11.20.07
The public sphere, an open letter to Jurgen Habermas.
Dear Mr. Habermas,
You have been my arch-nemesis for two years. Oh, how I struggled with your views and ideas over the course of a year, through 2005 and 2006. So determined was I to excise you from my mind, I promptly forgot about you when my papers and exams were done, until my classes this term in Sociology of the Media and Contemporary News Media. In the latter, my professor turns to me each class when she asks “and who is our favourite theorist?” and, each week until this last, I would grudgingly answer “Habermas,” with just a little bitterness accompanying your name.
Then I realized, Jurgen, we’re not really enemies at all. Despite your dry, horrific translated writings, I can actually embrace the concept of the public sphere. This blog is part of it. Mailing lists are part of it. IRC is part of it.
Once I realized, during last week’s class, that I live, eat and breathe the public sphere, which I call “online communities”, my hatred for you lessened. I finally gave you more than just a little respect and a lot of resentment. I salute you, sir, and though I’m sure I haven’t done nearly enough research and don’t understand half of what you’re talking about, I am downright tickled that the public sphere is not some nebulous concept like many others I’ve had to read about. The public sphere is here, is now and is a huge part of me.
Thank you, Jurgen, for giving me a name for my passion.
Gratefully yours,
Me