As for (my perceived?) Hedge's bias against Christians, I couldn't help notice that he gives Walter Lippmann's definition of a "stereotype" followed by a list of examples on one page and uses the term "Christian Right" on the next page and throughout the book to lump a group together. I'll assume however, for this discussion that he is referring to a group springing out of the Moral Majority who are active in politics and make up a large part of faithful Republican voters, in addition to those (who he points out by name) that teach a "prosperity gospel" which seems to prosper them nicely, if no one else. I am going to assume he is not using the term to include all Christians or even all Evangelicals.
On p. 22 he writes "Celebrity worship banishes reality. And this adulation is pervasive. It is dressed up in the language of the Christian Right." What language? Later on the same page: "If Jesus and The Purpose Driven Life won't make us a celebrity, then Tony Robbins or positive psychologists or reality television will." The Christians I know aren't looking to Christ to make them "a celebrity" and I was confused by his use of that book in particular ( there are many others I would have agreed with him on) given author Rick Warren's battle against the “Global Goliaths” – spiritual emptiness, egocentric leadership, extreme poverty, pandemic disease, and illiteracy/poor education. His goal is a second Reformation by restoring responsibility in people, credibility in churches, and civility in culture." (From Purpose Driven Life.com)
If you are correct however, and he is simply focusing on "anti-hypocrisy, and also against what he sees as the corruption of Christ’s example" then more power to him. I can certainly take no issue with that.
I thought the wrestling example he opened with was an excellent analogy for the culture we find ourselves in. It often feels as if we are wrestling (and losing) against a "cult of self" that prizes physical beauty, wealth, and fame above all else. Some of the most difficult parts of this book for me were the examples he gives of the humiliation, degradation, and lack of compassion or enjoying someone else's emotional pain, that are now not only tolerated but in many cases expected, or worse applauded. A natural slide in a "culture of narcissism" where we believe "We are all entitled to everything." (p.27) So in the current atmosphere the very things we are most in need of are likely to be not only devalued but mocked and ridiculed:
"Education, building community, honesty, transparency, and sharing are qualities that will see you, in a gross perversion of democracy and morality, voted off a reality show...Compassion, competence, intelligence, and solidarity with others are forms of weakness." (p. 30)
The printed word invites contemplation, pages invite pondering. The ever increasing speed of everything is reflected in the theme of this book. Images are fast; words are slow. "Intellectual or philosophical ideas require too much effort to absorb. Classical theater, newspapers, and books are pushed to the margins of cultural life, remnants of a bygone literate age." (p. 43) Our minds are bombarded with thousands of sound bites, pictures, bits of video every day. We are held captive by a media that makes us feel constantly behind as they tout the newer, faster, clearer technology. Remember when TV announcers use to say "Don't go away" ? Now it has been made nearly impossible to ever "go away" since we now have constant access to the spectacle.
Psychologists are concerned about how attached people are to their smart phones according to this article on Huff Post Tech. No one is invited to take a moment out to breathe and think unless advertisers can sell us something in the process. To relax or disengage them properly you are going to need the coffee, chocolate, alcohol, spa, or retreat they are selling. All this is taking its toll on us: "...between 1997 and 2004, Americans more than doubled their spending on anti-anxiety medications like Xanax and Valium, from $900 million to $2.1 billion." (It's Not the Job Market)
Movies and WWI and WWII propaganda posters were influential in their day (the author has quite a bit to say about how war is packaged and sold to us, that you are more qualified to expound on) and in politics the Nixon/Kennedy debate forever sealed the power of those who manipulate the images of politicians. But the constant, uninterrupted, high definition fare being endlessly streamed to us in our techno-saturated lives leaves us no time between exposures to process our own thoughts about them. Even solemn ceremonies such as weddings and funerals have become spectacles of their own. Celebrating a couple's commitment or honoring someone's life must now entertain us as well. Again, allowing us to put the focus squarely where we think it should be...on ourselves.
Currently featured in French Vogue is a photo spread of a ten year old girl in full make-up, seductive clothing, and stilettos giving a sexy pout to the camera. I covered it on my blog last week. It seemed a perfect representation of this quote from p. 15:
"Those who manipulate the shadows that dominate our lives are the agents, publicists, marketing departments, promoters, script writers, television and movie producers, advertisers, video technicians, photographers, body guards, wardrobe consultants, fitness trainers, pollsters, public announcers, and television personalities who create the vast stage for illusion."
I couldn't resist the comparison of that Vogue image with one of Brooke Shields with no makeup and unshaped eyebrows, when she was also ten, after reading this quote by Daniel Boorstin (p.15):
"...in contemporary culture the fabricated, the inauthentic, and the theatrical have displaced the natural, the genuine, and the spontaneous..."
The windbag is taking in air, huh? Must account for the change in air pressure even from so far away! I thought I felt my ears popping. :)
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