Pierre Bourdieu's Social Media
Shmoop eavesdrops on your favorite critic's online convos.
Hey—I was contacted by the organizers of the Ted Talks to do a quick lecture on the idea of the intellectual. Thoughts?
Can't I see it as an opportunity to spread awareness of the demise of engaged public intellectualism?
You need to stand by your comrades and not be a shill to the media. Don't you think Ted Talks are a little too entertainment-ish?
And anyway, you've never been one to speak for the collective, Pierre. You're not a joiner—you know that you can't speak for all public intellectuals, as though we were all one massive entity.
Yeah—you gotta stay antagonistic! It's for a good cause. Plus, by speaking on the subject of the public intellectual, you presume to speak on behalf of all public intellectuals, which thereby reproduces the very elitism you are trying to combat as a public intellectual.
Well, when you put it that way… I hate the idea of being part of the dominant class. But I've always believed that intellectuals are not just the elite—they are oppressed, too. I mean it's not like we have any money or power.
Hmmm. Good point. How much $$$ are they offering for the Ted Talk?
Went to Starbucks today for a quick shot of java. Mon dieu, was that place packed. Everyone in there had an Apple laptop and was hammering away at a script or some such project.
Listen, Ludwig, I don't want you to feel criticized, but Starbucks? That's like the Evil Empire. How could you drink corporate coffee?
Well, ever since I lost my teaching gig at Cambridge, I've been using Starbucks as my office. It makes me feel like I have a place to go.
That's even more depressing than drinking corporate coffee. The treatment of workers under globalization—it's like they're so many disposable straws. How many jobs must one work to make ends meet?
So glad to have your sympathy, I've never been good at multitasking and committing to several jobs at once. My skillset—what you might call my "habitus"—is really rather limited.
Hang in there, bro.
One of my grandsons wouldn't let me take him to the cinema. He didn't want to be seen with me. He said I'm not "cool."
Wow. That hurts. I think "cool" is overrated, though.
That's easy for you to say, what with your turtlenecks and tinted glasses.
Look, apply some of the principles of your own philosophy as consolation: the whole notion of cool is shifting. Don't buy into the "I think I'm cool, therefore I'm cool" thing—that's the logic of the oppressive hipster class.
Good point. I won't play the game. If my grandson thinks I am uncool, well, I say he's a little dictator.
Yes. Just say no.