Subject: Re: NYT Op-Ed Salman Rushdie 271102
Date: Fri, 6 Dec 2002 14:38:23 +0100


Hello everyone,
This debate has taken a strange turn.  My "question" concerned Salman
Rushdie and his choice sources of information, not the ever present problem
of making alternative voices heard, the politics of mass media, etc.  I am
aware of these sources and voices of dissent, as are most of us here on the
list serve ; (whether or not we share these alternative or marginal opinions
is entirely another matter).
For me the pressing question or problem is, what to do or think when
someone, like Salman Rushdie, who has a certain amount of media "power",
seems to propagate opinions that only comfort the masses instead of
challenging them; especially when his life and writing tell another story.
Why doesn't he talk about these other voices when he has the chance of
reaching a mass audience?  Is he ignorant, or does he choose not to.  Thus
my question, "does Salman Rushdie only read the NYT?" is a very important
one, isn't it?  Is the only way to reach the masses by means of pandering to
the opinions of the dominant forces and discourse?  Or should we question
the legitimacy (for the alternative cause) of any so-called dissident voices
who are "adopted" and "listened" to in the mass media?  Should we attempt
attack or classify Salman as a DEMAGOGUE and strip him of "political
legitimacy"?  Somehow he is failing or betraying his "origins" (very common
in poco situations) but for the gain of capital, dominant discourse, Empire
or whatever you want to call it, and not for an alternative vision and
possibilities.  Salman continues to spread the rumor that there are only
crazies, fundamentalists and terrorists or honorable dissidents like himself
(with whom he is happy to be categorized - those chosen by the media, in
fact).  It is this binary vision that the US media (and political) machines
feed on.  He leaves the masses to choose which ones they will support.

Which brings us to the question of identifying the GOOD guys and the BAD
guys?  And is that even possible or desirable?  (there is already enough of
this labeling in the media)  Is dissidence and resistance effective or even
legitimate when in the end those that are heard are recuperated by the
dominant discourse, digested and gutted of meaning and stripped of their
"troublesome" traits, turned into vacant legends/corpses like the Che,
Ghandi or even more contemporary ones like Salman; who are now quoted and
revered by the likes of Nike and other corporate sponsors.

Yours,
Jaclyn


----- Original Message -----
From: "Liam Connell" <l.connell-AT-herts.ac.uk>
To: <postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu>
Sent: Friday, December 06, 2002 9:56 AM
Subject: Re: NYT Op-Ed Salman Rushdie 271102


> Salil
>
> With all due respect - and with deference to the list which is not really
> about such issues - this is a rather naive view of the media.
>
> To give a more mundane example at the height of the Thatcher government in
> the UK little more than 40% of the British voters (not even 40% of the
> electorate let alone the population as whole).  Yet of the national
> newspapers only 2 opposed her government while 5 supported her (ie around
> 70%).  Why the disparity?  Well national newspapers are expensive to run
and
> require a relationship with finance capital that tends towards the right.
>
> Your analysis of the free market reads like a kind of 18th century theory
> version.  In reality the market is full of imbalances and barriers which
> distort demand in favour of the products that business wants to produce.
>
> I find it hard to buy fair trade despite the fact that when fair trade is
> available it sells extremely well in this country.  I do believe that I
have
> a duty to try to translate this demand into supply but this is a political
> battle as well as simply a market one.
>
> Liam
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Salil Tripathi <salil61-AT-hotmail.com>
> To: <postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu>
> Sent: Friday, December 06, 2002 7:24 AM
> Subject: Re: NYT Op-Ed Salman Rushdie 271102
>
>
> >
> >
> >
> > Maldoror,
> >
> > The funny thing about markets is that if a large number of people want
to
> > read Communist, revolutionary or other dissident stuff, it will be sold
at
> > every news stand. You've yourself said that this is dissident
literature,
> > and like other forms of dissident literature that does not conform to
the
> > majority's tastes (be it anarchist, right-wing, reactionary, fascist,
> Hindu
> > fundamentalist) it will not displayed prominently. As a vegetarian in
> China
> > I have to walk an extra mile to find a place where I can eat. If all
> Chinese
> > were vegetarians, it would be different. The same goes for news stands
and
> > revolutionary literature. Rather than complaining about the news stand
or
> > the media's unwillingness to display dissident stuff more prominently,
we
> > should ask why is it that this kind of a message is not more widely
> popular.
> > I write for some of the "small" publications, and sure, I'd like those
> > publications to be displayed as prominently as some of the bigger ones I
> > write for. But I don't believe it is fair to blame the news vendor.....
> >
> > Salil
> >
> >
> >
> > >From: Maldoror <insektus-AT-yahoo.com>
> > >Reply-To: postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
> > >To: postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
> > >Subject: Re: NYT Op-Ed Salman Rushdie 271102
> > >Date: Thu, 5 Dec 2002 21:24:04 -0800 (PST)
> > >
> > >
> > > > well the good guys, both Little and Big and Small
> > > > also work
> > > > the same way, and therein
> > > > lies the Problem.
> > > > It s a duality business.
> > >
> > >do you ever have anything useful to say or contribute
> > >other than your usual discombobulated rambling?
> > >
> > >if the 'good guys' as you call them worked in the same
> > >way why are there no dissident magazines on newsstands
> > >right next to the new york times? if i want dissident
> > >literature why do i have to go to 'revolution books'
> > >off the beaten path here in new york to get them? i
> > >would hope one could find them in colombia bookstores
> > >or nyu but it wouldn't surprise me if they weren't.
> > >
> > >if the 'good guys' worked in the same way there would
> > >be more points of view out there for the masses to
> > >consume other than that of the state media. where are
> > >the anarchist magazines? the communist magazines? the
> > >socialist magazines? the answer is in little
> > >independent bookstores tucked away virtually out of
> > >sight, keeping the dissident views to a mere whisper.
> > >
> > >and if you're going to respond do it in a concise way
> > >instead of just babbling.
> > >
> > >gr3g
> > >
> > >====> > >
> > >'every government is a dictatorship. every leader, a
> rant.'   -anonymous
> > >
> > >
> > >__________________________________________________
> > >Do you Yahoo!?
> > >Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now.
> > >http://mailplus.yahoo.com
> > >
> > >
> > >      --- from list postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
> >
> >
> > _________________________________________________________________
> > MSN 8 with e-mail virus protection service: 2 months FREE*
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> >
> >
> >
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> >
>
>
>
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>




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