Harper?s Magazine Cultural Critic Thomas de Zengotita Speaks Out on the Powerful Influence of Media in Our Lives
NEW YORK (ContentDesk) July 8, 2005 -- "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players," wrote William Shakespeare more than 300 years ago. Today, cultural critic and Harper's magazine contributing editor Thomas de Zengotita writes, "We are all method actors," living in a "mediated" culture.
What does mediated mean? According to de Zengotita, mediation is the process by which reality is experienced through something else. He will be speaking about this and other themes in his new book, Mediated: The Hidden Effects of Media on People, Places, and Things (Bloomsbury, 2005), at Foxhollow Forum, Friday, August 19, as part of the Voices from the Edge speakers series sponsored by What Is Enlightenment? magazine. The event will mark de Zengotita's first public appearance in the Berkshires.De Zengotita perceives the technologically advanced, media-saturated West as a world composed of millions of individual "flattered selves," each living in its own insulated "MeWorld." He believes that this narcissism of epic proportion has been engendered and is constantly being nourished by media representations in all areas of our lives, from the most private (videos of one's wedding and childbirth) to the most public (subway advertisements, television).
"Our minds are, as a matter of sheer quantitative fact, stocked with mediated entities," he writes. "Ask yourself: is there anything you do that remains essentially unmediated, anything you don't experience reflexively through some commodified representation of it? Birth? Marriage? Illness?" Driven to unprecedented heights of self-consciousness, the postmodern individual's quality of being, according to de Zengotita, is that of a method actor. In a culture saturated with media performances, one's life is informed by representations of "life," thereby becoming a subtly self-conscious performance. We have become, he says, "celebrities all, celebrities at last"?the knowing stars in the self-directed movies of our lives. De Zengotita speaks with an easy brilliance, bringing both a sharp wit and an impressive depth to his critiques.
For the past six years, he has been a contributor to Harper's magazine, writing feature articles that delve into pop culture with the sort of intellectual rigor usually reserved for the lecture halls of academia. (He has, in fact, taught philosophy at New York University's Draper Program for nearly a decade.) His style has always been to use the language and metaphor, the humor and spirit of contemporary culture as a kind of Trojan horse for his philosophical ideas, and this new book is no exception. The evening will begin at 7:30pm and include a talk and audience Q&A, followed by a reception/book signing with Mr. de Zengotita. Tickets: $15; students $7, available online at www.mktix.com and at the door.
For more information, log on to www.wie.org/voices or call 413.637.6000. Reservations strongly recommended since space is limited. Thomas De Zengotita is available for interviews through Hope Cohen 413.637.6060.EnlightenNext is a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to furthering the evolution of human consciousness. It produces a variety of programs and products devoted to fulfilling its mission, including an international speakers series called Voices from the Edge, an accredited Master's Degree in Conscious Evolution, and online studies, seminars, and retreats worldwide. EnlightenNext's publishing arm, EnlightenNext Media, produces educational websites, books, audios, and videos relating to the teachings of Evolutionary Enlightenment, as well as the award-winning magazine What Is Enlightenment? since 1991, and a multimedia website of audios and videos from today's leading thinkers in business, politics, environmental issues, science, spirituality, and contemporary culture.
EnlightenNext is headquartered in Lenox, MA.Contact:Hope Cohen413 637 6060e-mail protected from spam bots.
Five Surefire Ways To Drive Your Competition Crazy
REPRINT GUIDELINES=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=You are free to publish the following article in it'sentirety in your eZine or on your website. Our onlycondition is that you MUST keep the information about theauthor,(c) notice and resource box at the end intact.Please let us know when you use an article bysending us an email... mailto:howto@leanmarketingpress.com=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=Word Count: 588Character Width: 60Resource Box: Choice of 2==========================================================="Five Surefire Ways To Drive Your Competition Crazy"
- by "Dangerous" Debbie Jenkins(c) Debbie Jenkins. All Rights Reserved.http://www.debbiejenkins.com===========================================================Taking an aggressive stance to your competition is not themost productive way of running a business. However, thereare times when some people...
