Communication Theory Explains GOP control

[AverageJoe]

There are two communication theories which, taken together, help explain why people in the United States continue to allow the * regime to remain in power. These theories are (1) Spiral of Silence and (2)Mean World Syndrome. Both involve abuse of the mass media.

Spiral of Silence is primarily tied to the "news" media. The American "news" media has been almost completely hijacked by massive corporations and their political arm, the GOP. This media drums out its basic message 24/7: Democrats are bad, republicans are good, and * is GREAT.

Spiral of Silence suggests that people will remain silent in the face of what they perceive to be majority opinion. That is, even if a person believes * to be bad and wrong he will remain silent if he believes that the majority think * is good and correct. This leads to alienation and uncertainty among those who have doubts about *. Alienated, uncertain people have diminished capacity to dissent and are easier to control. Spiral of Silence has been used to help explain why the German people accepted nazi atrocities.


Mean World Syndrome is tied to both news and entertainment media. The corporate "news" media treat local crime stories (kidnapped children, missing women, etc.) as national crises and spend grossly inappropriate amounts of time and energy covering these stories. While it is correct for media to report crime, very often the stories with which the corporate media choose to saturate their "news" shows are of legitimate interest only to a specific community or region. The Lacey Peterson and Natalie Holloway stories demonstrate this beautifully.

The best example of entertainment media being used to further Mean World Syndrome among consumers is the Law and Order franchise. These shows do five basic things. First, they tell viewers that violent criminals are everywhere and can strike at any time. Second, they tell viewers that police officers always have the public's best interest at heart. Third, they tell viewers that criminal defense attorneys are almost always corrupt and wrong. Fourth, they tell viewers that criminal prosecutors always seek only truth and their only motivation is to protect society. Fifth, they tell viewers that it is okay for prosecutors to bend the rules in order to put the bad guys away--that the end justifies the means.

Mean World Syndrome suggests that people who watch a lot of television tend to think the world is a meaner place than it actually is. Heavy TV watchers tend to believe that the crime rate is much higher than it in fact is. They tend to believe that they are in much greater danger than they actually are. These people tend to stay inside more, to interact less with the real world. They become isolated, docile and easier to control.

Taken together, these theories explain what can best be described as a massive corporate terrorist attack on the American psyche. They make one segment of the population afraid to speak their minds and another segment of the population afraid of being brutalized unless the government uses every means--legal and ethical or not--to keep the bad guys away.

The * regime is a cancer on the world, but the greatest threat to American democracy does not reside at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. * is just one of the TV stars that helps keep us in line for the corporations.

[ItsTheMediaStupid]

1. One more reason we need the fairness doctrine re-established

So one side can never dominate the message the way they do today.

[ClassWarrior]

6. So true.

NGU.

[Fridays Child]

8. If Dems ever do regain control of Congress and the White House...

...I will campaign vigorously for breaking up the media monopolies and re-instating the Fairness Doctrine. Before then, however, I think it would amount to tilting at windmills.

[GrpCaptMandrake]

35. Might you perhaps want to rethink that position?

Do you *really* want, for instance, Air America to have to run 3 hours of Phlush/inHannity/O'Lielly to counter every three hours of liberal talk?

How about we take them on head-to-head and beat them in the marketplace of ideas?

The critical link in the OP is the notion of the silence of the masses. Give 'em another perspective, and you take away the stranglehold of people like Phlush. Right wing talk radio isn't merely a creation of the right. It's also something we allowed to happen by standing silent to it.

[dmr]

41. Air America exists because there is no Fairness Doctrine

The creation of Air America is because there is no other medium for the left to vocalize their views and news without the insertion of the right wing spin and lies.

You are right, when you say "It's also something we allowed to happen by standing silent to it." It's time to right this wrong and reinstate the Doctrine, and break up the media monopolies.

[GrpCaptMandrake]

43. And thus you would break up Air America, Pacifica

DemocracyNow, Democracy Radio, etc?

It might come as rather of a shock to you, but one of the corporate media giants doing the most to disseminate AAR's content is Clear Channel. What they're doing already is roughly what a return of the Fairness Doctrine would accomplish.

