Todd Gitlin
Todd Gitlin
Todd Gitlinis an American sociologist, political writer, novelist, and cultural commentator. He has written widely on the mass media, politics, intellectual life and the arts, for both popular and scholarly publications...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionSociologist
CountryUnited States of America
justice movement may
Today's global justice movement may be the biggest, most diverse and energetic in history.
writing thinking media
I first came to think about media and politics in the late 1960s, having observed some distortions up close, but since then I wouldn't say that my personal experience has remained an important motive for my writing about media.
jesus christ possibility
My position is not that John Kerry is either Jesus Christ or the prophet Mohammad. My position is that John Kerry is the possibility of restarting politics.
media psychics way-to-live
Collectively, we are in thrall to media - because they deliver to us many of the psychic goods we crave, and we know no other way to live.
patriotism want versions
Some versions of patriotism come close to the tribal, which we all want to surpass, and some don't.
desire genius machines
The genius of the economic machine is in its ability to convert these indulgences into profitability. It converts desire into attention, a grip on our eyeballs and eardrums, which in turn can be marketed to advertisers.
party possibility states
Right now, we have no possibility of politics because we have a one-party state.
party third-parties particular
All I will say is that there are particular features of the American constitutional system that renders a third party futile - at best.
satisfaction entertainment kind
Americas are, for a variety of reasons, the most adept at producing the kind of entertainment that delivers easy satisfactions.
party two differences
I don't for the life of me understand how anybody could contemplate the results of the 2000 election in the US and say that electoral politics doesn't matter any more, and that Ralph Nader was right when he said there is no difference between the two parties.
everyday furniture environment
Human inertia makes the everyday environment, the furniture, as it were, appear to be a given.
along american-sociologist appear available bring change however ourselves people retrograde
The only people available to change the world are the people now living in it, with all the beliefs they bring along - however retrograde those beliefs may appear to those of us who see ourselves as enlightened.
absurd american-sociologist chronic desire
The manufacture of desire isn't at the heart - if it isn't absurd to speak of a heart - of the media torrent. Chronic dissatisfaction is at the heart of the matter.
almost american-sociologist bush crowd extend foot imaginable matter mindful policies square state sway watch
So every day I'm mindful as I watch the Bush crowd extend their sway into policies of every imaginable variety, and over almost every square foot of earth, that the control of the American state is a matter of urgency.