Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 7, No. 3, 2008, Page 66
Susan Harding teaches anthropology at the University of California, Santa Cruz and has
written a book critical of Reverend Jerry Falwell thus, her essay ―After the Falwellians.‖
Harding follows Lakoff above in pointing out that conservatives have undermined liberal
agendas by reframing political language and burdening the liberal with creating a relativistic
and immoral society. She takes the Falwellians to task for constricting the discussion about
the secularization of society, but predicts that their challenge might lead to the emergence
of a new social soul. The signs are among evangelicals who support environmental care and
good science. She sees Al Gore‘s An Inconvenient Truth as an example of a ―jeremiad‖ and
a leftist adaptation of a faith-based style. She notes that Orwell would have agreed with
Falwellians that the revolt against religion caused the ―amputation of the soul‖ in modern
society however, Orwell defined soul as ―the belief in human brotherhood.‖
Part Three covers Media and Message and begins with Martin Kaplan‘s ―Welcome to the
Infotainment Freak Show.‖ Kaplan was a campaign manager and chief speechwriter for Vice
President Walter Mondale. He earned a Ph.D. from Stanford University, and he holds the
Norman Lear Chair in Entertainment, Media, and Society at the USC Annenberg School.
Kaplan writes that it is not so much Orwell‘s 1984 world that should worry us, but rather,
Aldous Huxley‘s Brave New World, which describes a society on the drug ―Soma.‖ We are in
―immanent danger of amusing ourselves to death.‖ In our media-driven lives, everything
has to be entertaining—politics, sports, news, commerce, health care, self-image, law—or
we will merely ignore it. Informing an audience is less important than having an audience. A
postmodern consciousness or ―pomo‖ of subjectivism has trumped the robustness of science
and real journalism. Perhaps there is an antidote via the Internet, but Kaplan warns, ―[o]n
the Internet, no one knows if you are Big Brother.‖
Victor Navasky asks ―What About Big Media?‖ in his essay that discusses the changes in
postal rates that now advantage the largest media corporations such as Time-Warner while
all small publishers must pay much higher rates. The founding fathers of our nation wanted
free fare for posted opinion magazines, to better inform the public and thus keep the citizen
as free as possible. Since the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970, the USPS demands that
―each class of mail must pay its own way.‖ That Act was implemented in 1984, ironically. In
2007, after a decade of lobbying, Time-Warner convinced the USPS (a monopoly) ―that in
the name of ‗efficiency‘ it ought to adopt an Orwellian plan whereby the smaller the
magazine, the higher the postal rates.‖ Navasky reports that this newsworthy reversal of
public policy ―received little or no coverage in the conglomerated, mainstream media.‖ The
number of Big Media companies is now in the single digits. Navasky asks, ―Whatever
happened to antitrust?‖ He doubts the Internet‘s ―unfact-checked blogosphere‖ will have
any effect because studies show that any blog longer than 1,000 words is discouraged
thus, it is no substitute for the journal of opinion that flowed more freely through the snail-
mail system in the past.
