Let me get a little Brechtian on you for one second: A good arts section is, in my humble opinion, about more than just telling you what to spend your lunch money on this week. Sure, it’s handy to know whether or not a new movie like “The Kingdom” is any good, but what’s really worthwhile is to take pieces of culture we’re handed and then pull them apart—to examine what values and ethics they’re really presenting us with, reconciling it within a wider context and cultural climate and then finally deeming its worth.I use “The Kingdom” as an example because Daily Cal writer Ryland Walker Knight recently used most of his 12 inches of newsprint to focus on the troubling racial politics that had been slipped in under the big Hollywood sheen in that particular film. If you’re looking for a simple, thumbs up or down kind of rating, this may frustrate you, but a good review section will put a bit of dignity back into that colorless term “consumer.”Why are some cultural artifacts held in such high esteem when stuff of real value slips through the cracks? How can the most widely embraced films or music so seductively feed us with degenerate values? The truth, I’ve found, is often in the details.As I write this, I am eagerly awaiting the much discussed online premiere of Radiohead’s new LP In Rainbows. Never has the link between the way we consume music and the economic reality of entire industry seemed more blatant. It’s a bit early in the game, but hopefully the triumph of the first Internet-only release at this level will prove something very, very important: We are not passive absorbers of whatever comes out of the Mickey Mouse Club poop chute, but an intelligent, discriminating mass with the power to chose. That’s the good thing about this whole “You” generation thing, right?

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