Cliff Response
February 20, 2018, by Brandon
It’s fascinating approach to look at the city through the lens of theater. One of the most intriguing points I found in Cliff’s piece was that on extravagance. “Extravagance begets extravagance” as he says. I think that this concept is relevant today and has its routes deep in the city’s history. Not only is this true of the upper classes but that of the lower. By that I mean New York’s mythology and actuality has always been tied to the extreme. This makes a case for itself in both is flare and its disparity. Cliff hits almost all of these points in discussion of the riots.
It’s strange to think about these riots in a modern context but some of the key concepts relate all the same. Furthermore, I love the way that Cliff ties into the ulterior motives that rested in the burgeoning New York City corruption scene. From Tammany Hall and there connections to the gangs to those connections to the police. It truly shows the routes of all of the problems that have plagued the city since these events and they themselves are still hard to wrap one’s head around. The Astor Place Riots are not an oft advertised piece of the city’s past and likely for good reason. In some ways they are representative of a time gone by and in other ways of very relevant tension that still exist in the city today. Though the context may be different, many of the talking points are the same. The desire for some of the city’s movers and shakers to pit immigrants and nativists against one another for their own gain is a concept that many could find rings of a similar tone to a lot of modern political rhetoric. Then you look at the fact that with the dozens dead and injured in the riot and many of the instigators, like Buntline, got off with light charges really makes you think about the instigators and their consequences in this day in age.