The death of the public intellectual: is Hailey Bieber the new Susan Sontag?
- In 1965, William F. Buckley Jr., a “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” conservative debated James Baldwin, a black civil rights activist, on the question: “Has the American Dream been achieved at the expense of African Americans?”. By the end of the debate, Baldwin had swayed the views of the mostly conservative, upper-class British audience in his favor.
- Nowadays, the people shaping culture are the influencers. They aren’t writing essays or engaging in debates. They simply exist and the culture follows. It used to be public intellectuals shaping society’s ideas. Now, influencers shape society’s desires.
- In contemporary times, debates are less about exchanging ideas and more about ‘owning’ the other side. In a way, debates are now more about performance instead of seeking truth.
- The modus operandi of academics nowadays is to write paywalled papers for other academics. Those who try to venture out of the ivory tower to comment on society are often told to stay in their lanes or stay silent.
- There’s the temptation to think that there is a scarcity of public intellectuals because everything there is to say has already been said. However, even if that was true, the ideas that have been shared have not yet been shared by you, right now, in this context.
