances on a public forum then what should they do? And if we demand total censorship of anything potentially bad then do we have a right to complain if we are ripped off? Perhaps what we need is a uncensored forum run by someone with no connections in anyway whatsoever with Burlesque for people to air their problems, of course the issue is who would want to run it and how would any of us know what is the truth and what is a lie?
People are going to be ripped off in the scene and nobody can do anything about it without being accussed of being the wrongdoer. As an example: I have just got wind of the fact that an established performer and potential employer of my wife may have been fleecing her for information on work in progress acts so that they could be stolen. If the concern is true then can I do anything publicly about it without looking like an arsehole?
Get used to the bad side of Burlesque - it's never going to go away.
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