Future-oriented discourse masks the loss of a genuine public sphere

Evidence

The subtext of the literature of the future, in its manifold forms, is the loss of an effective public sphere of real participation in what John Dewey called the conjoint life of the polity. The future, whether it appears in the rhetoric of the Left or Right, whether as postmodernism or postindustrialism, is one more device for evading the active and directive role our imaginings of the past and future play in the control of the present. — James W. Carey, Communication as Culture- Essays on…, 765

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes Carey’s broader ritual view of communication and connects to Dewey’s participatory democracy, a recurring theme in Carey’s work. — connects to: Communication overload and shallow participation mask genuine community uprooting — James W. Carey, Communication as Culture- Essays on…, 569; The public sphere collapses when the public becomes a statistical artifact — James W. Carey, Communication as Culture- Essays on…, 647; Technology-based future forecasting functions as ritualistic exorcism — James W. Carey, Communication as Culture- Essays on…, 671 (+8 more)
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — James W. Carey, Communication as Culture- Essays on…, 765

Broader Connections

• Postmodern theory’s claims of abandoned meaning serve an ideological role masking its own dominance #corroborates (0.55)