Kayhan Parsi, JD, PhD, writes that Stewart "has emerged as our voice of sanity in a sea of insanity in a new media age with its ephemeral nature and lack of substance." Parsi is an associate professor in the Neiswanger Institute for Bioethics and Health Policy of Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine.
Parsi explains that a public intellectual is seriously committed to ideas and discourse. He or she may be an academic, although journalists, policymakers and even politicians can play the role.
He's certainly more than a comdeian. What do you think?
I'm more of a Colbert fan.
ReplyDeleteI don't know about Stewart being the greatest public intellectual, but he certainly is among that crowd. He is a valuable addition to our public discourse.
ReplyDeleteWell said, Greg. That's another thing we agree on.
DeleteIt doesn't hurt that Stewart was one of many interesting actors in one of my favorite movies, "Playing by Heart."
DeleteThanks, I'll check that out.
DeleteOthers include Gillian Anderson, Sean Connery, Ellen Burstyn, Gena Rowlands, and so forth. It's a story of life and death and romance woven together into a beautiful tapestry. It didn't get a lot of attention in 1998 when it came out, but it deserved much more.
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