post class- Fang

Adorno and Horkheimer's critique of the culture industry on grows truer to this day. Since the advent of media that informs the "public" about "celebrities" (as if we are not all people at the end of the day), people have been infatuated with the notion of knowing everything about people they might never meet. Magazines like People and Us 

 make fortunes off of giving stories about people, just people, that happen to not be an accountant or lawyer, but work in a field where more people see them.
The most frightening (as if the past few discussions in CMC300 have not been frightening or alarming) aspect of the culture industry is that it is not as if it is like being a travel agent or print journalist and people see that industry diminishing, the culture industry embodies every aspect of our lives. Conversations often revolve around the latest Miley Cyrus debacle or what ridiculous thing Kanye West is doing. With shows like The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, politics and politicians are now part of the culture industry and a key to getting elected is to be a part of it (look at Chris Christie’s YouTube or Facebook page)

I suggested Rise Against’s “Entertainment” for class because it perfectly encapsulates our society with the line “we’ve all made petty fortunes but we can’t afford a life.” The culture industry augments its worth but dominating our lives and we are already too immersed in it to try to change anything. Now all that is done is modify how we let it control us.

All we are is entertainment caught up in our own derangement
Tell us what to say and what to do
All we are are pretty faces, picture perfect bottled rage
Packaged, synthesized versions of you

We've all made petty fortunes but we can't afford a life
Confined to pull out quotes in hotel rooms
They all scream California and it's toppling empire
But can't you see the end is coming soon?

Come one, come all, the new sensations guarantees then obligations
Spotlights follow every single move
Basking here on ten foot stages, pouty lips and oh so jaded
All as if we have something to prove

Despite these petty fortunes we still can't afford a life
Confined to pull out quotes in hotel rooms
They all scream California and it's toppling empire
But can't you see the end is near?

And if we cared at all about this unknown plight
Then we'd do something more to finally make this right

Is this only entertainment? Pull the curtains, places please
We learned to sing and dance and cry on cue
But this is more than entertainment in a world so sick with pain
This is the only thing that's real or true

We've all made petty fortunes but we can't afford a life
Confined to pull out quotes in hotel rooms
They all scream bloody murder over graves already dug
But can't you see the end?