We have a far better chance if we just start participating in it. One of the reasons liberal talk radio has had a hard time getting a toehold stems from our side's general unwillingness to participate in the discussion.

Frankly, we're a whole lot more intelligent than the average freeptard or ditto-monkey. We don't need to be spoon-fed talking points throughout a broadcast day. That has generally meant that talk radio modelled on the right-wing paradigm has failed with more "nuanced" lefty listeners.

I suggest a new long-form talk theory: not "talk" radio, but "conversation" radio. It's more than just a re-branding or re-framing. It's a fundamentally different approach to the callers.

[ItsTheMediaStupid]

64. Lefty talk will always be the red-headed stepchild to Clear Channel

I'm no willing to accept that Clear Channel is going to do the right thing. Companies like Clear Channel are a cancer on the free press. The board room censors the news room, just like Fox and Sinclair.

They may broadcast AAR because of the niche in the market and the ad revenues, but to expect any type of balance or fairness from a corporation is nonsense. All they are interested in is the bottom line every quarter.

[GrpCaptMandrake]

71. I'm not suggesting any altruistic motive

on the part of Clear Channel. But the fact is that the Fairness Doctrine is a double-edged sword. It will cut through what few gains the left has made in talk radio, for instance, just as it does on the right.

It occurs to me to wonder if you're conflating the Fairness Doctrine with the Media Ownership rules. If you're talking about busting the media megalopolies, you're more on the track of the Ownership rules. The Fairness Doctrine has more to do with content than with ownership or dissemination.

[niceypoo]

86. Screw air america

The fairness doctrine is more important than air america

[druidity33]

92. i dispute this idea that equal time means...

we have to put Rush or O'Lielly on the air. Give the 3 hour slot on Air America to a Christian preacher or Republican who espouses values and actions that are universal. So what if someone has an R after their name, as long as they're intelligent and can help to open a true dialogue. Not a soundbyte, talking point laden pukefest, but intelligent debate. I like "conversation radio". I say put the topics out there for a few weeks ahead of time, so viewers/listeners can send/call in questions. Ask the viewers what THEY want to talk about, who THEY want to hear from. my 2 cents.

[AngryAmish]

109. Of course Air America and Pacifica would be exempt

Remember when we win we make the rules. It is important to silence our critics. Air America and Pacifica would be left alone because they are getting our side out.

[KakistocracyHater]

82. Instead how about an Anti-Propaganda Act?

One that would gain the backing of the rural right voters, & prevent-perhaps unbeknownst to them-another swift boat lie-fest. The Anti-Propaganda Act would prevent hyping opinions as facts, yet not require the "fair & balanced" that's already been circumvented & perverted. When making fantastical claims, under this Act, one would be required to source the data, single sourced claims would be labled overtly as uncertain.

[annabanana]

88. This is an interesting option

It might encourage some genuine fact-checking. It would certainly re-draw the bright line between news and opinion, the blurring of which distinction is what got us into this mess in the first place.

(and welcome to DU.. :toast: )

[ItsTheMediaStupid]

62. Mally's ratings in Chicago were good

This "marketplace of ideas" is RW nonsense. Lefties can't get on the radio because of media monopolies. Too many stations are controlled by too few companies. The corporate weasels that run the monopolies don't want lefties on the radio.

The corporate weasels took Malloy off the air in Chicago because he offended their sponsors or because they were afraid he would offend them.

So long as media ownership is concentrated in the hands of a few corporations, that is the way it will be.

Right now, the head man in the news room lives in fear of the head man in the board room. That is how Rather was reprimanded and his producer fired for telling the truth. It's also how Malloy was taken off the air in Chicago.

