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Only a Dream

Only a Dream > Tow e r o f B a f f l e r Only a Dream T 3 John Summers pundits described in these pages, the cultural apparatus standing between the public and its problems pursues a politics of brainshare; the game is won by click and by “like,” measures that mimic the market indexes. The hyperreality on our screens turns out to be useful, in this respect, for promoting lullabies, fads, and just-in-time demonologies. Knowledge may or may not be power. But knowingness drives the coverage on Politico, scripts the patter on MSNBC, and fuels the cauldron of excitations on CNBC’s Squawk Box. It’s tempting to blame the conservative barons and their vested interests for all the dysfunctions of our political debate. It’s more interesting, though, to observe the cultural metamorphosis driving our collective lurch beyond the categories of true and false. Once upon a time, let us say, reason guided our efforts to sort out the claims and counterclaims raining down from on high. Today’s political managers and messaging professionals are hyperconscious of unconsciousness, in tune with the irrational. Channeling videogame designers, admen, PR flunkies, celebrity editors, social media programmers, casino promoters, and cultural theorists, post-crash http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png The Baffler MIT Press

Only a Dream

Summers, John
The Baffler – Nov 1, 2012
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Publisher
MIT Press
Copyright
© 2012 John Summers
Subject
Tower of Baffler
ISSN
1059-9789
eISSN
2164-926X
DOI
10.1162/BFLR_e_00085
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

> Tow e r o f B a f f l e r Only a Dream T 3 John Summers pundits described in these pages, the cultural apparatus standing between the public and its problems pursues a politics of brainshare; the game is won by click and by “like,” measures that mimic the market indexes. The hyperreality on our screens turns out to be useful, in this respect, for promoting lullabies, fads, and just-in-time demonologies. Knowledge may or may not be power. But knowingness drives the coverage on Politico, scripts the patter on MSNBC, and fuels the cauldron of excitations on CNBC’s Squawk Box. It’s tempting to blame the conservative barons and their vested interests for all the dysfunctions of our political debate. It’s more interesting, though, to observe the cultural metamorphosis driving our collective lurch beyond the categories of true and false. Once upon a time, let us say, reason guided our efforts to sort out the claims and counterclaims raining down from on high. Today’s political managers and messaging professionals are hyperconscious of unconsciousness, in tune with the irrational. Channeling videogame designers, admen, PR flunkies, celebrity editors, social media programmers, casino promoters, and cultural theorists, post-crash

Journal

The Baffler – MIT Press

Published: Nov 1, 2012

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