A collection of Arts & Culture-related content from Summer 2023.

A collection of Arts & Culture-related content from Winter/Spring 2023.

Banished

An anthropology professor pens a letter in the Macalester College newspaper after an Iranian artist’s exhibit is “paused” by the university due to claimed harm. “When people at Macalester are offended by a graphite drawing that depicts a partially nude woman in a niqāb, what is being caused is not pain, but offense. In a free country, no one has the right to be exempt from being offended. Giving offense is a necessary byproduct of the freedom of speech and foundational to the existence of a free society…”

Newsweek

Actor and veteran Alex Miller pushes back against changing the race of characters. “I simply object to using the race of an actor as a sign and standard for what constitutes progress. It's an insult to my community—both to the long-fought struggle for representation and to the recent successes on that front… Making a white character Black is not progress. It's pandering.”

New York Times

The backlash after Roald Dahl’s works were changed by its publisher “to eliminate words deemed inappropriate.” Among others, Harvard alum and PEN America chief executive, Suzanne Nossel, “said on Twitter that the organization was ‘alarmed’ by the changes and that selective editing could ‘represent a dangerous new weapon’… ‘Those who might cheer specific edits to Dahl’s work should consider how the power to rewrite books might be used in the hands of those who do not share their values and sensibilities.’ ”

Spiked

Actor Idris Elba breaks the accepted narrative. As Inaya Folarin Iman, Spike explains, “Idris Elba…said he no longer calls himself a ‘black actor’ because the label puts him in a ‘box.’ ” … “Predictably, Elba’s comments have sparked horror among the usual identitarian suspects,” writes Folarin. “…If you want to make the colour of your skin the defining feature of your personality and life, then go for it. Just don’t pretend that it’s ‘progressive’ – and don’t try to impose such a racially divisive outlook on everyone else.”

The Free Press

Testimonials laying bare what’s happening across the arts. “Artists nationwide say they’re being put to an ideological litmus test. ‘It felt like somebody holding a gun to my head saying: your integrity or your life’s work.’” From not posting a black square on social media during the BLM protests to resisting racial segregation efforts, artists are punished. “The arts were becoming a tool of an ideology,” one artist explained. “It felt like something sacred was being violated by crossing politics and art—almost like crossing church and state.”

BBC

In a BCC lecture on freedom of speech, author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie warns of the "epidemic of self-censorship" which could lead to "the death of curiosity, the death of learning and the death of creativity.”

A collection of Arts & Culture-related articles of interest from Fall ‘22.

FAIR Substack

Artist and writer Franklin Einspruch argues what is obvious to some, but heretical to others—cultural appropriation isn’t real. “As far as we know, every people of the earth in every era produced visual culture, styling and modifying their bodies, adorning themselves, and producing durable objects of representation and abstraction. New culture came about the way new people came about—by mixing. The anti-appropriationists of today sound much like the anti-miscegenationists of the past, taking for granted that racial groups have clear borders and ought not be seen in public to combine.”

The Glenn Show

Loury, McWhorter and “Baton” (pseudonym) discuss the effects of DEI in the orchestral world. From equating “good” composers with canonical composers to abandoning merit-based assessments (i.e blind auditions) in favor of race-conscious evaluations, they discuss how the classical music world is changing, and if it’s for the better. “Don” also discusses his new Substack on the subject called The Podium.

Wall Street Journal

The WSJ’s Arts in Review editor, Gibson, writes that “Like higher education, art museums face a crisis of purpose. They are now widely seen as shameful relics of the era of Western colonialism, whose proper social role is to advance a progressive agenda… Driving all this are the commissars, who have arrogated to themselves the status of superior beings, entitled to pass summary judgment on artists, art, its institutions and supporters. There is no humility, only moral vanity.”

A collection of Arts & Culture-related articles of interest from July/Aug ‘22.

Persuasion

An excellent, poetic essay on the nuance and power of James Baldwin. While some attempt to mold Baldwin to their narratives on race, Handa argues that the scope of Baldwin rejects narrow interpretations. “James Baldwin did not tell a shallow story. Nor did he tell a black and white story. He asked people to discover an entirely new story… Baldwin loved America in the same way that he loved himself: fiercely, relentlessly and, most of all, critically. Contained within the country’s ruinous past was a magnificent potential…”

Daily Beast

FIRE leaders Lukianoff and Shibley respond to the Rushdie attack: “The message sent by a successful attack on Rushdie is loud and unmistakable: Your hurtful speech is the equivalent of violence against me and my values, and you deserve violence in return.” The authors present the only two choices for conflict resolution: “Free speech...[or] authoritarian repression.”

The Atlantic + other outlets

An unapologetic defense of free speech: To Rushdie, “the right to speak…is universal.” While “some [are] defending him unreservedly…others [are] arguing that perhaps his perceived insult of Islam was a mistake and a needless provocation on his part. This morning’s violence cuts through this debate, silences it.” Links to other articles on Rushdie attack included.

Quillette

Stratton argues that as Chappelle “chalks up prestigious awards and plays to packed houses, his progressive critics look increasingly ridiculous… Those who go after left-wing gender dissidents…tend to disavow any desire to curtail free speech, claiming that they are merely imposing proper ‘consequences,’ holding wrongdoers to ‘account,’ and protecting the ‘safety’ of this or that community. These euphemisms disguise the same basic authoritarian impulse that, until relatively recently, was associated with the reactionary Right.”

New York Times

“A real strain of self-censorship has emerged,” explains Pamela Paul. “…many books the left might object to never make it to bookshelves…for ideological reasons.” Paul admonishes the illiberalism— “We shouldn’t capitulate to any repressive forces… For those on the illiberal left to conduct their own campaigns of censorship…is to violate the core tenets of liberalism. “

Wall Street Journal

This WSJ piece by Wenxin Fan is not dystopian fiction—it is an account of Ms.Gu, a fiction writer in China experiencing a dystopian reality. “This document may contain forbidden content. Access has been suspended” read a warning message when Ms. Gu attempted to open a draft of her one million-word, in-process novel saved on a cloud-based platform. “Ms. Gu’s story…suggested [China’s] surveillance has ventured into new territory: private writings that might or might not be intended for public consumption.”

FAIR Substack

Documentary filmmaker Meg Smaker has teamed up with FAIR in the Arts to defend freedom of expression after attempted cancelations of her Sundance-featured film, Jihad Rehab, “the story of several former Guantanamo Bay detainees as they navigate their lives at the world’s first rehabilitation center for Islamist extremists.”