Mulling Sam Rocha's "spectacle"

I'm not sure why Andrew Sullivan calls his blog The Daily Dish -- "dish" makes me think of the unsavory Lucianne Goldberg, who when she helped retail Linda Tripp and her salacious wiretap to the world, explained, "I love dish, I live for dish."  But it might be because he serves up a cornucopia of nourishing minds whom one might never otherwise encounter.  Today, for example, he introduced me (via Dish, that is) to a certain assistant professor of philosophy in a snippet I found arresting -- below, reproduced as introduced:

Sam Rocha wonders whether politics, and the occasional spectacle it creates, "is a palliative cure for boredom":

I suspect the reason people read these things—including the commentary here at [Vox-Nova]—is because they are bored. Now, you may object saying that you choose to read or write here for principled reasons. You may in fact have a busy life, full of things to do, and come here for reasons that seem unrelated to boredom.

But, I ask (myself first and foremost): What is boredom but loneliness, alienation, lovelessness, and the desire for something to occupy the time in a way that puts those stark realities at a distance? What is boredom but not quite feeling at home in the place you are? ...

Dessert

Wrapping up a week of guest-blogging at Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish.  Below, the week's posts.

12/20
Good night, Dish
If you mourn the public option
No death panels
Quote of the day, II

12/19
Who says the HCR bill is a gift to insurers?
On good followership
Swallowing the spider to catch the fly in Afhganistan, cont.
A word packed with blowback