At the tail end of class today,
Dr. Stuber briefly mentioned the origins of the tabloid. My iBooks version of our text stats that the
term “tabloid” was the proprietary name of medicine sold in tablets. Now the term reflects the idea of “’concentrated,
easily assimilable.’” I wanted to delve
a little further into the use of “tabloids of compressed liberty” from today’s
passage. I found it very interesting
that tabloids were described as easily incorporated or conformed. If this definition is applied to the tabloids
of compressed liberty it does fit with Dr. Stuber’s suggestion of a more
positive connotation on liberty. It
almost seems to make liberty more accessible, more attainable. If you think about how easy it is to get your
hands on a tabloid should you want one (I’m not sure why you would), it is a
far more optimistic way of viewing the “compressed liberty” described in the
text.
However, more easily assimilable does not necessarily connote well. It may hint at something watered down, or something mystical which has been made mundane (i.e., easy-to-chew, pre-digested, dumbed down, mainstream). In this sense, the lack of esotericism and difficulty in achieving this freedom implies that it is something almost, but not quite, like freedom. On the other hand, I'm certainly biased by what I think the passage implies..
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