Category: issues

As the government debate over clamping down on broadcast ‘indecency’ ratchets up, John Doyle is getting a bit tired of hearing the crackdown described as a response to a genuine swelling of public outrage, rather than as a private crusade of the American ultra-right. After all, if the public were truly the main concern, why wouldn’t the hearings being held to confront the spectre of Janet Jackson’s exposed breast and Howard Stern’s potty mouth be held, well, in public? “Nothing that happens behind closed doors is genuinely in response to a populist concern. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be necessary to go behind closed doors.”

Many were surprised this week when the Pulitzer for criticism went to someone who writes about cars. Is writing about cars real criticism? “Cars are literally what connects the city of Los Angeles. I’m sure some people will clench their fists and decry the award as the end of our culture, but it seems like a completely reasonable choice to me.”

The Shanghai Grand Theater, which spent over $36,000 on an electronic jamming system to disable cell phones and wireless pagers in its performance space, is being forced to turn off the system after being told that using it is illegal. The theater says that it will begin politely asking patrons to turn off their mobile devices, which performers claim ring “from start to finish,” but some theatergoers insist that they should have the right to stay in touch with the outside world, even if it means disrupting the show.

“Does great art always have to be a feat of endurance? Is there something aesthetically unsatisfactory about a play that is over in 35 seconds, a short story that contains only seven words, or an opera that can be performed in the time it takes to boil an egg? Fortunately for the culturally hungry with little time on their hands, all these things exist. The issue is whether you think you would be getting your money’s worth.”

Arts education is quickly disappearing from schools across America. “Art and music classes have become secondary to more traditional subjects such as math and science, which means that when budgets are tight, the arts are among the first to be cut from curriculums.”

What do academics interested in aesthetics do when they get together? They talk about ideas. “One of the things that I really love about the American Society for Aesthetics is that it’s quite balanced… . There’s serious scholarly work that’s pursued on major texts in the history of aesthetics… . At the same time, there’s not a condescending attitude to the emergence of cultural forms.”

The Pulitzers have an uneven record when it comes to the arts. But this year, writes Terry Teachout, “three of the prizes were deeply and personally satisfying to me.”

Here’s a list of the books, play and music that won this year’s Pulitzers…

“University of Illinois at Springfield officials say they are working toward creating an online ‘mirror campus’ that will offer all 39 of the degree programs that are available in the university’s classrooms. The plan is one of the most ambitious online projects undertaken by a mainstream institution.”

David Horowitz is “spearheading a campaign to end what he calls discrimination against conservative faculty and students. At its core is an ‘academic bill of rights,’ written by Mr. Horowitz, that asks universities, among other things, to include both conservative and liberal viewpoints in their selection of campus speakers and syllabuses for courses and to choose faculty members ‘with a view toward fostering a plurality of methodologies and perspectives’.”