The Triumph Of Ignorance And Bliss – Pathologies of Public America - Softcover

Polk, James

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1551643146 ISBN 13: 9781551643144

Publisher: Black Rose Books, 2023

Synopsis

"It is James Polk's belief that North Americans have largely abandoned the public sphere for the sake of individual fortune. In The Triumph of Ignorance and Bliss, he examines the foundations of a culture that he sees as favoring firepower over diplomacy, passions from the pulpit over rational critique, and the star appeal of media idols over the struggle with real problems. Where engaged public discourse should channel effective dissent, there is ignorance; where public outrage should ignite corrective action to oppose the status quo, there is bliss. Polk portrays a society sidetracked by television-inspired fantasies of fame, fun, and perfect bodies, where public school systems are close to collapse; where millions live without health insurance; where tax policies openly favor the wealthiest; where corporations brazenly take control, not only of decision-making processes, but also of the very means by which issues, content, and public priorities are defined, communicated, and dealt with; where the optimism of the past has been replaced by a sense of despair and foreboding because of abuses of trust."

About this title

About the Author:

James Polk holds a PhD in philosophy for his work on Kant and Heidegger. Polk is a former fellow of the Heinrich-Heine-Stiftung fur Philosophie und kritische Sozialwissenschaft and the author of Am Horizont der Zeit. Previous publications include a number of essays on social philosophy and comparative social history. Polk teaches at the University of Southern California.

About this edition

• Publisher: Black Rose Books
• Publication date: 2023
• ISBN 10: 1551643146
• ISBN 13: 9781551643144
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336