Author: Matthew Westphal

Explaining ‘The Satanic Verses’ — Any Why We Won’t Be Seeing Anything Like It For A While

“The increasing prominence of radical Islam, or Islam as a political force, is obviously one factor. The other factor, especially in the West, is the increasing emphasis on culture and ethnicity, religion included, as a means of self-definition. … Rushdie’s satirical look at religion comes across quite differently when Islam is conceived of as an identity. What began as a critique of ideas is taken as an insult to a group, and often a marginalised group, at that.” – Aeon

Using The Oxford Comma Makes You A Hotter Prospect On Tinder

“On an internet occupied by as many finger-wagging ‘grammar Nazis’ as slovenly texters who prefer emoji to verbal displays of emotion, the Oxford comma has become a cause célèbre. This is especially true on dating apps, where many users have deemed the punctuation mark something they ‘can’t live without’ — a designation that’s put it in the same lofty category as cheese, the beach, and Game of Thrones.” – GQ

What Went Wrong At Ireland’s Two National Orchestras, And How To Fix It

An investigation last year found that the national broadcaster’s two orchestras, the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, were under-utilized, underfunded, and plagued by low morale and mistrust. RTÉ National Symphony general manager Anthony Long talks with a reporter about how things got to such a pass and what’s being done to improve things. – The Journal of Music

‘Empire’ Producers Write Jussie Smollett’s Character Out Of Script

“While these allegations are very disturbing, we are placing our trust in the legal system as the process plays out,” said a statement from the series’s producers at 20th Century Fox. “We are also aware of the effects of this process on the cast and crew members who work on our show and to avoid further disruption on set, we have decided to remove the role of ‘Jamal’ from the final two episodes of the season.” – The Washington Post

What Does The Jussie Smollett Saga Reveal About 2019 America? Victimhood Chic

John McWhorter: “Smollett doesn’t need the money he would get from a court settlement, and he isn’t trying to deny someone higher office. So why in the world would he fake something like that attack — if he did indeed fake it? The reason might be that he has come of age in an era when nothing he could have done or said would have made him look more interesting than being attacked on the basis of his color and sexual orientation.” – The Atlantic

Actor Jussie Smolett Charged With Felony For Staging Hate-Crime Attack

The 36-year-old actor, a star of the Fox series Empire, received an outpouring of national attention and sympathy after he was reported to have been violently attacked in Chicago by two white men shouting anti-black and anti-hay epithets. After the police found and interviewed the ostensible attackers, who turned out to be two Nigerian-American brothers, and collected additional evidence, they arrested Smollett, alleging that he concocted the entire thing. – Vulture

Nine Months After #MeToo Resignation, Milwaukee’s Florentine Opera Names New CEO

Last May, company general director William Florescu resigned because of what the Board described as because of “violation of the Florentine Opera’s policies and prohibitions concerning sexual misconduct.” His successor, the company’s first female leader, is Maggey Oplinger, currently director of community partnerships at the Milwaukee Symphony. – Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Public Theater Sues Ian Schrager’s Public Hotel For Trademark Infringement

“A half-mile apart on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, two buildings claim to be putting on theater for the PUBLIC, using boldfaced font to advertise their mission. … The Public Theater, which opened its first show in the 1960s, claims that the Public hotel [which has a performance space] is essentially siphoning off its business by riding on its theatrical coattails.” – The New York Times