Programming note: I'll be debating the state of popular culture with fellow journalists and authors Chris Hedges and Marc Cooper on Sunday afternoon at the home of Zuade Kaufman, the publisher of Truthdig.com. The event is titled, "Pop Culture, Politics and the Price of Mass Distraction," and it should be lively - apparently I'm considered the right-winger in the room.
Anyway, the event is open to the public but there's a $75 fee for tickets. It is a fundraiser for the worthy cause of supporting Truthdig.com, which does hard-hitting investigative journalism and features provocative writing, led by my friend Robert Scheer.
Here's the invite:
"POP CULTURE, POLITICS AND THE PRICE OF MASS DISTRACTION
Are our national obsessions with celebrity and consumerism undermining our most fundamental democratic and moral values? Are we living in an era dominated by trash culture and junk politics, as some critics contend, or does popular culture offer unique opportunities for progress and political engagement?
Join Chris Hedges, Sharon Waxman and Marc Cooper for a debate about the role of popular culture hosted by Robert Scheer, editor of Truthdig, and Zuade Kaufman, the Web site's publisher. Truthdig associate editor Kasia Anderson will moderate. This special program will take place from 4 to 7 p.m. Sunday, July 19, at the publisher's home in Los Angeles, on the city’s Westside. The address and directions will be provided upon RSVP. Valet parking will be available.
Donations by those attending the event will help Truthdig continue its award-winning work as an independent, progressive source of news and analysis on the Web. A contribution of at least $75 is required for this limited-space event.
Please RSVP to (213) 625-0787 or rsvp@truthdig.com [1].
About the Panelists
Chris Hedges, in his provocative new book "Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle," argues: "A culture that cannot distinguish between reality and illusion dies. And we are dying now." Hedges, an award-winning Truthdig columnist and a former Mideast bureau chief for The New York Times, is also the author of "I Don't Believe in Atheists," "War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning" and "American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America."
Sharon Waxman is the founder and CEO of TheWrap.com, an online news source covering the entertainment industry, and has covered Hollywood for The New York Times and The Washington Post. She is the author of "Loot: The Battle Over the Stolen Treasures of the Ancient World" and "Rebels on the Backlot: Six Maverick Directors and How They Conquered the Hollywood Studio System."
Marc Cooper turned his fascination with Las Vegas into his 2004 book "The Last Honest Place in America: Paradise and Perdition in the New Las Vegas." Cooper, who has written for dozens of publications ranging from The Atlantic to Rolling Stone, is a Truthdig contributor, a contributing editor to The Nation magazine, and is the author of the L.A. Times bestseller "Pinochet and Me" and "Roll Over Che Guevara." A faculty member at the USC Annenberg School for Communication, he is also Director of Annenberg Digital News.
Kasia Anderson, Truthdig's associate editor, will moderate the discussion. Anderson, previously an entertainment reporter for the New York Daily News, is now completing a doctoral dissertation on celebrity and politics."