[davekriss]

122. It isn't an Adam Smithian Free Market of Ideas...

The progressive voice will be drowned out by the sludge slopped forth daily from right wing media megaphones every time. Why? Because monied elites, whether in the form of contributions or advertising dollars, will never get behind a media that threatens their advantaged position in our society, but dollars will flow forth freely to a media championing unfettered "free markets", wars to explode munitions that their firms will replace (as our children die on the front lines), that champions repression of populist sentiment by entertaining debate on the use of torture, or suggesting that perhaps warrantless snooping is a good thing in this age of the Terrible Other (be that "other" a communist, a narco-terrorist, an enviro-terrorist, a brown skinned terrorist, a Liberal, or any other cartoon of an enemy they can think up to justify undemocratic, class-serving exercise of State power).

Just as in the commercial sphere, the "free market of ideas" also should be subject to democratic regulation. Not of the ideas themselves, but the means of production -- i.e., the media. Democratic regulations such as the Fairness Doctrine and the Rule of Sevens helped put brakes on the ability of the already-advantaged to spew forth propoganda that sustains or increases that advantage.

[Al-CIAda]

2. This is very good analysis. I agree...which is why Rove & co. care

much more about perception/image than anything else. If the criminals are 'seen'/spun as good/honorable, the public is likely to be silenced into submission.

[ShockediSay]

48. Agreed. Your points are entirely valid BUT

they have to be boiled down, maybe to one simple slogan, to get the attention of the silent majority.

Your Spiral of Silence people THINK AND ACT ONLY IN RESPONSE TO SOUND BITES.

[AverageJoe]

79. How about something like this on a bumper sticker or t-shirt:

"You're not alone. The majority hates Bush."

[ShockediSay]

80. Love it n/t

[bostonbabs]

83. love it too n/t

[Greyhound]

3. K & R

[RaleighNCDUer]

4. Well said. Question.

Do other countries have "Cops" type shows, or is that a purely American phenomenon?

I saw something (on TV, I admit) about "Cops" being twenty years old, and was just appalled. It, along with the myriad "Law & Order" and "CSI" shows. has done a lot to promulgate the 'mean world' POV.

[I Have A Dream]

16. Please see the response by sasha031 below where he/she inadvertertently...

responded to my post rather than to yours.

[AverageJoe]

24. That's a good question

and I don't know the answer. You're right about "Cops." What a horrible phenomena that is.

[I Have A Dream]

5. Very good post! Recommended. n/t

[sasha031]

14. good question NCevilDUer

This is a very good post, nominate,....
I lived in the UK for 6mnths, after shock and awe (what an place to escape to, when they were in as deep as we, but they do not have the same nationalistic sentiment)
They are loaded with crap tabloids but they do have the Independent, Guardian etc. Teveeee there is different, no cop show, detective shows as you have seen on Masterpiece Theater, their news shows are quite good, BBC4, lots of nature shows, they let people know what is happening to our planet.
As you know they love satire, not big fans of violence unless it's coming from America, detached observation I guess.
Advertisement is probably a fifth of what we have on TVEEEEE.

[Stevepol]

7. Computer theory explains GOP control.

[Ian David]

9. Did Bill O'Reilly personally kidnap and murder Natallie Halloway?

Some people say he did.

Let's debate it in the media for eight weeks and let the public decide.

[jokerman93]

10. Excellent!!!

K&R

Include in this also the messages delivered through advertising. I'd be interested to read what you have to say about the contributions of advertising trends and themes that have been trotted out since 2001.

J

[AverageJoe]

34. This would be an excellent area of study

Advertising is a powerful tool and it is almost never used in the best interest of its intended audience. I don't have much to say regarding specific advertising themes and messages, though I have no doubt that a serious study would identify some very interesting core elements.

Hell, the entire * administration is in many ways nothing but one big ad campaign.

[GR]

11. This Was Touched On In Excellent Fashion In Amusing Ourselves To Death...

Although the specific abuse by the media is not addressed, the harmful nature of covering stories because we have the technology that allows it is. The interesting and unpleasant truth is that ratings go up if plane difficulties, missing white girls, car crashes, fires, murders are covered. It says something about us that we are drawn to these things...

Maybe it's because technology makes us think, subconsciously and falsely, that the event is "in our neighborhood."

[AverageJoe]

17. Neil Postman was a prophet

You're right--people are drawn to mediated horror in the same way they are drawn to drive slowly past a car wreck, looking for blood.

