"Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read."
—Groucho Marx
WordBasket exists to encourage dialog about the culture which surrounds us. As long as Americans, and people worldwide, remain passive consumers of cultural media, producers have us at their mercy. But if we can say, in no uncertain terms, what we like and why we like it, producers will nave little choice but to reward us with more. If we can say what we dislike and why, such bland, uninspiring content will go away.
I began this blog to publish book reviews, and to preserve book culture online. But the more attentive I became, the more I realized movies, TV, the Internet, and my beloved books spoke to something deeper in our culture. We are complex psychological beings in a complex psychological culture. If we understand why we laugh at The Big Bang Theory, or why ideas go viral on the web, then we can understand ourselves and our society a little better.
I do not want, in my examinations, to take away anyone’s joy in their favorite books, movies, or TV shows. Quite the opposite: I want people to enjoy their favorite media and ideas even more deeply, by examining them and finding the hidden truths. If we can understand the mythology that binds us together, and can share our ideas in depth, I believe we can grow closer together, and demand more of what rewards us, uplifts us, and makes us strong.
