Fiske and Davis Response

Upon starting Fiske's article, I couldn't help but have distaste for it. I did not appreciate Fiske's comparison between shopping malls and cathedrals. He had only discussed the structure of each idea and not the meaning of the institutions. I think it was a bad choice on his part to use the institution of religion because it is a very personal subject for many people who may find it offensive to see their system of beliefs related to consumerism. Though, not a very religious person myself, I couldn't help but enter this article with bias.
In my opinion, The Mall is simply a place used for mindless self-indulgence, a time-killer.
Davis, thankfully, wrote of a much more literal topic that I found more interest in. I couldn't help relating his ideas to the invocation of the Patriot Act. All you have to do is replace terrorists with societies down-trodden. In order to make public space safe, according to Davis' article, you must control the public, while keeping us safe but reducing our freedom. Well, this obviously contradicts the definition of public. Or, so I thought. I found that in the definitions of the word public, all include the word community. When was the last time that you heard of homeless people and drug-dealers as a part of the community? I'm beginning to realize that the idea of 'public space' exists in a black and white world. Everything in between does not belong. They confuse our societies identity. We must hide all that is ugly and grey in order to all fit in a pleasant environment.
I had begun this assignment completely uninterested by Fiske's ideas. But, I found Davis's to be very valuable. In fact, I am still having trouble relating to Fiske's essay, so I apologize that I wasn't more indepth with that portion of the assignment. Hopefully, I will get a lot out of the discussions we have in class.