Celebrity has become ...

[Michael Grove]

 

THE opiate of the masses

 

NOT ONLY is this obvious in the presence of a celebrity culture that

embraces the banal and idiotic, but also in the prevailing discourses and

policies of a range of politicians and anti-public intellectuals who believe

that the legacy of the Enlightenment needs to be reversed.

 

From celebrity culture to phony public intellectuals to shallow politicians 

there's an assault on rational thinking in the UK and throughout Europe

and seemingly in the supposed UNITED states of America ...

 

Since the late 1970s, there has been an intensification in the United States,

Canada and Europe of neoliberal modes of governance, ideology and

policies - a historical period in which the foundations for democratic public

spheres have been dismantled. Schools, public radio, the media and other

critical cultural apparatuses have been under siege, viewed as dangerous to

a market-driven society that considers critical thought, dialogue, and civic

engagement a threat to its basic values, ideologies, and structures of

power. This was the beginning of an historical era in which the discourse

of democracy, public values, and the common good came crashing to the

ground. Margaret Thatcher in Britain and soon after Ronald Reagan in the

United States - both hardline advocates of market fundamentalism -

announced that there was no such thing as society and that government

was the problem not the solution. Democracy and the political process

were all but sacrificed to the power of corporations and the emerging

financial service industries, just as hope was appropriated as an

advertisement for the whitewashed world, a culture whose capacity to

critique oppressive social practices was greatly diminished.

 

Large social movements fragmented into isolated pockets of 

resistance mostly organised around a form of identity politics that 

largely ignored a much-needed conversation about the attack on the 

social and the broader issues affecting society such as ... 

 

the growing inequality in wealth, health, power and income.

 

"The earth as a living system, by many, appears to be a terminal

patient on the way out and yet the reality is what we require is a

change of belief. Because with that change of belief we are then

able to feed a process of spontaneous remission. THIS GARDEN

can come back as fast as we can change our belief system."

 

Dr. Bruce H. Lipton - Biologist

 

 

SO WHAT ELSE IS POSSIBLE ?

 

 

.

[Michael Grove]

 

  

CELEBRITY has indeed BECOME the OPIATE of the MASSES - but as Impromptu has

commented in response to Jake Wallis Simons' Telegraph Blog ...

What I arrive at, once you've stripped away all this have-a-go-hippie's eye-twinkling, verbal

contortions, semi-digested Wikipedia soundbites and sixth-form precocity, is:

"we should be nicer to each other."

Can't argue with that, but how do we get to the promised land, oh guru? Suddenly all the

pseudo-intellectualism evaporates and we get: "Not my job to figure that out mate, I'm just

an ordinary bloke. Nice beard, btw." And perhaps some stuff about "vibes" and "evolving

consciousness", If he feels the mood is right for a bit of wafty mysticism.

My conclusion is that RB is really nothing much more than a hyperactive, above average pub bore.

One of those that everyone refers to behind their back, with some rolling of eyes, as "a character".

They usually have a certain charismatic draw and sometimes a bit of a way with the ladies too

(if that's the audience most of their act is aimed at).

Brunel commented ...

Russell Brand is a narcissistic 'piss-taker'. He gets invited onto talk shows and is given

the chance to broadcast so called political views to millions of people. He is having a laugh

at everyone's expense. If you believe him you are a fool, if you take him seriously or get angry

with him you are also a fool. Either way, he wins.

Advice to all talk show hosts - don't work with animals, children or Russell Brand.

and Peteko concluded ...

We are so dumbed down that we think people like Brand are intellectual

and worthy of serious consideration. GET REAL.