About
the Second Edition//
Discourse - speech and debate that resonate with
reason and purpose toward a greater social end - is overshadowed by
much of the mass communication we see and hear today.
America's
system of free expression was theoretically designed to protect discourse
vital to the intelligent consideration of ideas. The First Amendment
aimed to guarantee political debate and dissent that promote democracy,
inform citizens, and enrich self-realization.
The
free speech we practice, however, is not the elevated discourse we celebrate.
Our First Amendment culture has spawned the proliferation of superficial
"sound-bite" television, consumer-friendly advertising, and
libido-gratifying pornography. Put simply, our carnival culture
is far removed from the world of deliberative discourse as it was envisioned.
What
has become of the Madisonian experiment in First Amendment freedom?
Does protection of our mass commercial entertainment culture suggest
new purposes for our free speech liberties? Is the marketplace
of ideas tethered to the marketplace of items? Have the ideals
of discourse yielded to the ideology of diversion? Do we safeguard
speech solely for speech's sake?
These
questions - and more - are the focus of The Death of Discourse.
With
satirical spirit and wit, the narrative of this lively study liberally
peppers its more sober analysis with side-splitting,
or even shocking, anecdotal evidence. Indeed,
the book calls upon many of the "tricks" it criticizes.
Its text presents amusing tales, TV zaps, eye-bites, and aphoristic
banners that cross between high and low culture - Plato and Geraldo,
Madonna and Mahler - to make its points.
The
second edition preserves the first edition's mind-boggling and mirthful
stories of America's mass media exploits. A
new Foreword examines recent events - for example,
the American mass commercial entertainment culture after September 11th
- and a new and lengthy Afterword offers
a "dialogue" with the book's readers and critics.
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