Media

[close] Jacques Ellul cracks open political and sociological commonplaces, destructively and wittily demonstrating how our unthinking acceptance of them encourages hypocrisy, smugness, and mental inertia. Among the stereotypes of thought and speech thus exploded are such phrases as "You can't act without getting your hands dirty," "Work is freedom" and "We must follow the current of history". A certain number of these old saws preside over our daily life. They permit us to understand one another and to swim in the ordinary current of society. They are accepted as so certain that we almost never question them. They serve at once as sufficient explanations for everything and as "clinchers" in too many arguments. Ellul explores the ways in which such clichés mislead us and prevent us from having independent thoughts--and in fact keep us from facing the problems to which they are theoretically addressed. They are our "commonplaces." Just as the nineteenth century brought forth many such commonplaces so our century has been busy creating its own. What Ellul has done is to stand still long enough to look at them carefully, attack them with cool reason, and leave them nakedly exposed. His remarkable caustic fearlessness is at the service of truths that often are cruel, but always are lucid and impassioned. He represents the voice of intelligence, and while doing so is often hilarious and always therapeutic about matters of first importance.

[close] A place for authors to prep and polish their upcoming (or desired) radio, TV or blog interviews. Authors can share ideas and experience to help other authors do better interviews. Moderator is a former PR professional who retired to write books. I'm learning that many authors don't know the basics of how to pitch an interview, nor how to prep for an interview if offered.

[close] Voor het delen van tips en gedachtes over boeken binnen de thema's: sociaal, cultureel en maatschappij

[close] This group is for all things related to MountainFire Media Digital Publications: Mainly award-winning Screenplays, Youtube videos, and a couple of books full of observations and commentary - one (Committing Patriotism) is purely political in focus, the other (Cheap Awful Lovely!) is more of a blended fiction memoir of a time in Hollywood when even the adult entertainment industry was as directionless as their performers - my Brand New Release!