From: ahawks@nyx.cs.du.edu (scooby dooby doo)
Subject: Re: Cultural el8
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Date: Fri, 2 Oct 92 01:53:14 GMT

In article <1DTXRB1w165w@freeside.com> merlin@freeside.com (Merlin the Idiot Magi) writes:
|The current _Newsweek_ is devoted to the `cultural elite', expanding on 
|the term made popular by Dan Quayle.  It covers the ideas presented by 
|Quayle in a slightly more unbaised way, explaining the the `cultural 
|elite' is an extention of certain parts of society, and the media's, 
|ability to pull ideas from the fringe of mankind and pushing them out 
|into the open.  

Well, the cultural elite certainly extends beyond our (American)
culture, and certainly extends beyond the present...If you're going to
have civilization, you're going to have culture, so you're probably
going to have a cultural elite.....

|   The only easily visible tie-in with Cpunk is the mention of W. Gibson 
|as a possible future member of the elite because of his involvement in 
|early Cpunk.  

I saw this mention as well, and was waiting to see if anyone would go
ahead and mention it...Also, last night on Night After Night (show
with Alan Havey on Comedy Central [cable channel] - blows away Jay
Leno et al(osers).....) Gore Vidal was talking about his new book, and
mentioned one of the characters was a cyberpunk (he used the word)....

|   Attimitedly, this isn't impressive, I could think of much more 
|important people in Cpunk to highlight, but it has it's use.  We _have_ 
|been noticed by the `meme machine' and things should only get faster.  

Yes, in the continuing infiltration of this convenient little
genre-turned-subculture, things like this slowly keep showing up
(Sneakers to add another mainstream example).....However, each time
the word is used, or the genre is referred to, pay close attention to
the context (ie: hackers, or punks, or industrial music, or literary
SF)...These little things matter, especially if we're talking about
the cultural elite....

As far as picking a better icon than the Gibster :), I would
agree...As fasr as cultural importance and contributions are
concerned, Bruce Sterling extends far beyond Gibson in his importance,
IMHO....Gibson created Chiba (but we'd already seen it in Bladerunner)
and Gibson basically (as far as most are concerned) coined
cyberspace...Those are his contributions (albeit certainly not
minor)...Yet Sterling has basically molded the literary genre, been an
integral observer and commentator on cyberspace as it is now and where
it is heading, and certainly has a more realistic and applicable idea
of what this-whole-cyberpunk-thing is about....

Yet, take a look at this group....90% is based around Neuromancer, so
it's easier to point to him, since the general public does as well...

|   What does it feel like to be one of the `Cultural elite'?

I'd tell you, but, I've got a conference call with Spike Lee and Tim
Robbins in a couple minutes....:)

|--
|merlin@freeside.com (Merlin the Idiot Magi)
|Rivendell BBS -*- Houston, TX -*- +1(713)941-2236

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