[lbo-talk] Cornel West vs Slåvøj Zïßék

[Wojtek S]

Ravi, with all due respect, you are looking in a wrong place.  The
originality cum value of the speakers resides in the audience, not in
the speaker him/herself.  Nearly anyone has something to say, but what
is being heard depends on the audience.

A good illustration is Jerzy Kosinski's novel _Being There_
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerzy_Kosinski, also in the film version
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Being_There - itself plagiarized from
Adolf.  Dymsza's _The Career  of Nicodemus Dyzma_
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Career_of_Nicodemus_Dyzma  The plot
of both novels is pretty much the same: an uneducated simpleton
accidentally walks into elite circles where his semi-coherent
ramblings and digressions are taken for words of wisdom, and the
simpleton is offered positions of influence and power despite his lack
of education and experience.

So it pretty much depends on the audience - what they want to hear and
how they relate to a particular style of presentation and speaker's
persona.  If the "chemistry" is right, a speaker is viewed as a
revelation even though what he is saying is not much different from
opinions than can be found elsewhere.

Wojtek