u003cpu003eA part of Harper Perennials special Resistance Library highlighting classic works that illuminate the Age of Trump: Soren Kierkegaards stunningly prescient essay on the dangers of mass mediaparticularly advertising, marketing, and publicity. An essential read as we reckon with, and try to understand, the media forces that have helped create our present political moment.u003c/pu003eu003cpu003eThe Present Age shows just how original Kierkegaard was. He brilliantly foresaw the dangers of the lack of commitment and responsibility in the Public Sphere. When everything is up for endless detached critical comment as on blogs and cable news, action finally becomes impossible. Hubert L. Dreyfus, University of California, Berkeleyu003cbru003eu003cbru003eA revolutionary age is an age of action; ours is the age of advertisement and publicity. Nothing ever happens but there is immediate publicity everywhere. From The Present Ageu003c/pu003eu003cpu003eIn The Present Age (1846), Søren Kierkegaard analyzes the philosophical implications of a society dominated by the mass-media. What makes the essay so remarkable is the way it seems to speak directly to our timei.e. the Information Agewhere life is dominated by mere information not true knowledge. Kierkegaard even goes so far as to say that advertising and publicity almost immediately co-opts and suppresses revolutionary actions/thoughts.u003c/pu003eu003cpu003eThe Present Age is essential reading for anyone who wishes to better understand the modern world.u003c/pu003e