I believe Ray Bradbury speaks to the notion of technology giving the false impression of connection in Fahrenheit 451. I've not taken a look it F 451 in a while, but if memory serves, Bradbury has the hero's wife becoming "part" of a TV show from her home. The show's regulars were maybe called "the cousins," helping to foster the lie of connection.

[spindrifter]

12. The Antidote is Critical Thinking

Excellent posting. We all need to remember the recent articles and threads regarding the huge contracts the D o D has signed with outfits like the Lincoln Group for the purpose of shifting attitudes, introducing propaganda and generally misinforming the people of the Middle East. Why do we assume the same is not being done here?

[KittyWampus]

37. The Antidote Is Comedy & Art. They Usher In The Possiblity Of Critical

Thinking for those in thrall to the Media and outside Message Control.

You can't convince someone with a Rational argument when they are subconsciously wedded to a well established mindset.

First you must prick their Conscience or pierce the veil... with Art & Comedy.

[stepnw1f]

13. Bring Back the Fairness Doctrine

And lets get rid of corporate campaigning contributions from our election process.

[sasha031]

18. Do you know what I think about

Venezuela has had right wing media for yrs, they have just got Telisur,

Did it take those years for 80% of the population to go into the poverty level, maybe they could no longer afford TVEEEEEeees, and then things started to change?...

[stepnw1f]

23. That's Possible

Because the only way WE can defeat ignorance in our country is to go face to face our fellow Americans and clue them in on what's really going on. If they don't want to hear the truth... so be it. But at least we all try. Never get to pissed and give up.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

15. My only disagreement is with the L&O franchise

in that there have been episodes about corrupt cops, the prosecution doesn't always win (and there are sometimes corrupt prosecutors). I won't disagree that the producer of the franchise, Dick Wolf, thinks that defense attorneys are sleezebags-but this biased attitude helped sink one of his shows, Trial By Jury, mainly because even hardcore L&O fans found the treatment of defense attorneys was way off balance.

As for us being always at danger--funny, that isn't the view I get from frequenting L&O boards. Most folks there are more interested in talking about how the law works or doesn't work. Don't see a lot of paranoia at those boards-in fact, I see more of that here at DU than there. (The closest to paranoia is when Fred Dalton Thompson came on board and many believed he was skewing the Mother Ship-the original series' nickname-too far to the right.) The other interesting thing is that the L&O boards I have frequented over the years appear to have a preponderance of liberals posting.

[sasha031]

19. Remember LA Law

That was a great show.

[AverageJoe]

22. Good observations

My suspicion, though, is that the people who frequent Law and Order boards are not the Masses. That is, the people who self-select onto the Internet are by definition breaking free from some measure of the control mechanism.

My point is not that the shows are at all times on an identifiable message. That would make them useless as a control mechanism. Rather, the overall tenor of the show is that the State is good and right and anything that challenges the state is wrong and doomed to fail.

I would argue that often the prosecutors are corrupt--or at least ethically challenged--to one degree or another, on Law and Order. It's just that the corruption or ethical lapse is not presented, necessarily, as a bad thing. When the prosecution doesn't win, it is usually framed that justice has somehow been denied because of that loss.

Finally, I have to point out that I'm not saying there is a one-to-one correlation between any message sent out by any medium and the reaction of an individual. I'm talking about tendencies within populations.

[kenny blankenship]

20. Good insight. Now what do we do about these things?

Now that the simulation, or the image, has displaced the world of reality, is there any going back? How do we spread information and build consensus when the all the means of doing this--all the means of any appreciable scale above blogs--are owned and actively controlled by an ideologically militant ruling class?

This has been the real problem we face politically, since being described by Baudrillard as far back as the early nineteen-eighties: the world has been exploded and replaced by a clever fake. And it seems likely that many people prefer the heightened dramatic sensations, the regular, rhythmic application of these heightened stimulations, the more profound amnesias & anaesthesias, and the more vividly colorized sensations provided by the corporate-manufactured simulation of the world, over the long buried real. The people who first described this problem, people of such uselessly enormous intelligence that they could see it, describe it and theorize about it before others had scarcely imagined it or given it a name beyond the vague label of "false consciousness" or had laughably underestimated it as the personal failing of "inauthenticity", for all their intelligence could not describe or prophesy a way out of it for us. Even before the routinization of terror occurred these theorists foretold that even the most audacious acts of terrorism could not succeed in reinjecting the real into the world of simulation.

