Times Readers Can't Imagine a Black Tudor

​I was delighted to see an article in the Times last week which featured the black sixteenth century trumpeter who played at the Field of Cloth of Gold event. However now  I am saddened  to see of the 68 comments on article that the most recommended comment with 35 recommendations was the one by PUSHKIN , they questioned “the insistence of the PC lobby to randomly place black actors in historical dramas” went on to be concerned “that young people will watch black actors playing key historical figures in European history and believe this to factual representation.” ALBION with 28 recommendations was equally concerned at “the blatant hypocrisy of the progressive left; white people cannot culturally appropriate anything of colour”

Both PUSHKIN, ALBION and their fellow recommenders are missing the point of the arts be it a play or a book they are works of the imagination 'formed from images or ideas of objects and situations not actually present to the senses' (Oxford English Dictionary). Their imagination, their senses have failed them. The imagination needs to be challenged and informed, their senses stimulated by critical thinking and an up-to-date world view, in doing so  the imagination knows what is fact and what is fiction. 

Fake news thrives in a world which does not question it, accepting it as factual, as truth. That essential debate between the imagination and critical thinking challenges such news. In same way Shakespeare plays, many of the comments were concerned about, which had all black casts or black actors in roles they believed were written for white actors are designed to challenge ones world view through your imagination – it gets you thinking, using ones imagination !

So I would urge PUSHKIN, ALBION and their fellow recommenders to open their minds,  relax, think creatively and use their critical thinking and imagination - you never know they might discover something new about themselves or their world.