What price the wisdom of Snooki?
When a reality TV show 'star' is paid more to lecture than a Nobel laureate author, it's worth contemplating the implicationsLinh Dinh
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 6 April 2011
America got a good laugh this week over news that Snooki, a "Guidette" of Jersey Shore fame, got paid more to speak at a university than Toni Morrison, Nobel laureate for literature. They are both authors, after all, but Snooki is certainly more famous and more in demand these days. She's been on David Letterman twice recently, whereas Morrison is never on TV, not even when she gave her Nobel speech in 1993. By contrast, Harold Pinter could deliver his masterful Nobel rant on the BBC in prime time.
Of course, each British household must fork over £145 per year to support BBC television. Such misuse of public funds, such government-sanctioned robbery, would not godown well in America. Hell, 234 bucks could buy the Pentagon a box of nails at least, or maybe not. In any case, serious authors are more or less banned from American TV. Day in and day out, you'll see a teeming lineup of shouters, schmoozers, unctuous bullshitters and apologists, but never a serious writer. Athletes of all levels are endlessly interviewed, but never a serious thinker and crafter of language. Americans want words from everybody but their wordsmiths. To borrow a phrase from Jersey Shore, one has to go back to "prehistoric kindergarten" to see the likes of Allen Ginsberg butt heads with William Buckley. Has anyone seen Gore Vidal, Robert Coover or Clayton Eshleman lately? Who?! What?
To get good seats for Snooki, some students showed up seven hours early. The decision to invite her at $32,000 was made by the students themselves, so this was also democracy in action. Snooki is a Jersey girl, and the venue was in New Jersey, but the students' identification with her goes a lot deeper, I think. They like her because she is wholly untalented and unapologetically stupid. Her vapidity gives them hope. If someone this unexceptional can cash in on 15 glorious minutes, then maybe the good, easy life can be theirs also – unless, of course, they like to cogitate and can string three or four sentences together. If that's the case, then fuggedaboutit. Onto the trash heap you go!
Eight-five per cent of American college graduates must move back to their parent's homes. Most carry loans that will take decades to pay off, if ever. Many will default. Their unemployment rate is 10% and trending higher. Many toil at jobs they could have got without attending college. Three-hundred-and-sixty-five-thousand American cashiers have university degrees. Ditto, 317,000 waiters and 18,000 parking lot attendants. ...............(more)
The complete piece is at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/apr/06/new-jersey-tonimorrison
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