A critic should have principles rather than aesthetics. He should have tastes, though never at the cost of praising the bad book seductive to his taste rather than the good one that offends it. He should also have prejudices, but not ones that blind him to merit, not ones that have him shouting, every three books or so, “A miracle! A miracle!”
Category: issues
Don’t Give A Dollar To The Opera (Or Ballet Or …)
Hamilton Nolan goes all Peter Singer on us: “There are many things in this world that are all well and good, but that are not the best uses of charitable donations, which are a precious and limited resource. … Opera, as an art form, will survive. The child who gets malaria will not.”
World Happiness Is On The Rise, Says The UN
“Today in good news, the United Nation’s latest World Happiness Report was released and it shows that happiness is on the rise in more countries than it’s falling. The increased happiness is driven by jolly Latin America and substantially rosier attitudes in Africa.”
Just In Case You Somehow Thought Your Smartphone Was Private, It’s Really Really Not
“The documents state that it is possible for the NSA to tap most sensitive data held on these smart phones, including contact lists, SMS traffic, notes and location information about where a user has been.”
WWI Wasn’t Glorious And Shouldn’t Be Remembered That Way, Historians (And Activists) Say
At the centenary of the beginning of WWI, British activists worry that “the war will be presented as something glorious and part of our national heritage, when it isn’t really. It was a total disaster that was unnecessary and destroyed a generation.”
How To Revitalize Detroit – Send In The Outsiders
“If Detroit really does need transformational change, then current residents and institutions are incapable of providing it. Old school Detroit is fodder for ruin porn.”
Remember When Artists Could Afford To Live In New York?
“It’s fun to look at the map and reminisce about a time when artists could afford to live in the center of New York. (Yes, I know it’s passé to call Manhattan that, and I know it’s not the literal center, but let’s accept it historically, OK?)”
Study: Artists Have Higher Job Satisfaction Than Most
“On a scale of one (very unhappy with their work) to 10 (totally happy), European artists average out at 7.7. That’s significantly above the 7.3 average for non-artists. This gap remains even when controlling for differences in such factors as income and hours worked.”
The Irish Are Deserting Ireland
“New figures published on Thursday show 397,500 people have emigrated since Ireland’s financial crisis began in 2008, with most travelling to the UK, Australia and Canada in search of work.”
So Journalists Are The New Intellectuals?
“Much of the very best intellectual work being done in the United States is still being done by journalists, not scholars, and is still being published outside the university, by magazines and trade presses. Needless to say, the thriving of exceptionally talented journalists is cause for nothing but celebration. But lately, with nearly everything about publishing in flux, the relationship between intellectuals and the public is more vexed than ever.”