[patrice]

21. What do you call . . . .?

You've got Silence and Mean World, but what about trying to disguise bad actions? You know how Corporate Media takes a story with a lot of pathos associated with it and pumps it up forever, e.g. "Baby Noor" everywhere in the news for about a week now. I know it IS cynical, but I think stories like that are used to distract us from bad things and justify other things we are doing. People can send in their money and cheer-lead amongst themselve about what good people they are. And anyone who says something different is easily faulted for lack of charity.

Don't get me wrong, it IS a good thing that is happening for Baby Noor, but what is the purpose of repeating and repeating and repeating and repeating and repeating and updating every hour ad infinitum?

[sui generis]

26. that's just

emotional prostitution

We know we're supposed to feel a certain way about certain stories, and those stories are used by association to paint with a positive light. I'm very cynical (realism, not meanness) about the profusion of human interest stories whenever we lose another seven marines, especially when the media "isn't allowed" to show our kids coming home in aluminum caskets.

[patrice]

29. They're also not talking about what "aggressive counter-insurgency"

tactics mean in terms of exactly what our soldiers are doing to Iraqis in day-to-day encounters.

[lostnfound]

56. Emotional lives being hollowed out and then filled by artificial means

For many, TV provides artificial plotlines and vicarious meaning. Diminish real human contact, weaken community, and replace it with preprogrammed sensationalism and sentimentality.

[AverageJoe]

27. I have to admit that I'm unaware of "Baby Noor"

I stopped watching the corporate "news" media a while back. It sounds like you're right on target with what that story is being used to accomplish, though--make people feel good about themselves while distracting them from the real issues of the day.

[catzies]

128. Me too, and I also don't watch TV news...never heard of "Baby Noor"

I listen to my local NPR all day long everyday, and of course I'm glued to the net for at least 8 hours a day.

Is "Baby Noor" a TV news story? :shrug:

[Gregorian]

25. You've touched on an important cornerstone.

I cannot emphasize how important this kind of discussion is. For years I have watched this phenomenon. Very similar words have gone through my mind as I saw the changes in this society. It is corporate driven. And consumer supported. That damn television has power to alter many people's ideas. Not mine. Not yours. But enough to change election results.

I wish I were able to put my thoughts on the page. Just know that there are others out there who realize the same thing. Every episode of COPS that I happened to accidentally scan by on my way to C-span, had me in a state of wonderment over just who on earth would want to watch that stuff. And who would produce it.

The whole mutually symbiotic relationship of the producers and consumers has spiralled into a serious nightmare.

There is no substitute for culture. And education.

This discussion could be expanded into other areas. And I believe it's the one most important way to begin our descent back into the reality of the real world.

[AverageJoe]

57. Thank you, Gregorian

You are absolutely right about culture and education. I suspect that is why the right wing consistently attacks both of these things so desperately.

[alcibiades_mystery]

28. I agree on Law & Order; together with the West Wing, one of the most

fascist shows on television.

The West Wing is THE most fascist show on television.

[roseBudd]

30. Spiral of Silence is why guerilla flyering can be effective...

I have used a variety of flyers since I began using flyers to communictae even when I am no longer there. Examples of my flyers can be seen here:

http://bushcheated04.com/flyers.html

Most recent are IMPEACH BUSH
http://bushcheated04.com/impeach.pdf




and IRAQ WAR: WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR:
http://bushcheated04.com/war.pdf


If enough of us did guerilla flyering we could address the Spiral of Silence. It is cheap and easy. Only $.04 apiece from Kinkos and you can do it when you are going about your daily activities. You can either post them or leave them.

[leeroysphitz]

31. The United States Prime Time Victim Show!

In the words of Tomothy Leary: "Turn it off baby! We will NOT be angry victims no more!"

