The researchers targeted 2,000 Twitter users from a range of political persuasions who had tweeted 11 overtly false news articles. After an extremely polite correction in the thread, which included a link to factually accurate information, the tweeters’ accuracy declined further—and even more so when they were corrected by someone matching their political leanings. This indicates that partisanship is not driving the tweeters’ responses. – Fast Company
The Museum As Weapon Of War?
The Brutish Museums argues, persuasively, that the corporate-militaristic pillage behind Europe’s “encyclopedic” collections is not a simple matter of possession, but a systematic extension of warfare across time. – The Baffler
Why We’re Attracted To Gross Things
In short, disgust may not derive from a simple aversion to harmful substances but from a tension between the desire to explore and consume new things and the dangers of doing so. – Nautilus
The Birth Of The Paid Claque (Annals Of Opera History)
Back in the early 19th century, “the directors of the Paris Opera saw no reason to leave the success of their performances up to the whims of an unpredictable audience. To guarantee acclaim, they employed the services of an organized body of professional applauders, commonly known as the ‘claque.’ These claqueurs were tucked away throughout the audience, disguised as members of the public.” Why did this profession arise? Well, for roughly the same reason that professional music criticism did. – JSTOR Daily
Was The Emperor Nero Really So Wicked? Probably Not
Says the curator of a new exhibit on the Roman monarch at the British Museum, “Nero’s memory was contested after his death, and that really was divided along class divisions. You have a very hostile elite, but we also know that the common people in Rome, the plebs urbana, honored his memory for decades after his death. Already, you have an intriguing story with accounts that don’t quite match up. And this is really what we want to investigate.” – The Guardian
Are We Polarized Or Suffering From Propaganda?
“Systemic polarization, as it is usually told, is a basically symmetrical story. Polarization arises from a social dynamic that afflicts almost everybody. The social forces at play—social mobility, online media bubbles, algorithmic filtering—are pervasive, and their effect is nearly universal. Like-minded individuals naturally clump together and end up boosting each others’ confidence unreasonably. Conservatives and progressives are approximately as vulnerable and approximately as blameworthy. On the other hand, the propaganda story is usually told asymmetrically: one side is stuck in the propaganda machine, the other side fighting against it. It is certainly possible to tell the propaganda story about both sides, but symmetry isn’t baked into its core.” – Boston Review
The International Booker Shortlist Is Out
Ready to read? The shortlist for the international prize, which is for a book translated into English in Britain and Ireland, features a couple of authors who write in French. The list includes science fiction, memoir, and more. Chair of the judges for the shortlist, Lucy Hughes-Hallett, said, “This is a fantastically vigorous and vital aspect of the way fiction is being written at the moment — people are really pushing the boundaries.” – The New York Times
Shakespeare’s Birthday Just Went By, And He Barely Seems Older At All
Charles McNulty on the Bard in 2021: “Shakespeare’s characters keep drawing us back because we want to understand them more fully. They leave us with an impression of unfinished business. Just as no one in our lives can be fully known, so the figures in his plays reveal only so much about what they think, feel and believe.” – Los Angeles Times
The Fitness Trap
Part of what seems awry with contemporary fitness culture is its artifice, symptomatic of the wrongness of modernity, prior to which, one imagines, real life was excessively challenging and exercise blissfully inadvertent. Condemned to an “active” lifestyle, pre-modern humans would surely never have dreamed of inventing excuses to expend extra energy for the sake of it. – New Statesman
Arts Venues Hoping For Some Of That $16 Billion COVID Relief Hit Glitch
The Small Business Administration oversees the $16 billion portion that will offer grants to concert halls, theaters and museums. But soon after the process began on April 8, the application portal shut down. The apparent cause? Technical glitches — as in plural. The SBA has said it hopes to reopen the portal by the end of the week. – Dallas Morning News
How Choirs Have Figured Out To Sing Together Again
“It was amazing to be able to sing with my friends again,” said Ian Bass, a seventh grader in the Ragazzi Boys Chorus, a Silicon Valley choir that has made online rehearsals work through a technology called JackTrip that eliminates the dreaded delay. “Sometimes I forget I am not in a normal practice because it feels so real.” – The Guardian
A Psychologist Talks About How Art Changes Us
“For me, as a psychologist with a special interest and expertise in the arts, our fascination with art raises two long-standing and fundamental questions, ones that have engaged philosophers, psychologists and art lovers. First, why are we so drawn to works of art? For their beauty, of course, but that can’t be all, as the thought-experiments above show us. Second, what kinds of demonstrable beneficial effects, if any, can engagement in the arts have on us?” – Aeon
Paul Schrader: The End Of The Movie Feature As We Knew It?
