The Age of Unreason

Similar to my War On Men blog, this blog looks at prevalent themes in modern media that seem to push a particular agenda. In this case, Radical Center: Age of Unreason looks at the puzzling (at first) messages that advocate what author Mack Reynolds coined as the "Radical Center" - an anything-goes morality devised to make citizens in a culture selfish, apathetic, and non-judgmental. (Sound like any culture you know?) Most well-grounded, sound-minded humans are stunned by these messages which seems to call forth anything but an aspirational, engaged, optimistic personal life and society, but changes - rapid changes - in our culture reveal that the Radical Center (RC) is more normal than we thought possible.

I'll unpack the principles of the Radical Center as we move along, but let me provide an excellent RC illustration with this commercial from Kentucky Fried Chicken*. KFC was once a venerated American food brand whose founder and spokesman was the iconic Harland Sanders. In this latest campaign, KFC parodies itself!** As we'll see, this is the very embodiment of RC principles, specifically that which promotes apathy and non-judgmentalism. In other words, "if KFC doesn't take itself seriously, why should I?" And by extension we are led to ask, "what else in my world have I considered trustworthy and reliable, that maybe I should rethink."

"Enjoy" this ad from The Colonel:

* - I give full credit to my oldest son for pointing out this self-mocking parody and giving me the impetus to launch this blog.

** - Note at 45 seconds how the KFC billboard letters fall off the wall as if to say that their identity is not something they're committed to as much as a good punch line. In fact, the fall of their identity is their punchline. This perfectly epitomizes the Radical Center.

Stay Tuned.