Horse > Five Surefire Ways To Drive Your Competition Crazy
How To Prevent Your Horse Going Lame From The Most Common Cause Of Lameness
There are lots of ways a horse can go lame. Perhaps the most common cause of lameness is a result of Navicular Syndrome. The fortunate thing is that it can be treated where the horse gets complete, successful recovery if diagnosed and treated in it's early stages. Here's what you need to know about Navicular Syndrome.First, there is a small bone between the coffin bone and the short pastern bone called the navicular bone. This bone is important in that it distributes the horse's weight between the coffin bone and the short pastern bone.
The result is that it reduces the stress on both the coffin bone and short pastern bone when the foot lands to the ground and weight is put on it. (Even though the rear feet have navicular bones, it is the fore feet that are most often affected)The navicular bone also works with a tendon called the "deep digital flexor tendon." This tendon flexes the coffin and pastern joints. It also absorbs shock when the hoof strikes the ground. When the flexor...
How To Prevent Your Horse Going Lame From The Most Common Cause Of Lameness
Horse > How To Prevent Your Horse Going Lame From The Most Common Cause Of Lameness
MAJOR GENERATOR SHORTAGE: Electric Generators Direct.com Now Taking Backorders on All Portable Generators
The effects of Hurricane Charley and Frances are being felt far beyond Florida. The tag team tandem just put the entire portable generator marketplace on backorder. In Ohio, Tony Holder tried to purchase a generator at his local home improvement store, only to find the shelves empty with the entire inventory on a truck headed south. In Florida, new generators are as scarce as snowballs, with the demand overshadowing the supply. Customers are forced to wait in long lines with lottery numbers, hoping...
electric generator MAJOR GENERATOR SHORTAGE: Electric Generators Direct.com Now Taking Backorders on All Portable Generators
Horse > MAJOR GENERATOR SHORTAGE: Electric Generators Direct.com Now Taking Backorders on All Portable Generators
7 Ways to be a Great Speaker
1. Be YourselfIt's great to watch other successful speakers, to see what they do and how they do it. To be a great speaker in your own right requires you to develop your own style, to speak using your own voice. Be yourself when you speak and you can't help but be successful. 2.
Be BoldYou might think that it takes boldness just to stand up and start talking, and it does, but there are plenty of speakers out there who come across like timid mice. Be bold as a speaker, confident in your...
speakers 7 Ways to be a Great Speaker Harper?s Magazine Cultural Critic Thomas de Zengotita Speaks Out on the Powerful Influence of Media in Our Lives Horse
Horse > 7 Ways to be a Great Speaker
Have You Seen LCD Projection TV?
Have you seen LCD projection TV? No, really. I don't just mean a picture online or in an advertisement on a normal tube television, but have you actually seen projection TV? It really is completely different that what even the hardest of hardcore couch potatoes have ever witnessed. It is impossible to properly describe the effect of LCD projection TV, but roughly it is to normal TV what the CD is to the cassette tape. Leagues of difference, I say. It is the bee's knees, the cream in your coffee,...
Have You Seen LCD Projection TV? Harper?s Magazine Cultural Critic Thomas de Zengotita Speaks Out on the Powerful Influence of Media in Our Lives projection tv
Horse > Have You Seen LCD Projection TV?
The Twelve Tips of Christmas Shopping Online from DealofDay.com
With the holiday shopping season in full gear, consumers are eager to find the best deals and get the most bang for their buck. Joel Comm, owner of http://www.Dealofday.com, a popular bargain-hunting site since 1999, is pleased to present these twelve useful tips for holiday cheer while saving money online.1. Tap the collective wisdom of seasoned bargain shoppers on message forums. Site such as
christmas
Horse > The Twelve Tips of Christmas Shopping Online from DealofDay.com
Blu-ray: A Primer
Blu-ray is an optical disc format which is set to rival http://www.the-hdtv-tuner.com/high-definition-dvd.html">HD-DVD in the race to be the de-facto standard storage medium for HDTV. The HD-DVD vs Blu-ray battle resembles that between Betamax and VHS and DVD+RW and DVD-RW.Currently, the major Hollywood film studios are split evenly in their support fro Blu-ray and HD-DVD, but most of the electronics industry is...
hdtv Blu-ray: A Primer
Horse > Blu-ray: A Primer