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The Fruit Of Free Imagination
The forward-looking critique of the West by 19th-century Muslim scholars loomed large in Mark Levine's mind as he organized a gathering of a wide range of thinkers to discuss the problems of contemporary living. Entitled "Re-Imagining Politics and Society," the conference was held this spring in New York. More than just another ventilation of anxieties about new media and corporate monopolies, Levine's symposium focused on turning concern over these complex information difficulties into a multi-tiered plan for social response. Hence the inclusion of a 150-year-old attack on materialism hardly known in the West. The diverse, challenging — and occasionally at odds — group of speakers addressed the fact that individual efforts for social change are empty unless activists can capture the imagination of others with whom they have nothing obvious in common.
MediaChannel brings you the text and sound of some of the most insightful moments from "Re-Imagining Politics and Society." Listen.
- Donnell Alexander (donnell@mediachannel.org), editor.
- Doug George (doug@mediachannel.org), multimedia producer.
- Andrew Levy (andrew@mediachannel.org), affiliate manager.
Streaming audio commentary is contained within each piece below. You will need RealPlayer 7 Basic (free).
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Stalking The Independents' Day
Upon the approval of the AOL/Time Warner merger, not only will there be a new company 17 times the size of Viacom, but the handful of fellow media giants will scramble to become larger as well. Greg Guma asks if, at this crucial time, independent media can counter the power of global corporate consolidation.
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Introducing the Politics of Meaning
When innovations designed to improve communication among sentient creatures are converted into tools for commerce, ennui ensues. In this excerpt from his new book, "The Bank Teller and Other Essays on the Politics of
Meaning," Peter Gabel, an architect of the "Re-Imagining Politics and Society" conference, discusses what's behind the sense of "disconnect" that often accompanies our days of media convergence.
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The Medium Is The Massage
New technology is forever offered up to consumers as a bottomless cure-all, even as the wares' dominance threatens the very entity they're supposed to salve: humanity. With this tongue-in-cheek piece, Pauline Oliveros provides a look at her "wish-list" of information that might tame the machine.
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AS THE MEDIA WATCH THE WORLD, WE WATCH THE
MEDIA.
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