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Altering history, one word at a time
When I see things of an historic nature with my own eyes, I try to step back and think for a moment. Such an event occurred with me this week, and I hope you read on and consider the truth of what’s...
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Warning, soul search underway
The GOP must do an immediate about-face on its position on gay marriage. That’s not some liberal shouting at some conservative; it’s an official position from a top-ranking GOP pollster. Go read Andrew...
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Damn those knowledgeable customers!
Regular readers here know my views about marketing over the past 100 years. The word took on pejorative tones with the Creel Committee, and reached its one-to-many pinnacle with the era of Mad Men....
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Tension, anxiety, then relief
The shot that’s destined to become the iconic photo of the space jump I was 23 years old when man first walked on the moon, and I’d forgotten the emotions of that event until Austrian skydiver Felix...
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Enough is enough, saith the people
Here is the latest in my ongoing series of essays, Local Media in a Postmodern World: Humanity’s Greatest Challenge In discussing what’s happening to traditional media – including at the local level –...
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Re-writing history by erasure
Media in the U.S. is more often than not the servant of special interests, even though professional journalists would scoff at the idea as absurd. Unfortunately, the truth is that it’s been this way...
View ArticleA great spiritual awakening, postmodern style
Trying to get above or ahead of the public fray about religion in order to make any cultural sense of things is a bit like trying to unscrew a flat head with a Phillips head. As institutions go, this...
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Fearful citizens make good citizens
New research is shedding light on something we’ve all suspected for a long time, that those who believe in a God who will punish them if they don’t, tend to give more to others and be better citizens....
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The prosperity gospel mess
Author and historian Kate Bowler has penned a deeply touching, personal, and provocative look at what’s called “the prosperity gospel” – a twentieth century Christian heresy positing that a better,...
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Our neverending civil war
Let’s look at the Donald Trump phenomenon through a slightly different lens, shall we? I’ve often written in describing postmodernism that horizontal connectivity makes impossible many axioms of...
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Donald Trump and the melting pot
One of the most profound cultural changes in the United States during my lifetime is the ongoing shift in the governing metaphor from a melting pot to a multicultural tapestry. Immigrant populations...
View ArticleChapter One of my new book
As political events began to take shape last year in the U.S. and specifically with the candidacy of Donald Trump, I began gathering all of the documents from my days as Pat Robertson’s producer in the...
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Of Spectators and Participants
In response to many questions years ago about the nature of postmodernism as a cultural era, I described it as the “Age of Participation,” for technology was making it possible for us to participate in...
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Announcing my new book
I’m very happy to announce that OR Books in New York will be publishing my new book about my days as Pat Robertson’s producer with The 700 Club. We’re going to call it “The Gospel of Self: How Jesus...
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The real threat to the working class
My dad coming home from work at one of the big furniture factories in Grand Rapids circa 1959. In the endless litany of analyses over why Donald Trump was elected president, the winner seems to be the...
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Who writes the history in a postmodern world?
Slate.com Image As the American press attempts to deal with its devastating loss of authority in the 2016 presidential election process, it might be useful to review one of its most important, albeit...
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Israeli soldier guilty…or not!
For the first time since 2004, a member of the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) has been convicted of manslaughter in the death of a Palestinian who had earlier participated in the stabbing of another...
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Just the facts
Dragnet’s Sgt. Joe Friday The principal assumption of modernity – the human era governed by logic and reason – is that there is an attainable objectivity when it comes to facts, even when applied to...
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War Propaganda as “Weaponized Narrative”
Weaponized Narrative Is the New Battlespace is a fascinating and highly perceptive take on the use of manipulating narrative to impact culture. The idea is that individuals, institutions, and nations...
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Media mergers and hanging on
I need to step away from book promotion for a minute to make a comment the current state of local media. First, there’s the merger/sale this week between Sinclair Media and Tribune Media that will give...
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