“The two-hour format which was so ideally suited to theatrical, we’ve now trained young people for fifteen months not to see that as a primary way to have audiovisual entertainment. Now, how they come back or if they come back . . . they’re certainly not going to come back in the way they once were.” – The New Yorker
In Defense Of The Art Of Broadway
“If you live and die at the box office, as does Broadway, you are not rewarded for indulgence or self-involvement. More importantly, you often are better able to reach non-elites. Broadway attracts more lower-middle class theatergoers than many pretentious nonprofit institutions; it pulls more young people to shows like “Mean Girls” and “To Kill a Mockingbird,” and it is far more likely to attract the large and diverse audience for shows that intersect with the history of recorded music. In short, the argument for a capitalist Broadway in a capitalist society is that it tends to end up as populist.” – Chicago Tribune
The Mighty Battle Of The Getty Museum Versus The Webbing Clothes Moth
It seems that, in many places, a multitude of vermin took advantage of the lack of traffic in museums during the pandemic to stage an invasion and, potentially, a delicious banquet. (Mmmm, priceless historic textiles!) A sharp-eyed conservator at the Getty in L.A. noticed an increase in noxious lepidopterae last April, early on — and so began the museum’s Project Moth Remediation. Deborah Vankin reports on just what it took to get rid of the hungry insects. – Los Angeles Times
In Florida, It’s Now A Felony To Damage A Confederate Monument
While the “Combating Public Disorder Act” just signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis is most notorious for its provisions aimed at street protests (classifying blocking cars during a demonstration as rioting, protecting drivers who plow into a crowd of protestors from civil liability), it also makes the damaging of any “memorial” (defined as a marker that “honors or recounts the military service of any past or present”) a third-degree felony, with a sentence of up to five years in prison. Topple a memorial and it’s a second-degree felony (up to 15 years). – Artnet
When Right-Wingers Accuse Online Booksellers Of Censorship, They May Have A Point (But Not The One They Think)
“Unlike the cozy bookstore in your town, online booksellers don’t choose each book they’re offering. The role of curator — if it exists at all — has effectively been passed from seller to customer. Under this system, if a title attracts sufficiently convincing and public objections, that title is taken down from the website. … This feels like a problematic way to curate literature,” warns Ron Charles. – The Washington Post
Bankrupt One Year Ago, Cirque Du Soleil Begins Reopening
“Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group, which emerged from Chapter 15 protection after a sale in November, announced on Wednesday that it is restarting four of its unique offerings, including O and Mystère. Most Cirque du Soleil shows have been dark in the U.S. since March 15, 2020.” – Deadline
Bob Porter, Producer And Broadcaster Who Rescued Jazz History, Dead At 80
“As a record producer [he] guided the reissue of vast swaths of the classic jazz canon, and … as a broadcaster [he] helped build WBGO into the largest jazz radio station in the New York City area.” – The New York Times
Dancer Who Sued Berlin State Ballet For Racial Discrimination Gets Settlement, New Contract
“Chloé Lopes Gomes filed a lawsuit in 2020 against the expiration of her temporary contract. She [alleged she had been] discriminated against because of the color of her skin. Now the State Ballet and the dancer have agreed to a court settlement: The ballerina will stay with the State Ballet for another year and receive a compensation payment of €16,000 ($19,240).” – Deutsche Welle
I Miss Chitchat
In our pandemic world, casual conversation has been all but eliminated. The closest thing I get these days is saying “thank you” to a delivery person or greeting a grocery store clerk. Even then, I’m hesitant to linger—every unnecessary moment with a stranger feels taboo, every breath a hazard. And, now, in the absence of chit-chat, I feel isolated and unenergized. – The Walrus
AI Music App Creates Music For You On The Fly, Depending On Your Mood
Endel uses a bunch of data, including your location, weather, time of day and even biometrics to create an individual soundtrack on the fly. “This is a technology that is designed to help you focus, relax and sleep.” – Protocol