My literary and artistic pursuits have decreased dramatically with the onset of midterms, so, you'll excuse the large number of political posts, as my morbid fascination with the diseased discourse that passes for political thought is the last piece of my non-academic life I have time for these days.
Something quick on Obama's speech yesterday. Bubblegum Aesthetics had this to say:
It's a reminder that "the audacity of hope" is not just a good campaign phrase (although it is certainly that), but also a way of thinking about the links between rhetoric, imagination, and possibility (there are many parallels between politics and academia, but a key one might be an overreliance on a patented hipster skepticism, a desire to not be caught out, and to therefore close out the notion of a different future).
Word up, dude.
The idea of "parallels between politics and academia" and the "overreliance on a patented hipster skepticism" got me thinking about a link between the media's coverage of elections--in particular when covering the various "-gates" that have popped up this cycle--and my hipster, pomo-obsessed generation.
Our generation, and perhaps correctly, has gotten a reputation for being somewhat self-absorbed. The media, the culture, the parents, pick your favorite cultural "bad-guy" has been used as a cause for our apparent narcissism. The fact is, this self-absorption is endemic in American culture in total, not just in gen pomo. It's easier to see with us. After all, we are the first generation to grow up in this discourse-obsessed, post-post-everything cluster-fuck we call American culture, so, is it any surprise that, in this post-Khunian, incommensurable-happy, relativistic world, you'd find a group of young people obsessed with discourse and image more than content and truth?
A quick glance at the media's coverage of so-called "Wright-gate" will demonstrate the same essential narcissism so bemoaned in "Gen Y". It's analysis of their own analysis, masquerading as news. Not content merely to report on a story, they analyze it's potential implications, then they begin analyzing the potential implications of their own analysis, then they report their political masturbation as The News (TM). By the time the public gets ahold of a story, it's been so far removed from any real event, it's little more than glorified navel-gazing.
The connection: our generation's and our academia's obsession with "discourse" and image cohere perfectly with the rest of American culture--and, in particular, our media's--self-absorption.
Or something.Honestly, though, I'm pretty sure this just demonstrated two things: (1) I probably don't know what I'm talking about, but, thanks to a passing familiarity with Oberlin's academic jargon, might sound--to a casual observer--like I do, and, (2) it's midterms, and I'm tired.
I'll leave you on a happier note:
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