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

Breaking (from? toward?)

 
 
During Spring Break…

Weekly blog entries not required (optional / extra credit toward participation).

More significant extra credit opportunity of an additional response
(see details below).

 
 

Grid? (Doxa?)

Thoughts? (perhaps for blogging, in relation to Ragtime?)

“Writing on the Wall” Project
@ “Plaza of the Americas” (?) — Univ of Florida; 28-Jan 2009