impoverished public discourse, absent public action
this past week, wired news had a two-part series ("what if they gave a war?" and "you say you want a revolution?") from copy editor tony long. it's another tired, political wake-up call for an overly materialistic america. in fact, it reminds me in some roundabout way of the now-classic onion article "nation's liberals suffering from outrage fatigue" back in 04:
"With so many right-wing shams to choose from, it's simply too daunting for the average, left-leaning citizen to maintain a sense of anger"
while long's articles are a bit clunky, i always applaud efforts to crawl out of the soul-sucking vortex that is american commercialism (i also applaud efforts to avoid mixed metaphors, but that's another post...). not much is new in what he says (and in my opinion, some of it's misguided), but there are a few nice points. in particular, social movements lose steam and originality when they're used as profit engines: "Once Madison Avenue smells money, you can sound the death knell for any original idea."
"And nothing sells to the "youth demographic" like the idea of being a rebel. Well, guess what? The iconoclast has been marketed out of existence, too. This is a nation of sheep. Slick magazines, TV and, increasingly, the internet tell us what to buy, what to wear, how to think. (Cosmopolitan even tells you how to have an orgasm.) Mass culture has extracted our collective rebel bone. If only the British had marketed themselves better in 1776, we'd still be swearing fealty to the Crown."
in the end though, what do we do about our dangerous current situation in america? his to-do list is lackluster. essentially, he believes in self-improvement. sure, it looks like "broadening your horizons" or something, but in the end, it seems like a selfish schedule. to me, social justice is imbued with power and endurance when it has a firmer purpose.
but i want to get back to this idea: "the iconoclast has been marketed out of existence." i'm afraid the traditional iconoclast is still alive and well, and with good reason. more crap gets published and ideas get thought everyday that simply aren't worth paying attention to. but iconoclasm in the chic, counter-culture sense seems pretty dead to me, and i think this is the idea to which he's referring. i think i know the very date of its death, in fact. american-teen-nouveau-iconoclasm died when the simpsons let us listen to a conversation two rockers--the archetype of this heterodoxal persona--are having at some concert:
"are you being sarcastic, dude?"
"i don't even know anymore."
"With so many right-wing shams to choose from, it's simply too daunting for the average, left-leaning citizen to maintain a sense of anger"
while long's articles are a bit clunky, i always applaud efforts to crawl out of the soul-sucking vortex that is american commercialism (i also applaud efforts to avoid mixed metaphors, but that's another post...). not much is new in what he says (and in my opinion, some of it's misguided), but there are a few nice points. in particular, social movements lose steam and originality when they're used as profit engines: "Once Madison Avenue smells money, you can sound the death knell for any original idea."
"And nothing sells to the "youth demographic" like the idea of being a rebel. Well, guess what? The iconoclast has been marketed out of existence, too. This is a nation of sheep. Slick magazines, TV and, increasingly, the internet tell us what to buy, what to wear, how to think. (Cosmopolitan even tells you how to have an orgasm.) Mass culture has extracted our collective rebel bone. If only the British had marketed themselves better in 1776, we'd still be swearing fealty to the Crown."
in the end though, what do we do about our dangerous current situation in america? his to-do list is lackluster. essentially, he believes in self-improvement. sure, it looks like "broadening your horizons" or something, but in the end, it seems like a selfish schedule. to me, social justice is imbued with power and endurance when it has a firmer purpose.
but i want to get back to this idea: "the iconoclast has been marketed out of existence." i'm afraid the traditional iconoclast is still alive and well, and with good reason. more crap gets published and ideas get thought everyday that simply aren't worth paying attention to. but iconoclasm in the chic, counter-culture sense seems pretty dead to me, and i think this is the idea to which he's referring. i think i know the very date of its death, in fact. american-teen-nouveau-iconoclasm died when the simpsons let us listen to a conversation two rockers--the archetype of this heterodoxal persona--are having at some concert:
"are you being sarcastic, dude?"
"i don't even know anymore."
posted by dave at 11:44 PM
1 Comments:
Hey Dave, found the blog - good job. Fun writing, and actually about the outside world! I don't see that often. As for the two Wired articles... ugh. One does have to be amused at the unintended irony of his very preachy statement "Why aren't we demanding that religion return to the pulpit" though...
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