"The new opiate of the masses is the illusion of participation in the culture, even as the underpinnings of a good life - money, mostly- are stripped away and handed to the filthy rich." David Granger in the Editor's Letter of the April 2007 Esquire.
(Esquire - by the way has just launched a redesign of their site. In a way it is the end of an era for me as I created the old one. I'm rather pleased that it lasted for seven years. It was fun to plan, shape, oversee and staff. I wish them well with their new one. )
Somewhere I have notes and possibly audio of a walk I took with Mark Crispin Miller around Times Square and to the headquarters of a number of media companies. When we looked at the advertising and stopped outside of MTV's studio he said something very similar. The ads had changed from pushing a product and even an aspirational element to the idea the "you" are the star.
