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Bibliothèque | Type de document | Numéro de cote topographique | Nombre d'enregistrements enfants | Emplacement | Statut | Réservations du document |
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Recherche en cours... Science | Book | 306.0973 AR28A | 1 | Stacks | Recherche en cours... Inconnu | Recherche en cours... Indisponible |
Recherche en cours... Science | Book | 306.0973 AR28AM, 2003 | 1 | Stacks | Recherche en cours... Inconnu | Recherche en cours... Indisponible |
Recherche en cours... Science | Book | E169.12 .A724 2003 | 1 | Stacks | Recherche en cours... Inconnu | Recherche en cours... Indisponible |
Recherche en cours... Science | Book | 306.0973 AR28A 2003 | 1 | Stacks | Recherche en cours... Inconnu | Recherche en cours... Indisponible |
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Résumé
Résumé
As entertainers, corporations, and even the government pander to the lowest common denominator, American life becomes increasingly vicarious, prefabricated, and bereft of meaning. This book examines contemporary American consciousness, considering the factors that have driven society toward gossip and sensationalism at the cost of substance and depth.
Celebrity news, video games, cookie-cutter schools, and shopping, shopping, shopping. As entertainers, corporations, and even the government pander to the lowest common denominator, American life becomes increasingly vicarious, prefabricated, and bereft of meaning. This book examines contemporary American consciousness, considering the factors that have driven society toward gossip and sensationalism at the cost of substance and depth.
Arden discusses the growing epidemic of acrimony, superficiality, attention deficit disorder, and complaints of ennui. He targets the reasons why American children have expressed their confused rage with deadly weapons, why a president boasts that he earned Cs in college, and why society has drifted into craving entertainment laced with violence and cheap thrills. The book is provocative reading for concerned citizens, as well as for scholars and researchers involved with contemporary American culture and society.
Critiques (1)
Critique de Choice
Written in a trenchant style yet employing vernacular befitting a pop psychologist, this is a scathing critique of the rampant vulgarity, violence, and voyeurism in contemporary US mass culture, rooted in the cash nexus of corporate capitalism. The dominant theme is declension in the news media, entertainment world, political process, school curriculums, health care system, organized sports, and, most important, in personal relationships and individual attention spans. A liberal curmudgeon like fellow muckraker Michael Moore (Stupid White Men (2001); documentary Bowling for Columbine), Arden heaps scorn on purveyors of "dummy-downed" products and political rhetoric that pander to desires for instant gratification. "Cyberspaced," the most cutting-edge chapter, dissects the current passion for violent video games (Doom, Duke Nukem), online coupling (on an amazing variety of chat lines), and MUDs (multi-user domains). Unappreciative of satirical movies, TV fare, or musicians, Arden unfairly trashes Pulp Fiction, South Park, and Marilyn Manson. Pinning his hopes on spiritual rebirth and public interest democracy, he is perhaps overly optimistic about reversing trends that are byproducts of an inequitable economic system. ^BSumming Up: Highly recommended. All levels and libraries. J. B. Lane Indiana University Northwest
Table des matières
1. The Meltdown | p. 1 |
2. Cyberspaced | p. 17 |
3. Vicarious Living | p. 31 |
4. Infotainment | p. 47 |
5. Retail Government | p. 65 |
6. Lock and Load | p. 81 |
7. The Bottom of the Barrel | p. 91 |
8. Shopping and Dropping | p. 99 |
9. Men and Women Are from Earth | p. 111 |
10. Hyped Sports | p. 121 |
11. Waging the Soul | p. 131 |
12. Punching the Clock | p. 145 |
13. McMedicine | p. 151 |
14. Shrink Wrap | p. 159 |
15. Dumbsizing the Schools | p. 165 |
16. Mall Art | p. 175 |
17. The Spiritual Supermarket | p. 185 |
18. Rebuilding the Future | p. 193 |