...a tile which aptly captures our current era and one among several rationales for the global media seminar, but which also references the phenomenal essay by the jack-booted philosopher Maritin Heidegger, from which we find good reason to reframe tomorrow's session. Heidegger's point, amply simplified, was that the 'death' of all-knowing/seeing god(s) and the rise of new global technologies and aesthetics make it possible, indeed necessary, to enframe our worldview with a radically new perspective: easier said than done, as born out by the armies of 'international experts' who have projected their own parochial concerns as global interests. But last Sunday's New York Times Magazine cover story, 'Who Shrank the Superpower', by newbie Parag Khanna seems to get the world picture righter than most. You will get to be the judge, thanks to the tireless efforts of Global Media (hale) Fellow Chris Lydon, with whom I will tag-team for a class-to-studio interview with Khanna. So here's the plan: Udris Productions presents the how-to in the first part of the class, and asks for volunteers to document the event for a hands-on in the second part: praxis and theory all bundled up . So read up (url of article is below) and come prepared for questions in class and for the blog thereafter.

Or as Martin put it: 'Reflection is the courage to make the truth of our own presuppositions and the realm of our own goals into the things that most deserve to be called into question...[when] the gods have fled the resultant void is compensated for by means of historiographical and psychological investigation of myth.'

VTY
JDD

Here's the url for the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/magazine/27world-t.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=parag+khanna&st=nyt&oref=slogin