[Bigmack]

32. I was looking for a link...

... and then realized you had written that post. It seemed so dead-on that I was looking for a big-time author.

You seem to know about communication theory. I've read Lakoff's book, but do you have any suggestions about other books to read?

[AverageJoe]

33. Geroge Gerbner identified "Mean World" in his Cultivation Theory research

Here's a link to a good overview of Gerbner:

http://www.colostate.edu/Depts/Speech/rccs/theory06.htm


Here's a brief overview of Spiral of Silence:

http://www.tcw.utwente.nl/theorieenoverzicht/Theory%20clusters/Mass%20Media/spiral_of_silence.doc/

An older, but still valuable book that uses Gerbner to explain media control in the first Gulf War is Triumph of the Image: The Media's War in the Persian Gulf-A Global Perspective. This was published in 1992, but still speaks to the issues we're confronting today.

[mattclearing]

36. Mass Media studies generally involve these theories.

It's good stuff to be aware of. And right on the money. K&R.

[GuvWurld]

38. Best post in a while - great work (eom)

[AverageJoe]

39. Thank you!

I've been thinking about this stuff for some time. I actually wrote a good bit of this in response to another thread, and then somehow lost it before I was able to post. I figured, what the hell, let's just start a new thread. I'm delighted that people find value in this, horrified that they have to....

[jokerman93]

52. This topic

This topic is broad and rich enough to have its own home. The quality of the responses to your original post suggests it would make a lively and informative DU forum. I'd certainly participate.

Any takers?

:applause:

J

[AverageJoe]

54. Great idea, jokerman!

I certainly didn't expect this kind of response. I'm truly pleased that the thread has initiated such a lively, thoughtful conversation.

[Initech]

40. Great post!

Another example of mean TV syndrome is news magazine shows like Dateline, A Current Affair, and ESPECIALLY local news programs. These shows are based SQUARELY on the media's ability to scare people.

[rockymountaindem]

42. I think you're really wrong about Law and Order

Law and Order frequently shows the police lying to suspects in order to trick them for their own purposes, the prosecution overplaying their hand, and even more than a few prosecution losses. Defense attorneys are frequently portrayed as annoying, but I think that is only because the story is told from the prosecutor's point of view. If you're looking for an example of RW legal propaganda, Law and Order is not it.

[kenny blankenship]

44. You're probably right that the OP meant the specific show "Law & Order"

but I initially read that sentence to indicate the whole genre of law and order oriented shows.

[AverageJoe]

46. Yep, I meant the specific show "Law & Order" and all of its spinoffs

I suspect others of the same genre could be used as good examples as well, though.

[AverageJoe]

45. Fair enough, but I disagree

In fact, I would argue that the points you make strengthen my claims. Even though the police lie and the prosectution overplays its hand--and even though the State sometimes loses--the overriding message is that the State does win in the end and that this sometimes means that agents of the State have to bend the rules to make this happen. This, the show suggests, is what keeps us safe.

I do respect your opinion, but I see the show differently.

[rockymountaindem]

47. Well, you're right in this post too

The state usually does win. However, by the time they do, the viewer is supposed to be convinced (in most episodes) that the defendant really is guilty. But I don't want to make this a thread about Law and Order :)

[AverageJoe]

50. Right--me neither

I understand that many, many people love Law and Order and I'm not trying to insult their taste or anything else. My mom and dad LOVE it, as do my in-laws. My wife is a Law and Order junkie. Hell, I've watched it many times. The show has high production values, good actors and is often quite compelling.

And lots of folks who watch this show or Cops--or you name it--are not affected in the way I suggest. Everyone who watches does not have to be affected, just enough to skew things enough toward the favor of the corporations to make a difference.

Decades ago, people believed that specific messages had specific, predictable results for individuals. This idea is known, variously, as the Hypodermic Needle Theory or the Bullet Theory. We now know that this idea is silly. Different people react differently to the same message because of the background they bring with them and the "noise" which interferes with their reception and interpretation of the message. All I'm talking about is tendencies within populations. And I think I'm right about the tendencies I suggest are cultivated by the corporate media.

