[lbo-talk] Nicole Richie endorses Obama

[Jerry Monaco]

On Tue, Apr 29, 2008 at 1:45 PM, Dennis Claxton <ddclaxton at earthlink.net> wrote:
> At 10:15 AM 4/29/2008, Carrol Cox wrote:
>
>  >You really measure someone's worth as a human being by their knowledge
>  >of social trivia?
>  >
>  >Carrol
>
>
>  That's a conversation stopping question.  Knowing "social trivia"
>  isn't a measure of worth, but it is something of a measure of
>  engagement with the world.
>
>  You really take pride in not knowing such stuff?
>
>
>

Well maybe I know different trivia than you?  Why is engagement with
certain varieties of pop culture which you and a majority people know
better than engagement with other varieties of pop culture. I know who
Nicole Richie is because I met her once back stage at a Lionel Richie
concert when she was 6 years old.  I had no idea that she was on a
reality television show or that she knew Paris Hilton.  Big deal!  I
had no idea who Paris Hilton was until a law school professor
mentioned her in a fact pattern.  Big deal.  I do know who Nusrat
Fateh Ali Khan (take a listen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajqwy3AOmJQ ) was and I know people who
listen to his music in my neighborhood.  He is certainly more popular
world wide than Nicole Richie.  Yet everyone in my family back in the
dark town of Naples, Fla. knows who Nicole Richie is and has no idea
who Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was.  Should I say that they are not engaged
in the world?  Whose world?  Why is your social trivia better than
mine?

Jerry