I might take a second look at _Empire_ if it were actually being read by hundreds of millions. There are pop cultural phenomena, and there are pop cultural phenomena, and in this case, it looks like a niche marketing, the niche being leftists who are media junkies (us!). (On PEN-l, there were interesting threads on _Gangs of New York_ and _Huck Finn_. I got a lot out of discussing them with folks. That sort of exchange would be welcome.)
One measure of any left-wing social theory's analytical power is whether it gets taken up by activist intellectuals who actually make use of it to analyze the real world. By and large, though, those who favor _Empire_ have less to say about it than those who are critical of it.
In any case, since fans of _Empire_ can't take criticisms, they would have to talk to each other and figure out what use -- if any -- they can make of it. -- Yoshie
* Calendar of Events in Columbus: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html> * Student International Forum: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osudivest.org/> * Al-Awda-Ohio: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio> * Solidarity: <http://solidarity.igc.org/>