To complain about the absence of real political debate and the massive vulgarity of American culture – and mea culpa, dude, I do it all the time – has the veneer of a reasonable, civic-minded adult perspective. But on a philosophical and epistemological level, it’s also a refusal to reckon with reality. If the only politics we actually have are the politics of culture – of symbolism and representation and media spectacle – then we have to fight on that terrain or give up entirely.
Source: salon.com