The Privatization of Our Culture

This essay is not about terrorism. It is not about little kids who say the darndest things. Neither is it terribly concerned with why a man in a cape and a rubber mask with pointy ears failed to save the day on September 11. So what is the point? Here is a convenient thesis statement for you: The discoveries, eureka-moments, fables, characters, songs and jokes that form the only common ground we share as citizens -- the set of ideas collectively known as “The West” -- are now the property of a few multinational corporations. Our entire culture has fallen into private hands, taking with it our right to tell our stories, our right to keep our personal lives personal, even our right to heal our sick. THIS SUCKS. THIS IS VERY BAD.

It need not be the end, however. Not if we as citizens, as Westerners, as participants in our own culture, can find the will and the resolve to reclaim what is ours.
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