Re: trendy left

[bgirard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Bernard Girard)]

Doug Henwood writes :
>Call me an optimist, but I
>think the broad public would be interested in serious political programming
>as long as it's lively and interesting. When the Kettering Foundation
>studied the matter a few years ago through polls and focus groups, they
>found the U.S. public angry about the trivialization of politics by the
>media; the public felt that serious discussion had been pre-empted by the
>interests of the monied & powerful. Those who say that the airwaves are
>filled with crap because that's what "the people" want must be harboring an
>unexamined patronizing and contemptuous view of the people.

Do you think French or Germans listen to american folk music or view
Holliwood series and soap operas because it's what they want? No. We
usually prefer our music, our TV movies (which are often of a better
quality), but these american cultural products have two qualities :
- they are much cheaper,
- they are built so as to please the larger crowds (grand mothers and
babies) and build large audiences.
They are like the median citizen : everyone converge towards them although
almost everyone prefer something else, something we don't find.

(For those who would find there a kind cultural arrogance, please don't : I
like jazz music, Coltrane, Davis, Parker ; I love the great american movies
and know there is a difference between Dallas and John Ford)

Bernard Girard
<bgirard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>