"Even today the culture industry dresses works of art like political slogans and forces them upon a resistant public at reduced prices; they are as accessible for public enjoyment as a park. But the disappearance of their genuine commodity character does not mean that they have been abolished in the life of a free society, but that the last defence against their reduction to culture goods has fallen. The abolition of educational privilege by the device of clearance sales does not open for the masses the spheres from which they were formerly excluded, but, given existing social conditions, contributes directly to the decay of education and the progress of barbaric meaninglessness"
I really enjoyed this statement. I am a consumer as we all are. I will spend time comparing and contrasting products to find the best deal and the one that will last the longest. I will wander around a store aimlessly just to get out of the house. I watch films rather than read books. I play video games and goof around on facebook. A life filled with distraction. This time could all be used towards better means which would elevate me in many standings. I am changing some habits and leaving some the same but overall we are creatures off comfort and products of the world in which we were raised. This is the point I think A&H are making.
We as a society crave distraction and the corporations and the government is happy to give it to us. It allows them to keep us under control and uninformed. The ....story A&H are telling is as old as the coliseums. The coliseums were the first spectacle, the first distraction, and the first form of mass media/entertainment. However, there use to be "fine art", art that required skills and a specific technique and it was revered. That has even changed. We used to require skilled actors for plays, then we needed pretty faces for film and now we looks for the most horrendous human beings we can find for reality T.V. in order to live our lives vicariously through them. Despite the fact, that the individual could possible accomplish this life themselves.
The article made me take a step back and self reflect, which is what is spawning these ideas. So mission accomplished A&H.
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