[Mme. Defarge]

107. Thank you!

Gotta admit I'm a L&O addict because the writing and acting is so wonderful. Before this show, the only television programs I could watch were British.

[MisterP]

49. the "Dangerous World" came out during Katrina--"they're so subhuman

they'll shoot their own rescuers, yak yak yak, it's like a zombie movie, yada yada yada." Of course, in zombie movies, the goal is to shoot to obliterate, to blast the monsters until nothing's left but flinders. It's a very primitive, almost baboon-like reaction--respond first and with massive, annihilating force, preferably firearms; that's often the first American solution, and many turn to the Chief Baboon himself, George W. Bush. Reactions like that give us Halloween shootings and invasions of countries and Portuguese electricians' executions.

[AverageJoe]

51. Wonderful observation--dead on

And don't forget about all that blather about "looting."

[dmr]

53. And the Defense Attorney TV programming show them as

corrupt, infantile, sexually deviant, money hungry, uncaring and anti-American. The defendants they successfully defend are likely to be shown as guilty to the viewer - this passes off the message that the Civil Rights and laws are somehow abused, are wrong and possibly need to be amended.

Your post is excellent. I've often thought along the same lines when I watch Law & Order, and how cleverly they take current events/crimes and spin them into a story line that the public can somehow identify with. Often they allow an alternate viewpoint, only to be over-shadowed by their ever powerful governmental stance.

Law & Order is very fast paced, with entertaining wisecracks, and loaded with information that the viewer needs to be a quick and critical thinker to grab onto what is actually being said and done.

Despite the fact that there must be big advertising money made, it has crossed my mind that NBC and GE just might be breaking even in each of these shows initial productions. I imagine they pay top dollar for the writers alone, because the dialog and story line is excellent. The shows are executed with exact verbal and visual precision, and that isn't cheap.

On top of all this, we not only have numerous episodes on NBC, we are daily inundated on TNT, USA, CourtTV and either FX or Bravo. Of course, NBC recoups their investment in cable reruns.

Mean World Syndrome - how appropriately named.

[AverageJoe]

55. You've hit upon my points exactly

And you're certainly right about all the inundation factor. Scary stuff, eh?

[NJCher]

66. I'm game

If you decide discussion on this issue is worth a forum, I'm up for it. Maybe it should be a research thread in the research forum.

I'm a communication scholar. I think there would be a great deal we could accomplish with such an effort.

Sorry I can't add more now--I'm off on a short trip but I've bookmarked the thread and will check later.

AverageJoe, are you in the field of communications?


Cher

[AverageJoe]

68. Hi NJCher

I'm in a subset of Communications. A good bit of my training is in media effects, but my research interests are more historical in nature. Specifically, I'm interested in the history of publishing.

I'd PM you if I could figure out how to do it. That shows you how technologically un-savvy I am.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

89. I loved the OP. Although, I'm not sure about the concern with L &O.

I like the show because it deals in shades of gray.

I certainly have seen more than one show where the detectives and DA took a suspect all the way to trial, got their conviction and then been confronted by evidence that perhaps they had convicted the wrong person.

There has also been dialog on the show regarding following the rule of the law in the face of ethical dilemmas.

And very few of the show's "endings" are cut and dried, the bad guy's put away, etc. Often, there is a sense of unresolved issues, for all the characters.

I will agree, it certainly slants in favor of law enforcement, although, none of them are portrayed as saints.

I love the Spiral of Silence....such a great description, as well as "Mean World". MKJ

[debbierlus]

58. Took the long way around, just say they LIE

It really isn't all THAT complicated. They lie. They blame everyone for their greed, corruption, hate, and misery. They scapegoat anyone who doesn't go along with their mass game. I think we need to be more plain spoken.

Bush is a liar. The corporate media are a bunch of liars. It isn't a either or discussion. It is LIES versus TRUTH. If the left said it was daytime outside and then showed them that the sun was shining, the time was 2:03 in the afternoon, & documented it with the world time clocks, daylight, and every related data; the right would say that they have 'sources' in a room with all the shades pulled down & lights off who report it is night. The corporate media would then report the right's side as though it held equal merit to the facts on the left. And, they would spin it - democrats claim it is day; Right refutes with sources.

