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December 14, 2004
Opinion piece: Megan Boler lecture
From campaignaudit.org, something on what Megan's up to:
Associate Professor Dr. Megan Boler, of the University of Toronto, spoke on "Democracy or 'A New Form of Desperation'? Satire in Political Multimedia," on Dec. 3 at the University of Washington. She explored such questions as to what degree or ways the Internet and multimedia productions constitute a new public sphere of discourse and public engagement, and the ability of the Internet and these multimedia productions to challenge mainstream media through the use of irony and satire. Boler’Äôs arguments were incredibly thought provoking and excellent material for reflection on the role of the Internet in public engagement, although tended to be biased in the use of examples of multimedia productions to support her arguments.
Boler’Äôs argument rested on the premise that prior to Sept. 11, 2001, Americans could have been categorized as oversaturated, disaffected and dis-attached, and that as a result of the attacks, a wave of horror, grief, international violence and eventually an immense worldwide peace movement swept over citizens. Boler contended that the American public felt deceived by the United States government and had an enormous desire for ’Äòthe truth.’Äô In the argument of Boler, one must infer that this regarded secrets kept from the public by the government about the war in Iraq, terrorism, and Sept. 11. Subsequently the public and independent media sources such as JibJab.com, blogs or even The Daily Show with Jon Stewart use satire and irony to communicate the unsaid and question the mainstream media, particularly the Internet. Boler argued that these types of media use satire and irony to communicate and reveal ’Äòthe truth’Äô about the government to citizens without explicitly articulating meaning with words.
Posted by jason at December 14, 2004 05:13 PM