{"id":49526,"date":"2022-10-16T12:08:08","date_gmt":"2022-10-16T19:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=49526"},"modified":"2022-10-16T12:08:08","modified_gmt":"2022-10-16T19:08:08","slug":"everyday-erinyes-340","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2022\/10\/16\/everyday-erinyes-340\/","title":{"rendered":"Everyday Erinyes #340"},"content":{"rendered":"

Experts in autocracies have pointed out that it is, unfortunately, easy to slip into normalizing the tyrant, hence it is important to hang on to outrage. These incidents which seem to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with them will, I hope, help with that. As a reminder, though no one really knows how many there were supposed to be, the three names we have are Alecto<\/span><\/strong>, Megaera<\/strong><\/span>, and Tisiphone<\/span><\/strong>. These roughly translate as “unceasing,” “grudging,” and “vengeful destruction.”<\/p>\n

This is the culture article I had hoped to do last week, but it’s really timeless. I’d like to start with a personal story. Back in the oughts, when I was working at AAA, and our cubicles had low walls so we could see and possibly talk to people across to us, one day the woman across from mee said something, I forget exactly what, but with which I heartily agreed. I had seen a joke that morning which put me in mind of a particular phrase and I responded “For shizzle!” She was startled and said, “I didn’t even think you would know who Diddy was.” I said, “Well, yeah, I listen to classical music pretty well all the time, but that doesn’t mean I have to be ignorant.” And she replied that most people don’t think that way. And that little conversation was what led to our becoming BFFs. And I have learned so much and gotten so much joy from our friendship, and I think she has too, that I am so grateful to have, and so determined to continue having, an open mind.<\/p>\n

However, I’m afraid she was right – most people don’t think that way. I can’t forget all the heads that exploded when Mr. Robert Zimmerman received the Nobel for Literature one year. Or that when the musical “Of Thee I Sing” received a Pulitzer and every creative talent who worked on it received the award except<\/strong> George Gershwin – that was not in my lifetime, but it’s such a well-known event, and so ironic, it sticks with me. And then, there’s “The Lexicon of Musical Invective,” a collection of quotes from history in which older composers, and some critics, verbally destroyed younger composers who turned out to be as great as or greater than their critics. You wouldn’t believe, for instance, the trash talk about Beethoven.<\/p>\n

So when I saw this article about how one creative activity can spill over into, and even foster, a different creative activity that is unexpected, I wanted to share it. You don’t need to agree with me or the author – you don’t even need to read it – but it’s natural for me to want to share something – a type of openness – which has given so much to me.
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Kanye may not like books, but hip-hop<\/span> fosters a love of\u00a0literature<\/h1>\n
Kanye West provoked criticism recently when he compared reading to eating Brussels sprouts.
\nGotham via Getty Images<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A.D. Carson<\/a>, University of Virginia<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

When Ye \u2013 the artist formerly known as Kanye West<\/a> \u2013 stated during a recent podcast that he doesn\u2019t read books<\/a>, some people questioned whether he was sending the wrong message to children<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Those questions took on more importance in light of the fact that Ye recently launched<\/a> Donda Academy, a private educational venture named after his late mother, Donda West, who was herself an English professor<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As a rap artist<\/a>, author and academic<\/a>, I would never argue that reading lots of books is the only path to gaining knowledge or showing intelligence.<\/p>\n

After all, I created the first-ever peer-reviewed hip-hop album published by a university press<\/a>. For my doctoral dissertation in 2017, I made a rap album<\/a> and resisted any calls to submit a formally written explanation of the work.<\/p>\n