I'm of two minds. Saying shit like "I don't think we went to the moon" really is insane, like Pat Robertson level insane. But his anger and refusal to back down about the injustice of this current administration had me nodding my fucking head. And who cares what he's wearing. Cornell is always fun to watch. His point that all empires are violent was the key moment. Should America be in the empire business? Fuck that.
I'm of two minds. Saying shit like "I don't think we went to the moon" really is insane, like Pat Robertson level insane. But his anger and refusal to back down about the injustice of this current administration had me nodding my fucking head.
One might argue that the support of a crackpot like Mos Def does more harm than good.
I'm of two minds. Saying shit like "I don't think we went to the moon" really is insane, like Pat Robertson level insane. But his anger and refusal to back down about the injustice of this current administration had me nodding my fucking head.
One might argue that the support of a crackpot like Mos Def does more harm than good.
its more than that. over 70% of the country disapproves of bush. everyone is angry. we don't need some guy who knows less than the average casual news watcher yelling about how bush f*cked everything up, but not really saying anything at all.
I'm of two minds. Saying shit like "I don't think we went to the moon" really is insane, like Pat Robertson level insane. But his anger and refusal to back down about the injustice of this current administration had me nodding my fucking head.
One might argue that the support of a crackpot like Mos Def does more harm than good.
I have to admit that when Ralph Nader (check episode 5) is the sane one in the conversation we are getting into dicey territory.
Speaking of outrageous, there is nothing outrageous about questioning the Bin Laden tapes. Or these fake ass terrorist plot arrests including Jose Padilla. Or walking on the moon.
Um this is not the first time Maher has had a celebrity who was only half in the know, I'm not sure why everyone is all bothered by his answers. Whenever I see an actor/actress/musician in one of these debates I expect them to only kind of half contribute. They're there for ratings and thats it.
Bill Maher is a fucking numbskull, that's all I have to add to this conversation.
The guy is right. The guy is wrong. His shows are based on opinions and stir up discussion of real topics. There's nothing wrong about that. I admire the fact that he's not afraid to be completely fucking wrong on the air.
I WILL say that the complete absense of young intellectuals in our American (pop) culture is distressing. Mos Def should not have to be the voice of anything other than privileged potheads masquerading as neo-neo-revolutionaries.
I WILL say that the complete absense of young intellectuals in our American (pop) culture is distressing.
Personally, I'd rather see intellectuals be able to move with pop culture than see intellectuals coming out of pop culture. I don't need my pop culture icons to be my intellectual or political icons. But I want to see my pop culture open to both intellectual ideas and political sensibilities.
I WILL say that the complete absense of young intellectuals in our American (pop) culture is distressing.
Personally, I'd rather see intellectuals be able to move with pop culture than see intellectuals coming out of pop culture. I don't need my pop culture icons to be my intellectual or political icons. But I want to see my pop culture open to both intellectual ideas and political sensibilities.
We're essentially saying the same thing, Oliver.
This is no new insight to anyone reading this, but America's "culture" is nearly 100% incumbent on the imported cultures that comprise it. The USA, itself, has little cultural identity past its dominant popular culture. I put the word "pop" in parenthesis because this ersatz national indentity seems to be far more dominant than a conventional historical or political one. In order for their voices to be heard on a level that can affect the nation, intellectual and political icons must be incorporated into America's popular culture. Despite the fact that any substantive position swimming within popular culture must be trussed, truncated, gussied to fit an American attention span, I posit that real, large-scale change for this country cannot possibly ignore its popular culture and (hand in glove) its young people. American youth is tragically undermarketed to itself. Intellectual ideas and political sensibilities are not seriously handled within the spectrum of popular youth media, ergo, youth are conditioned to expect less of themselves as intellectuals and facets of the national identity. It's distressing to me that socially substantive community youth roles are generally relegated to sound bites that serve as bumpers to music videos and obligatory moral anchors to shitty summer movies. On a large scale, it's easy for Americans to be controlled by political entities when intelligence and public discorse is shunned or condensed. People in this country used to go to candidates' debates as families. Hah. No wonder we were sucked into war - the country has been conditioned into stupidity and banality since the days of its youth. How can a nation stand up to and fight against injustice and political corruption if it'd rather listen to ignoble trash send dirty texts to each other?
