Half the fun of any sort of entertainment -- be it genuine popular culture, products of mass marketing, or nationally or nearly universally recognized canons of towering cultural achievements -- is to become acquainted with lores and traditions built up by communities of the like-minded, then to become a contributor to the lores and a keeper of the traditions, and (in a minority of cases) to become a taste-maker yourself.
Most human beings (tool- and symbol-making animals) -- not just professional intellectuals but also popular masses -- have hunger for participation in such processes of making, keeping, and re-making traditions. It's like getting together with your friends, jamming on mental instruments, sharing old tunes, making new riffs, one-upping one another in friendly competition, etc., etc. The topic can be almost anything -- jazz, Marxism, science fiction, tango, roses, football, astronomy, butterflies, hunting, whatever -- depending on inclinations of cliques. Thriving left-wing social milieux should include a wide variety of cultural institutions -- cafes, clubs, music halls, sports fields, etc. -- where folks can enjoy themselves arguing with one another about their cultural heroes and villains _as if_ (but only _as if_) such arguments _really_ mattered, generally bullshit, and even get to name-drop and make an arch and pretentious remark or two once in a while. -- 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/>