jarrr!!
well, the pirate captain is officially the student body president of nc state...i've been thinking more about it, and the more i think, the more i don't like it. sure, it's cool that he's getting kids involved in what happens to their school and way more people participated in the elections this year. but at the same time, it's similar to arnold schwartzenegger getting people involved in california, or jesse ventura getting people involved in minnesota (is he still governor there?). it ties into the fact that politicians are now lining up to get on the daily show, or that modern political ads are 30 seconds of attention getting fluff and scare tactics, or how crossfire and the whole of fox news and similar shows are geared more towards combative, reactionary, exciting entertainment than substance.
democracy has gone pop in america. or maybe it's been pop, and it took this ultimatly insignifigant event in the whole scheme of things for me to notice. the pirate captain, like arnold and jesse, capitalizes on familiar images and jargon from enterntainment or pop culture. it replaces any sort of substance at all, and (the worst part) people buy into it and vote for blackbeard. pop culture or entertainment culture is pretty much inescapeable today; it only makes sense that it's infused into politics. whatever happens to big, weighty, important ideas like democracy, freedom, social welfare, community? it doesn't matter when the american electorate has turned into the american audience. people sit in the stands, sucking down pepsis and eating down m and m's, mesmorized by the cool pirate outfit or the terminator in a suit or the clever catch phrase or dramatic, awe-inspiring but ultimately hollow reference to 'freedom' or 'democracy' that could have come from the latest gene hackman movie. the audience is in it for the entertainment; they dont care about issues, much less what these big ideas such as 'freedom' and 'democracy' actually mean, how they apply to their situation. they won't critically analyze their situation or postulate on how it could be better; the pop-politics show keeps them sedated and oblivious.
and i don't know who to blame, the politicians, the corporations that drive pop culture, or the masses. politicians are just doing what politicians do; capitalizing on a trend for power. so i can't really blame them. sure, the entertainment, consumer, and ad industry is extremely pervasive and persuasive, but still, i'd like to think people are aware enough to realize that just because someone was a terminator doesn't mean he's a qualified leader, or that issues probably go deeper than the banter during 'crossfire' would lead you to believe...my dad mentioned that it might be because today's world isn't as bad as it was during the times of revolutions and revolts and whatnot. he's probably right, at least on a material level the poor arent as poor or the black aren't as oppressed. but that doesn't mean that things there are no poor or that equal rights is a reality; besides, the modern world has other, new things to despair about (i need to stop writing, so i won't expand, haha). im just thinking that maybe consumer culture has caught us, hook, line, and sinker, numbed us to reality, dumbed us down....i don't know, maybe that's overly cynical or just silly...i just think it's really silly that we talk of exporting freedom and democracy to the middle east, when our own house isnt even in order (this pop-politics/culture thing is only one aspect of that)
i can sense that i'm rambling and making no sense whatsoever...and maybe i'm a hypocrite. there's alot about pop culture i love. it's just not every aspect of my being...this all probably sounds dumb, haha
democracy has gone pop in america. or maybe it's been pop, and it took this ultimatly insignifigant event in the whole scheme of things for me to notice. the pirate captain, like arnold and jesse, capitalizes on familiar images and jargon from enterntainment or pop culture. it replaces any sort of substance at all, and (the worst part) people buy into it and vote for blackbeard. pop culture or entertainment culture is pretty much inescapeable today; it only makes sense that it's infused into politics. whatever happens to big, weighty, important ideas like democracy, freedom, social welfare, community? it doesn't matter when the american electorate has turned into the american audience. people sit in the stands, sucking down pepsis and eating down m and m's, mesmorized by the cool pirate outfit or the terminator in a suit or the clever catch phrase or dramatic, awe-inspiring but ultimately hollow reference to 'freedom' or 'democracy' that could have come from the latest gene hackman movie. the audience is in it for the entertainment; they dont care about issues, much less what these big ideas such as 'freedom' and 'democracy' actually mean, how they apply to their situation. they won't critically analyze their situation or postulate on how it could be better; the pop-politics show keeps them sedated and oblivious.
and i don't know who to blame, the politicians, the corporations that drive pop culture, or the masses. politicians are just doing what politicians do; capitalizing on a trend for power. so i can't really blame them. sure, the entertainment, consumer, and ad industry is extremely pervasive and persuasive, but still, i'd like to think people are aware enough to realize that just because someone was a terminator doesn't mean he's a qualified leader, or that issues probably go deeper than the banter during 'crossfire' would lead you to believe...my dad mentioned that it might be because today's world isn't as bad as it was during the times of revolutions and revolts and whatnot. he's probably right, at least on a material level the poor arent as poor or the black aren't as oppressed. but that doesn't mean that things there are no poor or that equal rights is a reality; besides, the modern world has other, new things to despair about (i need to stop writing, so i won't expand, haha). im just thinking that maybe consumer culture has caught us, hook, line, and sinker, numbed us to reality, dumbed us down....i don't know, maybe that's overly cynical or just silly...i just think it's really silly that we talk of exporting freedom and democracy to the middle east, when our own house isnt even in order (this pop-politics/culture thing is only one aspect of that)
i can sense that i'm rambling and making no sense whatsoever...and maybe i'm a hypocrite. there's alot about pop culture i love. it's just not every aspect of my being...this all probably sounds dumb, haha