massornament

Chris Hedges, one of my favorite journalists/writers, has written an article summarizing some of the ideas from his latest book about the ‘unreality’ of modern culture.  There are many interesting sections, but here is a good excerpt:

The childish idea that we can always prevail, that reality is never an impediment to what we want, is the central motif of illusion peddled on popular talk shows, by the Christian Right, by Hollywood, in corporate retreats, by the news industry and by self-help gurus. Reality can always be overcome. The future will always be glorious. And held out to keep us amused and entertained are spectacles and celebrities who have become idealized versions of ourselves and who, we are assured, we can all one day become.

The cultural embrace of illusion, and the celebrity culture that has risen up around it, have accompanied the awful hollowing out of the state. We have shifted from a culture of production to a culture of consumption. We have been sold a system of casino capitalism, with its complicated and unregulated deals of turning debt into magical assets, to create fictional wealth for us and vast wealth for our elite. We have internalized the awful ethic of corporatism — one built around the cult of the self and consumption as an inner compulsion — to believe that living is about our own advancement and our own happiness at the expense of others. Corporations, behind the smoke screen, have ruthlessly dismantled and destroyed our manufacturing base and impoverished our working class. The free market became our god and government was taken hostage by corporations, the same corporations that entice us daily with illusions though the mass media, the entertainment industry and popular culture.

After yet another summer of watching mainstream media ignore actual issues or complex stories to endlessly twitter (on and on and on and on) about dead celebrites, Facebook, live celebrties, beer gate, celebrities who we wish were dead, and then go on to just recite government or corporate press releases, it is not hard to agree with Hedges.  But, of course, it goes well beyond that as there is always the other side… the audience.  I don’t think that audiences are well understood or well-served by major media conglomerates today despite all the market research.  These media companies target only a few demographics and feed them little more than corporate marketing.  Still, the system relies on consumers demanding little more than spectacle or light entertainment and I can’t help but agree with Hedges in conecting this to a sliding North American culture.

The rest of the article presents an excerpt from Hedge’s book about the ‘gonzo’ porn industry and the language can get a little graphic.  But there are some very interesting tidbits too: who knew that General Motors was in the porn distribution business?

The article is located at AlterNet: Chris Hedges, “The Rise of Gonzo Porn is the Latest Sign of America’s Cultural Apocalypse”

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