On the very un-passive television audience...

[layla]

Quite a fascinating (though older) article from the libertarian magazine "Reason" on active audience participation in popular entertainment -- ranging from fan fiction to simply talking back to the screen or turning the TV off -- with a focus on the largely unsuccessful efforts by moral watchdogs and media producers alike to control the audience's reaction to what they consume. "A top-down conception of culture goes back to the very roots of the concept of culture ... Educational, intellectual, or political elites assume that the mass has no taste or culture of its own, that culture can be used by elites to refine the tastes of the mass."

Whether you agree or not, it's an interesting read.