Geoffrey Cowan formerly directed Voice of America and is a professor at University of
Southern California. His essay ―Reporters and Rhetoric‖ discusses rhetoric deployed by the
administration in recent events in Iraq. For example, there was a political debate over
media reports of the so-called ―surge‖ of troops in Iraq that Democrats called ―escalation.‖
Also, the government resisted all media efforts, led by NBC-TV, to declare that ―civil war‖
had broken out in Iraq. Fox TV commentator Bill O‘Reilly insisted it was ―out-of-control
chaos, not civil war.‖ Noting Orwell‘s admonition, Cowan urges that we continue to ―struggle
against the abuse of language.‖
In ―Lessons from the War Zone,‖ Farnaz Fassihi, an Iranian American born in the United
States of America, discusses ethics and dilemmas of journalists. She worked as a journalist
post-9/11 in both Afghanistan and Iraq. Fassihi ponders the role of a journalist who hears of
an impending attack on U.S. troops. Does she have a duty to inform the troops, thus
augmenting the news, or does she remain neutral to just report events? If a journalist
Susan Harding teaches anthropology at the University of California, Santa Cruz and has
written a book critical of Reverend Jerry Falwell thus, her essay ―After the Falwellians.‖
Harding follows Lakoff above in pointing out that conservatives have undermined liberal
agendas by reframing political language and burdening the liberal with creating a relativistic
and immoral society. She takes the Falwellians to task for constricting the discussion about
the secularization of society, but predicts that their challenge might lead to the emergence
of a new social soul. The signs are among evangelicals who support environmental care and
good science. She sees Al Gore‘s An Inconvenient Truth as an example of a ―jeremiad‖ and
a leftist adaptation of a faith-based style. She notes that Orwell would have agreed with
Falwellians that the revolt against religion caused the ―amputation of the soul‖ in modern
society however, Orwell defined soul as ―the belief in human brotherhood.‖
Part Three covers Media and Message and begins with Martin Kaplan‘s ―Welcome to the
Infotainment Freak Show.‖ Kaplan was a campaign manager and chief speechwriter for Vice
President Walter Mondale. He earned a Ph.D. from Stanford University, and he holds the
Norman Lear Chair in Entertainment, Media, and Society at the USC Annenberg School.
Kaplan writes that it is not so much Orwell‘s 1984 world that should worry us, but rather,
Aldous Huxley‘s Brave New World, which describes a society on the drug ―Soma.‖ We are in
―immanent danger of amusing ourselves to death.‖ In our media-driven lives, everything
has to be entertaining—politics, sports, news, commerce, health care, self-image, law—or
we will merely ignore it. Informing an audience is less important than having an audience. A
postmodern consciousness or ―pomo‖ of subjectivism has trumped the robustness of science
and real journalism. Perhaps there is an antidote via the Internet, but Kaplan warns, ―[o]n
the Internet, no one knows if you are Big Brother.‖
Victor Navasky asks ―What About Big Media?‖ in his essay that discusses the changes in
postal rates that now advantage the largest media corporations such as Time-Warner while
all small publishers must pay much higher rates. The founding fathers of our nation wanted
free fare for posted opinion magazines, to better inform the public and thus keep the citizen
as free as possible. Since the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970, the USPS demands that
―each class of mail must pay its own way.‖ That Act was implemented in 1984, ironically. In
2007, after a decade of lobbying, Time-Warner convinced the USPS (a monopoly) ―that in
the name of ‗efficiency‘ it ought to adopt an Orwellian plan whereby the smaller the
magazine, the higher the postal rates.‖ Navasky reports that this newsworthy reversal of
public policy ―received little or no coverage in the conglomerated, mainstream media.‖ The
number of Big Media companies is now in the single digits. Navasky asks, ―Whatever
happened to antitrust?‖ He doubts the Internet‘s ―unfact-checked blogosphere‖ will have
any effect because studies show that any blog longer than 1,000 words is discouraged
thus, it is no substitute for the journal of opinion that flowed more freely through the snail-
mail system in the past.
Geoffrey Cowan formerly directed Voice of America and is a professor at University of
Southern California. His essay ―Reporters and Rhetoric‖ discusses rhetoric deployed by the
administration in recent events in Iraq. For example, there was a political debate over
media reports of the so-called ―surge‖ of troops in Iraq that Democrats called ―escalation.‖
Also, the government resisted all media efforts, led by NBC-TV, to declare that ―civil war‖
had broken out in Iraq. Fox TV commentator Bill O‘Reilly insisted it was ―out-of-control
chaos, not civil war.‖ Noting Orwell‘s admonition, Cowan urges that we continue to ―struggle
against the abuse of language.‖
In ―Lessons from the War Zone,‖ Farnaz Fassihi, an Iranian American born in the United
States of America, discusses ethics and dilemmas of journalists. She worked as a journalist
post-9/11 in both Afghanistan and Iraq. Fassihi ponders the role of a journalist who hears of
an impending attack on U.S. troops. Does she have a duty to inform the troops, thus
augmenting the news, or does she remain neutral to just report events? If a journalist
