Criticism and Counter Event
Public watchdogs have criticized the event as a chance for "wealthy special interests to mingle with the movers and shakers in state government" or as a gathering for "fat cat" politicians away from their Pennsylvania constituents.
During the 2005 Pennsylvania Society weekend, Gene Stilp and Eric Epstein, governmental reform and anti-pay raise activists, hosted the "Pennsylvania People's Dinner," a reform-themed potluck dinner in the "darkened, barely heated" East Wing of the Pennsylvania State Capitol while the members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly are in New York City. The event, described as "part parody, part celebration" of the November repeal of the controversial pay raise, featured paper plates and folding chairs for the potluck style dinner. The hosts decorated the capitol with toy pigs, the mascot of the anti-pay-raise movement, and stuffed cows, mocking John Perzel's defense of the pay raise by claiming that "immigrant cow-milkers" make as much as legislators. The dinner has become an annual event, with the lack of lighting and heating becoming part of the tradition. The event has undergone several name changes: in 2006 it was called the "Pennsylvania New Society Dinner," in 2007 it was the "Real Pennsylvania Society Dinner."
Read more about this topic: The Pennsylvania Society
Famous quotes containing the words criticism, counter and/or event:
“The greater the decrease in the social significance of an art form, the sharper the distinction between criticism and enjoyment by the public. The conventional is uncritically enjoyed, and the truly new is criticized with aversion.”
—Walter Benjamin (1892–1940)
“Often, when there is a conflict between parent and child, at its very hub is an expectation that the child should be acting differently. Sometimes these expectations run counter what is known about children’s growth. They stem from remembering oneself, but usually at a slightly older age.”
—Ellen Galinsky (20th century)
“An event has happened, upon which it is difficult to speak, and impossible to be silent.”
—Edmund Burke (1729–1797)