The Public Intellectual and the Marketing of World History

The Public Intellectual and the Marketing of World History 2013 - Thorsten Pattberg

THERE IS a current trend in the way world history is manufactured that deserves closer scrutiny: It is the complete surrender of the humanities to marketing mechanisms and branding strategies.

CAMBRIDGE - We don’t have to leave England to find the revolution. Niall Ferguson, the British historian – and now Harvard professor -, recently published an opinion article in the German Times in which he ruminates about ’6 Killer applications’ that the West invented to undo its competitors.

Ferguson goes on to say that, after having dominated world history for centuries, someone pushed the “wrong buttons” and we lost our pristine vantage. Meanwhile, the “new players in Asia” have picked up the rules of the game.

I dread to think it isn't quite as dramatic as the philosopher would have it: World history is still written by the Fergusons – and Harvardians – of this world. Social climbers from the east are rare in this sport. I agree, though, that indeed everyone seems to be talking about the rise of Asia these days.

What’s also new is the trending of fashionable internet fads or business allusions toward world historical events. Public intellectuals these days enjoy “the mass media” effect and have fully emerged, and have they ever, into the world of blogging, vlogging, and social media. [...]

[Read at Global Research]

American Buddhism: Thorsten Pattberg with Heng Sure, famed American Buddhist and Public Intellectual

Heng Sure (USA), Thorsten Pattberg (Germany) [Shaolin, Dengfeng, 2013]

ZHENGZHOU, CHINA - Renowned for his contribution to American Buddhism and known throughout the world for his eloquence, passion, and vision of bringing the Dharma to the tables where the dialogue among civilizations takes place, Heng Sure (born Christopher R. Clowery) has dedicated his life to the Buddhist cause. He was ordained as a Buddhist monk at the City of then Thousand Buddhas as early as 1976, and since then has ministered to the needs of the global community and, along the way, became one of the most visible American Buddhists today, and teacher of hundreds of accomplished disciples spread all over the world.

Master Heng Sure’s talks are amplified by his confident use of countless Sanskrit/Buddhist original terms that, I think, best reflect the inventiveness and creativity of the Buddhism founders. Your author has the vision that a similar approach using Chinese terms can be achieved for Confucianism (using original Chinese terms instead of European translations).

It is no coincidence that Buddhism is relatively well known in the West, while the Western understanding of Confucianism is still a murky confusion – there are still too few scholars interested in introducing Chinese categories to the West. [That is about to change.] [View Article on Chinese Terminologies and World History]. [Back to Main]

P.S. By the way, Heng Sure singsand plays the guitar masterfully.