Like this woman, David Mamet appears to be laboring under the misconception that he is intelligent, when in reality he is, like this woman, a gibbering idiot.
In language one can only conclude is meant to impress a "sophisticated" UK readership (they for whom Benny Hill was the apex of hilarity), Mamet declares that there really is an Illuminati cabal controlling the doings of mankind, and that in their inexorable pursuit of TOTAL CONTROL, theatrical release motion pictures are doomed to extinction.
I conclude that he is either telling an elaborate joke, which WOULD be pretty funny, or he has frittered away whatever functioning synapses he might have once weakly laid claim to via the long-term effects of mental masturbation like this:
- I pray you bear with me as I exceed my brief.
The clan will have an elder to adjudicate disputes, but a society of several differing clans may require reference to mutually shared conceptions, thus giving birth to the lawyer. Travel and trade give rise to the necessity of credit, and bring into being the financier. Each expansion of social network, from the family to the clan, the tribe, the kingdom and state, will engender both an increasingly abstract philosophy and an increasingly elaborate mechanism of oversight.
Individuals known and responsible to one another live in groups that can enforce their norms through shame; less intimate groups rely upon the assignment of guilt to keep order. Guilt, as opposed to shame, must be proved, so legislatures come into being to decide - and policing organisations to enforce - the group norms. At this point, small imagination is required of the inspired individual to realise the benefits of collusion.
....President Monroe, in 1822, used the phrase "Manifest Destiny" to describe a moment of enlightenment that, perhaps, ran: "Looking at this map, I see the blue-coloured water starts on the right-hand border of what appears to be a continent; and, on the left-hand border, I see another expanse of blue. The state, being currently situated on the right, must not a sense of visual balance demand that we expand until our polity touches the other blue part?"
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Article comments
1 - Eric Olsen
And the answer to book title #2 above, of course is, not very good at all.
2 - Mark Saleski
this is exactly the kind of language i heard a while back during some book reviewer segment on cspan 2. man, i wish i could remember who the people were on the panel...but gees, it was all so condescending.
they were dumping on a relatively popular book (The Lovely Bones, i think) and were so snotty about it that it made me want to drive right to store to pick up a copy.
3 - Jim Carruthers
I will note I haven't read the links, but will point to some in return:
The Spanish Prisoner
Wag The Dog
State and Main
well, okay there was "Hannibal", but everybody has off days.
From empircal evidence, I haven't been in a movie theatre in about four years.
And of course, y'all in the States, home of DMCA, are being pushed to the Broadcast Flag (remember how you forced everybody to build V-Chips into teevee sets, well this controls both the horizontal and the vertical).
Or are you talking about something else?
It's all besides the point since Charlie Stross is The Evil Overlord.
Read his story "A Colder War".
4 - Eric Olsen
No particular need to follow the links, I excerpted the gist of this mess. My point is generally that this is total nonsense written in a ridiculously arch manner, and that Mamet isn't nearly as good as he thinks he is, of which inflated self view is the only possible explanation for this bit of Elders of Zion inanity. The video/DVD rental/purchase store offers far more variety than does the multiplex, so control over choice certainly won't be obtained by shutting down the theaters.
5 - Chris
Was that what he was trying to say?
6 - Eric Olsen
I believe so
7 - jadester
something like that, i think. He is wrong tho. There are far more videos and dvds available just from amazon than any of my local cinemas have shown in their entire lifespans
8 - Eric Olsen
exactly - with the advance of technology we have always seen MORE choice, not less. The more I think about it the more stupid it is - I'm glad I was in a bad mood when i wrote the post.