Stakeholder #3

In this blog post I will talk about the final stakeholder in this project, the surrounding community and more specifically the bloggers.

GotCredit, "Blog." 3/16/15. via flickr. Attribution 2.0 Generic. 

The clinking and clanking of typing rang out in countless homes of Asian American theatre-enthusiasts around the country due to La Jolla Playhouse regarding The Nightingale controversy. There were many individuals in the surrounding community that were neither directly affiliated with La Jolla Playhouse and the Asian American Performers Action Coalition that were personally offended by what had happened. These individuals were not always given direct responses from La Jolla Playhouse, and therefore took to their blogs and other forms of social media to voice their highly emotional opinions. All of these opinions equally important in their own right, and make up the majority of the voice that makes up the reaction of this controversy. While they are not as organized as the previous stakeholders, their emotion runs high and their opinions are very much still heard through other forms of media.
The websites of these bloggers all depend on an individual basis, however they are made for a very specific audience with a very specific purpose. For example, the color and tone of the blog of Andy Lowe is as black and emotionless as a black hole, however the content of his blog could fill the galaxy, each of his posts a planet with their own unique story. These planets however all had one thing in common, their complete and utter outrage over the course of events that occurred at La Jolla Playhouse.

• One of the most publicized bloggers on the issue, Andy Lowe, stated that people are too desensitized to this trend. Andy states this at the public forum, which can be seen here when he states: "My first reaction was 'Oh, of course' and it took me a little while to just really think about what I had just said to myself. Like, 'Really, did I just say that to myself? I'm expecting it?'"
• Another Asian American actor that spoke out in public on the issue was Greg Watanabe, who stated that the people are biased against Asian Americans subconsciously. This can be seen here, where he states "Like I said, the story of casting sometimes tells a story, whether or not you intend it to or not."
• A more aggressive opinion comes from a blogger online where he claims that the sincerity offered by La Jolla Playhouse means absolutely nothing. This can be seen here, where it states: "Believe it or not, there were actual apologies offered by the creative team. That's great, but where the heck do they go from here?"

These claims, while they do not come from as organized a source as bloggers all represent their own opinions in an extremely biased way, does not mean that these feelings are not valid. While the facts that they try to represent can not automatically be trusted due to a lack of a reliable fact-check, the feelings and opinions of each blogger is legitimate and valid in regards to this issue. This controversy does not affect one individual or group in particular, but rather the entire community of Asian Americans have the right and ability to voice their opinions and complaints due to the casting of The Nightingale. While this does make these opinions more unorganized and more emotionally charged, the feelings of anger and frustration from every individual is a valid reaction and their opinion deserves a chance to be heard.

This stakeholder has the most in common with AAPAC, as they have the same general feeling of hurt and dismay from the casting at La Jolla Playhouse. The differences are that AAPAC is far more organized than general bloggers, and are able to get their voices heard much clearer as they are a collection of people that represent an ideal rather than individual voices sharing their opinions on the internet. Both are equally valid, however AAPAC has a different way of going about dealing with the problem and gains far more notoriety than any individual opinion. They have the least in common with La Jolla Playhouse, even less so than AAPAC has in common with the Playhouse because the opinions and feelings of bloggers tend to be more far more aggressive towards the originator of the controversy because their opinions tend to be more anonymous and therefore they feel safe releasing their complete frustrations.