C(onc)ensus Broadcast System

“People want to produce ‘consensus’, but consensus is an ideal that guides opinion, and has nothing to do with philosophy.” (152)

 
““TV is, in its present form the ultimate consensus: it’s direct social engineering, leaving no gap at all between itself and the social sphere[;] it’s social engineering in its purest form.” (74)

–Gilles Deleuze, Negotiations: 1972-1990

 
 
Q1. Potential shorthand for us? {“Census+Consensus”} Con-census Broadcast System (“CBS”)
 
Q2. Do you recall the “crazy quilt” in Ragtime?

Note: Worth reviewing Ragtime notes,
particularly regarding historiographic fiction, for discussion of The Plot Against America.

 
 

Relevant Recent Articles (apt for blogging this week)

“The Humanities’ Value” – Geoffery Galt Harpham (President, National Humanities Center)    “Glenn Beck Recycles X-Files Plot to Spread Fear of Obama” – Jeffrey Feldman A plot against America (!!?) — The X-Files was a documentary, right? Like Henry Ford’s factual publications…?   “The Roar of the Crowd: Sports Fans’ Primal Behavior” – David P. Barash

 
 
 
Upcoming

“Convergences: Comics, Culture and Globalization”
2009 UF Conference on Comics and Graphic Novels. March 21-22, 2009

“States of Suspension” (Topic: “Crisis”)
The 11th Annual Conference of the Marxist Reading Group (UF). March 26-28, 2009.