Bob Dylan and the Ethics of Market Fascism

By Tony Kashani, 

Truthout | Op-Ed15 February 2014

Come senators, congressmen,Please heed the callDon't stand in the doorwayDon't block up the hallFor he who gets hurtWill be he who has stalledThere's a battle outsideAnd it is ragin'.It'll soon shake your windows and rattle your wallsFor the times they are a-changin'.
Bob Dylan – "The Times They Are A-changin'," 1964
The Culture of Spectacle
On Sunday, February 2, 2014, according to most reliable news sources, 111.5 million people (mostly US residents) participated in viewing the imperial spectacle known as the Super Bowl XLVIII. To be sure, this Super Bowl was not dissimilar to its predecessors; a made-for-television event of commodification, showcasing a package of mediocrity with a mind-numbing violent team sport to be utilized for selling useless junk. According to Bill Wanger, executive vice president for programming and research at Fox Sports, "Big-event television is a great way for people to have a communal event, to talk about it socially and to talk about it as a group."
Wagner presupposes viewers are ready-made consumers who have lost the ability to think, or perhaps had never developed that ability in the first place. Therefore, if Fox Sports and their free market economy coconspirators set the agenda, people longing for community and communal experiences will simply follow it.

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