“Our community and our Marquette neighbors witnessed another horrific officer-involved shooting just blocks from our festival grounds, leaving us in deep pain and justified anger. In acknowledgment of what has happened far too often in our community and our country as a whole, this year’s AtwoodFest, themed “The Heartbeat of the Neighborhood,” is canceled.
“AtwoodFest’s core values have always centered on building community, using each festival’s proceeds to support the groups doing important work right here in our neighborhood. Now it is vital to support our neighbors, particularly those who have borne the brunt of this pain and injustice, by taking time to mourn and reflect on our role in these broken systems, so we can create a community that truly lives up to our values.
“The heart of our neighborhood needs healing. We encourage you to spend your time and energy this weekend on supporting events and spaces demanding change, mutual aid, and loving and supporting your friends and neighbors.
“We also want to thank the countless volunteers, sponsors, musicians, vendors, and community members who have worked tirelessly planning this festival, this year and every year. We are doing our best to reach out to each of you personally, and we will use social media and other channels to share additional logistics and information.”
The announcement as well as the decision to cancel a community event in order to persuade people to protest a police involved shooting regardless of the circumstances surrounding it is peak Great Stupid. Nothing about the music festival, nada, zero, zzzzzzip, has any relevance to a life-time thug getting himself shot by defying the law and law enforcement. The musicians, artisans, food providers and contractors should not be made to suffer because of a crime and its consequences. Similarly, those Madisonians who had planned on enjoying the festival should not be forced by woke fascists to march to their political demands. The proper, appropriate, deserved and American response to “spend your time and energy this weekend on supporting events and spaces demanding change” is “Bite me.”
As I have argued here many times, “The show must go on” is an ethical mandate and a core value for me. It stands for the principle that life goes on, obligations do not evaporate because of tragedy, stress, misfortune or unhappiness, and to break promises because it may be inconvenient to keep them is still breaking promises. The character traits the principle embodies are sacrifice, fortitude, commitment, honor, integrity and responsibility.
What is exemplified by the festival’s cancellation is knee-jerk, reflex grandstanding to show fealty to the mob.
Ethics Alarms 
At least the message and messengers are clear if you are “of color” you may do anything and if natural consequences come your way we’ll canonize you and leverage your demise to the max. Meanwhile we will incoherently cancel events that were ostensibly to raise money for “the community” because protesting something which does not truly deserve to be protested is the highest form of public virtue signaling.
From my li’l corner of The 77 Square Miles surrounded By A Sea Of Reality, that ’bout sums it up.
PWS
The conspiracy theorist in me couldn’t help but speculate that maybe a bunch of the music acts canceled their appearances, so rather than just say that, the organizers took the opportunity to “pin the tail on the police.”
In what respect was Ruiz “a father?” He doesn’t seem to have been working to support his children. They don’t appear to have been living with him. Certainly he doesn’t seem to have been providing a moral example in their lives. When we revere parenthood it’s because it’s generally understood to come with deep obligations, and it’s faithfulness to those obligations that is meritorious.
I’m not sure the mere failure to use condoms counts as some kind of virtue.
He was somebody’s “baby daddy.”
the father of one or more of a woman’s children, especially one who is not her husband or current partner: “he is just a baby daddy”
FTR, it’s been reported that Ruiz stole the bike.
Atwoodfest wasn’t the only venue sacrificed to the altar of LaLaLoopyLoonyLeftyLand; the long-standing and wildly popular Concerts On The Square was “cancelled” by (and I’m being charitable) shrieking Lefty imbeciles, and Saturday’s many-splendored Farmer’s Market shortened its hours.
The kicker? The decades in the making, comical monument to municipal impotency, epic taxpayer sinkhole Public Market had actually scheduled an opening.
Guess what happened…?
PWS
I’m well known as the ACAB member of the commentary community here. This story makes me mad. This shooting, if it even closely resembles the reporting, is absolutely justified.
This “Boy who cried wolf” crap detracts from the legitimate cases. It harms the cause, not helps it.
A pox on them all.