Rant over. Lord. I think that I've just needlessly re-stated the obvious. What is it about the waning hours of the day that make me want to write paragraphs? I hope this drabble makes any cogent sense.
I haven't read Neil Postman in years, but I'm really starting to get a hankering to pick up some of his work again. The problem is that it dates itself immediately.
I WILL say that the complete absense of young intellectuals in our American (pop) culture is distressing.
Personally, I'd rather see intellectuals be able to move with pop culture than see intellectuals coming out of pop culture. I don't need my pop culture icons to be my intellectual or political icons. But I want to see my pop culture open to both intellectual ideas and political sensibilities.
We're essentially saying the same thing, Oliver.
This is no new insight to anyone reading this, but America's "culture" is nearly 100% incumbent on the imported cultures that comprise it. The USA, itself, has little cultural identity past its dominant popular culture. I put the word "pop" in parenthesis because this ersatz national indentity seems to be far more dominant than a conventional historical or political one. In order for their voices to be heard on a level that can affect the nation, intellectual and political icons must be incorporated into America's popular culture. Despite the fact that any substantive position swimming within popular culture must be trussed, truncated, gussied to fit an American attention span, I posit that real, large-scale change for this country cannot possibly ignore its popular culture and (hand in glove) its young people. American youth is tragically undermarketed to itself. Intellectual ideas and political sensibilities are not seriously handled within the spectrum of popular youth media, ergo, youth are conditioned to expect less of themselves as intellectuals and facets of the national identity. It's distressing to me that socially substantive community youth roles are generally relegated to sound bites that serve as bumpers to music videos and obligatory moral anchors to shitty summer movies. On a large scale, it's easy for Americans to be controlled by political entities when intelligence and public discorse is shunned or condensed. People in this country used to go to candidates' debates as families. Hah. No wonder we were sucked into war - the country has been conditioned into stupidity and banality since the days of its youth. How can a nation stand up to and fight against injustice and political corruption if it'd rather listen to ignoble trash send dirty texts to each other?
Rant over. Lord. I think that I've just needlessly re-stated the obvious. What is it about the waning hours of the day that make me want to write paragraphs? I hope this drabble makes any cogent sense.
I haven't read Neil Postman in years, but I'm really starting to get a hankering to pick up some of his work again. The problem is that it dates itself immediately.
Very well put...
This is truly the real issue. I didn't expect Mos Def to be intelligent or even well-informed. His "keeping it real" discourse was entertaining though, and I don't fully disagree with some of the things he said.
These points remind me of Noam Chomsky's take on the dominant role spectator sports play in American society.[/b] This is only an excerpt of the interview...
"In fact, I have the habit when I'm driving of turning on these radio call-in programs, and it's striking when you hear the ones about sports. They have these groups of sports reporters, or some kind of experts on a panel, and people call in and have discussions with them. First of all, the audience obviously is devoting an enormous amount of time to it all. But the more striking fact is, the callers have a tremendous amount of expertise, they have detailed knowledge of all kinds of things, they carry on these extremely complex discussions...
...And when you look at the structure of them, they seem like a kind of mathematics. It's as though people want to work out mathematical problems, and it they don't have calculus and arithmetic, they work them out with other structures...And what all these things look like is that people just want to use their intelligence somehow...
Well, in our society we have things that you might use your intelligence on, like politics, but people really can't get involved in them in a very serious way -- so what they do is put their minds to other things, such as sports. You're trained to be obedient; you don't have an interesting job; there's no work around for you that's creative; in the cultural environment you're a passive observer of usually pretty tawdry stuff...So what's left?
...And I suppose that's also one of the basic functions it serves society in general: it occupies the populations, and it keeps them from trying to get involved with things that really matter. In fact, I presume that's part of the reason why spectator sports are supported to the degree they are by the dominant institutions."
Comments
One might argue that the support of a crackpot like Mos Def does more harm than good.
its more than that. over 70% of the country disapproves of bush. everyone is angry. we don't need some guy who knows less than the average casual news watcher yelling about how bush f*cked everything up, but not really saying anything at all.
I have to admit that when Ralph Nader (check episode 5) is the sane one in the conversation we are getting into dicey territory.
