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In the midst of a fascinating treatise on the differences between Survivor and Lost and how the varying reception of those programs offers a statement about the social pathologies of the American public, Chuck Klosterman notes the following:

The American worldview is predicated (and measured) by individual success, but success can't happen to everyone; greatness is generally not shared. As a result, people are increasingly comfortable with the concept of leveling the playing field through collusion and resentment... This is why the only sector of media that seems to be thriving is the coverage of celebrity gossip, an industry flooded with failed sycophants who couldn't get jobs in journalism.

You can get your own copy of Esquire at the newsstand right now; it's the one with Brad Pitt on the cover.

Tenacious TV [Esquire]

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