I have never read a Harry Potter novel - or seen one Harry Potter Movie.
I have never seen a compete Seinfeld episode.
I have never heard a complete Elvis Costello song - or one by the Dave Matthews Band.
I have never watched an episode of Survivor, Amazing Race, Dancing with the Stars, or that remodeling show - whatever it's called. Or any "reality" TV show.
I have never watched a complete Olbermann show or Maddow Show or Ed Schultz Show.
I have never purchased a NEWSWEEK and though I may have bought one or two copies of TIME, haven't even touched one in over 15 years.
I don't own an IPOD or any APPLE product.
I haven't seen a complete SOPRANOS show either, come to think of it.
MY POINT?!
Many products the media elite hold up as essential, products that they chatter about each day are unknown or ignored by more people than not.
The average I LOVE LUCY episode had more viewers than the MOST watched SEINFELD episode.
The "culture" pushed by the mass media elites has never ever been less consumed.
What's interesting to me is that even though the media is more splintered than ever, the media elite still behave as if 90% of America listens to them, watches them and cares about them.
It just ain't so anymore.
More people bought tickets for GONE WITH THE WIND than that Cameron 3D anti-free enterprise commie eco-nutsie thing with blue creatures - which I didn't see --- nor care to see.
There is no Cronkite, no Lucille Ball, no Johnny Carson on TV. NO HOWDY DOODY.
There is no "global village" - not anymore.
The Internet and the vestigial leftiness of the media elites killed it.
More people may watch FOX than the other cable news outlets combined, but still: fewer watch FOX than watched Huntley and Brinkley.
This fragmentation - of media and culture - is one reason some parts of our political culture are fragmenting: the two big parties - like the media elites - no longer have a strangle hold on the attention of the public.
Hence the emergence of the citizen journalist and citizen politician and the end of the professional journalist and the professional politician.
To maintain power, the "pro's" need a media that can DICTATE the story of the day and the party lines.
The people need no such thing: the Tea Party movement proves that people's movements can swarm and coalesce within the new media, even a fragmented media because what unites these movements are transcendent values which forge new connection between otherwise disparate persons.
We don't live in a global village; we live in a world with the potential for a virtual issue-oriented and value-oriented coalitions of great and ever-burgeoning magnitudes.
And because of this, the potential for true human liberation has never been greater.
Statists, elitists, China, al Qaeda - tyrants & tyrannies of all forms - have never ever been more threatened than they are now.
They can't dictate the official narrative anymore.
We the people can vet them as never before. And ignore them.
They can push Harry Potter and AGW and Obama and deride FOX and teabaggers and Sarah Palin all they want.
It doesn't work anymore. It can't.
They're too easy to turn off, and it's too easy for us to unite.
Thank G-d.
DEDICATED TO EXPOSING DISINFORMATION AND PROPAGANDA AND TO PROMOTING UNIVERSAL HUMAN RIGHTS - WITH SHARP ANALYSIS AND BLUNT COMMENTARY. NO ADS. NO TIP-JAR. JUST THE TRUTH.
3 comments:
While I agree with your premise I question your specifics and blanket condemnations. I love the Harry Potter books. I reread them in order each time a new one came out and before seeing the movies. I never felt that the media pushed HP on me perhaps because I never watch TV or listen to radio. I have an ipod and I think its cool, amazing how it holds so many songs and spoken books. It makes me feel truly rich.
I have never done any of the other things in your list but I'm sure some have and have liked them and didn't feel they were buying into ideology or pablum. I think that people have choices now and are not dependent on getting their news/analysis from TV or mainstream magazines and that is helping people question and think. It is a good thing and I believe the internet is what allowed the rise of the Tea Party. To me the Tea Party is ordinary American's who love their country and what it has always stood for: Freedom, Justice and the opportunity to work towards your goals. Government is a necessary evil that should be kept small and local whenever possible. But I still love Harry Potter and will defend him whenever necessary : )
i made next to zero value judgments about the shows.
i argued that they are less than the elites claim.
ipods and harry potter are fine for those that like them.
they're juist not as ubiquitous or necessary as the elites claim.
or superior.
Guess I never thought of the talking heads as "elite", just like I always consider a Harvard education a black mark until proven otherwise. So I don't worry what they say.Best to consider the facts, your own experience and decide yourself.
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