The Long Road Out

I want to celebrate this cultural essay by Zach Webb , writing for thebaffler.com.   Webb is incensed that a bunch of entrepreneurs are charging more than the Louvre so that millennials and others can photograph themselves with ice cream, or in one of eight pre-editted dreamscapes. To make matters more commercial, most of these "look at my picture now" rooms are sponsored by web brands.   The noose of selfie celebrity tightens beneath our chins. The good news is Webb sees what's happening clearly, and he can write.   Starting with the quote in the headline above.   Yes, we are, in fact living in "populated meme-crap."  Over 150,000 repostings from The Museum of Ice Cream, late of Miami and elsewhere, sponsored by Dove, Tinder, and American Express (swipe right on that shit!).   What does Webb have to say about this?  He quotes Jonathan Crary, author of 24/7, to build up steam: “[W]hatever remaining pockets of everyday life are not directed towar...

Today's mini-drama is about the use, by Dodge Ram, of part of Martin Luther King's "drum major" speech during the Super Bowl yesterday. A few people have noticed it, or complained.   In the media, this is called "a social media disaster."   All three of those sad people.   I did note that the New York Times complained, but then they also hated the Justin Timberlake half-time show.   I think the journalists at the Times were just having a very very sad day. As I see it. the concern is that the Dodge truck line brand is pretty aligned with white undereducated men.   (In one recent ad during the playoffs, Dodge positioned itself for viewers as "raising the bar."   To make sure their intended buyers didn't miss the point, they had a truck next to a big I-beam with the words 'The Bar' etched into it.) Wait...maybe that was a Ford truck ad.   Whatever.   Same difference. Under this "white-only companies should not be able to li...