You may not like his boogie man analogy with regard to Al Qaeda but it sounds a lot like what Francis Fukuyama was saying last year.
BTW do we have a confirmation of Mos' PJs status?
People still question this?
I think only one internet nerd actually cried about that.
Oh, I stopped reading. LOL I go look at boobies now.
The guy is right. The guy is wrong. His shows are based on opinions and stir up discussion of real topics. There's nothing wrong about that. I admire the fact that he's not afraid to be completely fucking wrong on the air.
I WILL say that the complete absense of young intellectuals in our American (pop) culture is distressing. Mos Def should not have to be the voice of anything other than privileged potheads masquerading as neo-neo-revolutionaries.
Personally, I'd rather see intellectuals be able to move with pop culture than see intellectuals coming out of pop culture. I don't need my pop culture icons to be my intellectual or political icons. But I want to see my pop culture open to both intellectual ideas and political sensibilities.
We're essentially saying the same thing, Oliver.
This is no new insight to anyone reading this, but America's "culture" is nearly 100% incumbent on the imported cultures that comprise it. The USA, itself, has little cultural identity past its dominant popular culture. I put the word "pop" in parenthesis because this ersatz national indentity seems to be far more dominant than a conventional historical or political one. In order for their voices to be heard on a level that can affect the nation, intellectual and political icons must be incorporated into America's popular culture. Despite the fact that any substantive position swimming within popular culture must be trussed, truncated, gussied to fit an American attention span, I posit that real, large-scale change for this country cannot possibly ignore its popular culture and (hand in glove) its young people. American youth is tragically undermarketed to itself. Intellectual ideas and political sensibilities are not seriously handled within the spectrum of popular youth media, ergo, youth are conditioned to expect less of themselves as intellectuals and facets of the national identity. It's distressing to me that socially substantive community youth roles are generally relegated to sound bites that serve as bumpers to music videos and obligatory moral anchors to shitty summer movies. On a large scale, it's easy for Americans to be controlled by political entities when intelligence and public discorse is shunned or condensed. People in this country used to go to candidates' debates as families. Hah. No wonder we were sucked into war - the country has been conditioned into stupidity and banality since the days of its youth. How can a nation stand up to and fight against injustice and political corruption if it'd rather listen to ignoble trash send dirty texts to each other?
Rant over. Lord. I think that I've just needlessly re-stated the obvious. What is it about the waning hours of the day that make me want to write paragraphs? I hope this drabble makes any cogent sense.
I haven't read Neil Postman in years, but I'm really starting to get a hankering to pick up some of his work again. The problem is that it dates itself immediately.
right, like terrorists that want to kill Americans. you know, boogie-man shit.
Mos needs to visit Ground Zero.
Very well put...
This is truly the real issue. I didn't expect Mos Def to be intelligent or even well-informed. His "keeping it real" discourse was entertaining though, and I don't fully disagree with some of the things he said.
These points remind me of Noam Chomsky's take on the dominant role spectator sports play in American society.[/b] This is only an excerpt of the interview...
"In fact, I have the habit when I'm driving of turning on these radio call-in programs, and it's striking when you hear the ones about sports. They have these groups of sports reporters, or some kind of experts on a panel, and people call in and have discussions with them. First of all, the audience obviously is devoting an enormous amount of time to it all. But the more striking fact is, the callers have a tremendous amount of expertise, they have detailed knowledge of all kinds of things, they carry on these extremely complex discussions...
...And when you look at the structure of them, they seem like a kind of mathematics. It's as though people want to work out mathematical problems, and it they don't have calculus and arithmetic, they work them out with other structures...And what all these things look like is that people just want to use their intelligence somehow...
Well, in our society we have things that you might use your intelligence on, like politics, but people really can't get involved in them in a very serious way -- so what they do is put their minds to other things, such as sports. You're trained to be obedient; you don't have an interesting job; there's no work around for you that's creative; in the cultural environment you're a passive observer of usually pretty tawdry stuff...So what's left?
...And I suppose that's also one of the basic functions it serves society in general: it occupies the populations, and it keeps them from trying to get involved with things that really matter. In fact, I presume that's part of the reason why spectator sports are supported to the degree they are by the dominant institutions."
Amazing
^^^^ too afraid to admit he was actually impressed by Mos Def's astute political analysis ^^^^