[LWVNM Action] Theater of the Absurd in Texas and California

[Richard Mason]

*My personal letter in the ABQ Journal - Sunday, August 24, 2025*


*Theater of the Absurd in Texas and California*

In the 1960s I was a fan of the Theater of the Absurd. This genre presented
plays that brought ideas to the absurd level to illustrate the absurdity of
those ideas.

An example of this genre was Eugene Ionesco’s, “Rhinoceros”. In this play
people allow themselves to be turned into rhinoceroses because others are
turning into rhinoceroses and they are afraid of not conforming. Ionesco
grew up in Romania as the Nazi party was gaining power and he saw rational
people turning into Nazis.


Well thank you Texas and California politicians for illustrating the
absurdity of allowing politicians to draw their own districts. Maybe now
people in New Mexico and elsewhere will recognize this absurdity and demand
independent redistricting commissions.



Richard Mason
Rio Rancho


By the way, Ionesco's play was made into a movie by the American Film
Theater. It stars Gene Wilder and Zero Mostel. Seems sort of relevant today.
Probably available on Netflix
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