21st-century absurd absurdism absurdist absurdity activism addiction advertising agenda-setting alternative-media bias black-comedy black-humor canada canadian-author canadian-literature censorship comedy coming-of-age communication communication-studies communication-theory computer-programming computers consent consumerism contemporary contemporary-fiction contemporary-literature control corporate-control corporate-culture corporate-influence corporate-life corporate-media corporate-ownership corporate-world counterculture coupland creativity critical-analysis critical-theory critical-thinking critique cultural-hegemony culture dark-comedy dark-humor democracy democratic-society digital-age douglas douglas-coupland drugs dysfunction dysfunctional dysfunctional-families dysfunctional-family economics economy edward-s. edward-s.-herman existential existentialism family family-dynamics fiction free-press freedom-of-press freedom-of-speech freedom-of-the-press friendship gaming geek-culture gen-x generation-x generational-divide government government-control government-influence herman humor humorous identity identity-crisis ideological-control ideological-hegemony ideology influence information information-control information-dissemination information-manipulation information-warfare intellectual-property internet internet-culture journalism journalism-ethics jpod literary-fiction mainstream-media manipulation manufacturing manufacturing-consent manufacturing-consent:-the-political-economy-of-the-mass-media mass-communication mass-media media media-analysis media-bias media-censorship media-concentration media-conglomerates media-consolidation media-control media-criticism media-critique media-democracy media-distortion media-effects media-ethics media-influence media-literacy media-manipulation media-manipulation-tactics media-ownership media-power media-propaganda media-studies media-theory metafiction millennial millennial-generation neoliberalism nerd-culture nerds news news-bias news-coverage news-media news-production noam-chomsky novel office-culture office-life office-politics political-agenda political-communication political-economy political-manipulation political-power politics pop-culture pop-culture-references postmodern postmodernism power power-dynamics power-structures programming propaganda propaganda-model public-discourse public-opinion public-relations public-sphere quirky quirky-characters satire satirical self-awareness self-discovery self-referential social-change social-commentary social-control social-engineering social-inequality social-influence social-justice social-sciences social-theory society sociopolitical subversion subversive surreal surrealism tech-industry technology vancouver video-game-industry video-games workplace workplace-culture workplace-dynamics workplace-humor workplace-satire