Letting off a little steam on a professional front - should prefix this by saying this is my opinion and mine alone.
I've been working on a book as a member of an editorial staff for months. It is a Classical music encyclopedia, and we got the cover artwork back today. I was satisifed with the original art, although it consisted solely of black and white pictures of composers. It was submitted to the pool, and the first comment we got back was "Nothing but pictures of dead white men".
Subsequent comments about the cover eventually changed the whole picture set chosen - this often happens when you have a book that is written by committee. But the comment, "Nothing but pictures of dead white men" - really bugs me. I can't believe someone on our staff would write such a stupid thing and submit it as an editorial contribution. Reminds me of what kids used to say in grade school when they'd see a picture of J.S. Bach or Handel - "a guy who wears a wig looks like a sissy." That kind of thinking is on the same operative level, and has no place in an editorial forum.
I also once worked on a jazz book which likewise had pictures of musicians on the cover. Nobody said "nothing but pictures of dead black people." Yet all of the musicians on the front cover but Benny Goodman were black, and all, including him, are dead. It would be unfashionable, nay, unconscienable, to say something like that, especially in these "enlightened" times. But the idea of a hierarchy of white males, who may only happen to have death itself in common, seems to automatically indicate in our society something that is dead and gone for good and not coming back, like the presidency of Franklin Pierce, vaudeville or celluloid collars.
Such a statement is not critical thinking; it is merely repeating the jargon of popular culture, and perhaps that what we needed so we can bridge the gap to the other side, so to speak. I don't know. I appreciate the unpretentious spirit in which the comment was proffered, but I still am unhappy that it was considered as part of our process in selecting the pictures for our cover, as it is not a mature or well-considered contribution. There are many figures in history, even whole religions and schools of thought, which are "dead" to me. But no musician, whether it be Beethoven, Hildegard, William Grant Still, Isang Yun or another, is "dead" if I can listen to and enjoy their music.
Uncle Dave Lewis