‘Enjoy burning it all down, you well-intentioned, blind people. I’m done.’ That’s what classical-music composer Daniel Elder posted on social media after an activist set the courthouse in Nashville, Tennessee ablaze. This was in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death. Elder, though sympathetic to the aims of the Black Lives Matter movement, was distressed by the chaos erupting in his city. He took to Instagram to make his thoughts known before deleting his account.
His concern was totally understandable. Most people don’t like it when things get set on fire. But still, Elder was bombarded with abusive messages on his Facebook and YouTube accounts. One branded him a ‘white supremacist piece of garbage’.
Then, Elder’s music publisher, GIA Publications, demanded an apology. It provided him with a pre-prepared script. It had the ring of a forced confession at a Soviet showtrial.
