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Art Under Quiet Siege
For FAIR’s Substack, Franklin Einspruch writes about the quiet exclusion of artists due to increasingly politicized cultural programming.
Herein lies the trouble with representation. If a given year of museum programming featured no women, no blacks, or no homosexuals, we would rightly suspect that the museum was neglecting an enormous range of artistic talent. But the goal of the museum is not to represent a particular percentage of women, blacks, or homosexuals in its programming, but to discover and display artistic talent. Likewise, this can be said of the grant programs. The diversity of an exhibition or award slate indicates—not definitively, but significantly—whether the associated selection processes are fair. But diversity is a meaningless goal, particularly the redefined “diversity” of postliberal progressive autocracy. It is inspiring to see ourselves represented in the museum in a laudatory way, as makers or subjects. Everyone ought to experience that pride. But it is crucial to the apprehension of art to imagine our way into the lives of makers and subjects who do not resemble us. That requires humility, which better extracts the juice of art than pride alone.
Podcast #251: Tracing the Rise of Radicalised Anti-Zionism on American Campuses
Quillette podcast host and FAIR Advisor Jonathan Kay speaks with author Paul Berman about the lingering influence of ‘Black Power’ advocate Stokely Carmichael, who once infamously claimed that ‘the only good Zionist is a dead Zionist.’
Fear and Loathing and Trans Joy in Philadelphia
For her Substack BROADVIEW, FAIR Advisor Lisa Selin Davis writes about her experience at the Philly Trans Wellness Conference.
These old school transsexuals I was with—they knew all about what it used to be like when someone would transition and be rejected by their family. So how odd it was to see this new generation tell transitioners to reject their own families. Was that supposed to be some kind of progress—or was it revenge? Those who were once outcasts now had the power to cast out. And maybe, for coddled young people not trained to experience hardship, their struggle muscles sagging and underformed, rejecting their unaffirming families felt strengthening in some way, felt like assuming power but also pain, experiences they’d been robbed of in their overprotected childhoods. Maybe they needed to hurt, and felt justified spreading the hurt around.
The Grave Error of Old-School Liberals
For Deseret News, FAIR Advisor Robert P. George writes about why he believes old-school liberals bear some responsibility for our current cultural woes.
Self-reflection by old-school liberals will reveal how short the jump was from expressive individualism to woke identitarianism and illiberalism —and it is precisely that kind of reflection which is needed now. True, the examination of conscience I’m urging won’t be easy. Facing up to our shortcomings never is. When things go wrong or mistakes are made, all of us — not just old-school liberals — want to believe that “we were right all along, our values were sound, it’s just that we were betrayed and our movement was hijacked!”
Does having kids make us happier?
On the latest episode of “Impromptu,” FAIR Advisor Shadi Hamid and Heather Long talk to Style columnist Monica Hesse about what’s really behind the baby bust, the pros and cons of having kids, and how the decision is about so much more than money.
Don’t Blame Political Violence on Political Rhetoric
For The Free Press, Eli Lake writes about how Trump is falling into the same trap as his enemies: equating hateful speech with hateful actions.
The problem, though, is that Trump and his supporters are falling into the same trap as the left by abandoning the classically liberal principle of distinguishing rhetoric from violence. When Trump says that his opponents’ words are the reason “the bullets are flying,” he is putting forth a version of the same argument his opposition has advanced since he was first elected to the White House.
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