The printing press, radio, TV and movies were all heralded at their inception for their capacity to disseminate information widely and freely and without judgment across the globe. Nothing substitutes for a critical consciousness. This last is the concept that Kauffman puts to the test when she writes about cutting-edge performance artists whose exhibition is often seen as too shocking or perverse for mainstream society. One day we will look back on them as prophets of great dramatic revolutionary change. No government can really interfere with it.
Millions use it regularly.
It's not that Kauffman physically snorts at such talk, but she does expel air rather quickly and noisily before explaining two points to consider. I would say nothing. Yet the biggest threat to me today is the complacency about consumer desire, with everyone saying isn't this 'electronic revolution' great. But as soon as you log on, all you see are commercials, all this junk. What concerns me is how increasingly difficult it becomes to imagine anything different - what we might have done with this medium, or what we're NOT getting to read or see, or what stories never make the news.