I was startled to read on the front page of this morning’s NYT, the headline:
Move to Ban
A Ballet Adds
To Its Appeal
A closer reading revealed that it wasn’t Ballet, but Bullet: the armor-piercing 5.56 millimeter “M855 green tip” rifle bullet, used in AR-15 semi-automatic rifles.
As before, I wondered what disposed me towards the misreading. Well, at least, banning artistic performances is not an uncommon event in many parts of the world.
(Also on that page, the doubly appalling story headed:
ISIS Onslaught Overrums
Assyrians and Wrecks Art
in which militants were taking hammers to ancient Assyrian artifacts. More extreme art criticism, reminding us of the Taliban’s destruction of the great Buddhas of Bamiyan.)