Each component, part, subset fusing into a greater cohesive whole. While the book remains free from the abstruse nomenclature of the post- modernists, for example, the heart of the story, and each artery, vein, and capillary contribute to a system much deeper than Kellner or I can survey. The functional pragmatics of news production, Federal regulatory practices, our culture bred for consumption, America's natural tendency towards monopoly capitalism, wars and cold wars, and so on, each play a role pivotal to the production of our television world. An almost infinite, definitely arduous task remains, flushing out the other components of our social system. Perhaps that can explain the persistence of such vacuous metaphysics.
Innumerable questions arise, but very few answers.
That is the task that Kellner sets for us to tackle. Yet, for democracy to succeed it is one we all must willingly agree to. Kellner also traces the commodification of political candidates, coterminous with the rise of corporate interest in television. FDR's fireside chats, Kennedy's Camelot White House, all receive attention, but are relatively insignificant in comparison to the simulated presidency of Ronald Reagan. Reagan's presidency transcended all other mergers of business and government in the realm of communication.