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Zephoria points to the blogging connection of an essay by Rudy Ramirez, “Authorizing Activism: Arundhati Roy and the Performance of the Public Intellectual.” [Essay as Word doc.] She (Danah Boyd) says:
Trying to decode what Ramirez is saying, however, felt like sucking on Hanukkah geld that I couldn’t unwrap. The essay stays inside the usual mesh bag of loud allegiance to every possible PC ideal. And, standing in for tinfoil that jars your fillings, it’s packed with postmodern* jargon–nobody ever “does” or “says” anything; instead they “perform” it. |
Here are a few of the interesting ideas I think Ramirez expresses:
- The role of “public intellectual” is under siege, because audiences just want punchy sound bites.
- Expertise gives you no authority to make moral statements–neither does celebrity, of course, but audiences are curious about what celebrities think.
- OTOH celebrity is more fragile than expertise–if Roy stops being photogenic and “famous” then her message loses its interest to the public.
- Professional intellectuals may be corrupted by those who pay for their expertise.
- Therefore Ramirez prefers to think of Roy as an amateur intellectual rather than as a celebrity pundit.
All in all, it’s an intriguing essay, with interesting applications to blogging.
* Still, although it quotes Foucault once, it is Derrida-free.