And, that is not an extreme example. Truth is truth. Lies are lies. Anytime you have a 'debate' between the two it is just as ludicrous as arguing it is midnight at two o clock in the afternoon. It is ABSURD.

My question is - why do we - not the left - but the sane - sponsor corporate media with subscriptions to cable and satellite??? Don't BUY their product. You want to see a change in the news? Cancel your cable subscriptions and satellite service. Tell them WHY. Can you imagine if 50% of the country did this? The huge losses they would sustain! Why bitch & moan when you PAY for them to do this????!!!

If you can't do so much as not subsidize liars - then don't come on these boards and talk about how bad it is! How wimpy have we become as a nation when sacrificing television is too big a burden to send a message?

[Raksha]

84. Exactly! Very well stated: It is LIES versus TRUTH.

Re >>Bush is a liar. The corporate media are a bunch of liars. It isn't a either or discussion. It is LIES versus TRUTH. If the left said it was daytime outside and then showed them that the sun was shining, the time was 2:03 in the afternoon, & documented it with the world time clocks, daylight, and every related data; the right would say that they have 'sources' in a room with all the shades pulled down & lights off who report it is night. The corporate media would then report the right's side as though it held equal merit to the facts on the left. And, they would spin it - democrats claim it is day; Right refutes with sources.<<

As I've been reading this thread, even before I came to your post I've thought often of one of my pet gripes: the truism that "the truth lies somewhere in the middle." Not when one side is lying and the other is telling the truth, the truth does NOT lie "somewhere in the middle"! That would make the truth--what?--a half-truth at the very best.

You'd think that kind of thing would be obvious to everyone. <sigh>

[PurpleChez]

59. Excellent piece!

Maybe I'm just excited by the increase in mainstream editorials against the chimp, but even though I've been a DU loyalist for about a year now I'd swear that the number of killer articles and analyses has increased dramatically in recent weeks. Left-wing rants (my own included) are all well and good, but articles like this are a great service to the cause.

[AverageJoe]

60. Thank you!

I truly appreciate your kind words.

[WHAT]

61. I feel the left hand and right hand are...

working in tandem.

In order to "manipulate" the problem/solution., and the brain is the focal point that allows the dichotomy of ideology a resolution. The tools for manipulation are ideology. But, zoom in and you have the whorls to identify a specific organism...either left or right identifiers. Zoom out and you wonder about the purpose of the manipulation.

Just the circumstance that our mind is engaged in visual stimuli can be applied towards visual stimuli...either pornography or ideology or shooting a bird on the wing or a myriad of sofar unidentified qualifiers...just within the narrow constructs of our physical reality. And, there are so many degrees outside our narrow perceptions that elicit no voice because, maybe, they are outside the narrow constricts of our vocal chords? I guess religion, to me, is acceptance of ignorance, but, I feel there is something larger at work (the universe?) that is beyond or supersedes manipulation. I am not religious, but, I am in awe of what I do not know...and, if the left hand and right hand know what they are doing, I'd be surprised.

[AverageJoe]

63. If I read you correctly,

I agree that it is entirely possible that much of what I described in my original post may be, after a fashion, accidental. It may well be that we are being manipulated by corporations that simply program in ways that make internal sense to them, that hire "reporters" who seem reasonable to them because they share their political beliefs. The actual results that work in their favor politically could be a side effect that they didn't consciously plan to achieve. I dunno.

Whether I read you correctly or not, I admire and enjoy your smart, poetic prose.

[Cosby]

65. An additional suggestion...

I've also viewed the L&O genre and especially the CSI subgrouping as touting the infallibility of the cops. Controlling our behavior by demonstrating that any infraction will result in punishment at the hands of the establishment. No piece of evidence too small, technology that has super-human capabilities, you can get away with nothing, we will catch you. Don't even think about resisting, you will be found out. Sort of like the Borg 'Resistance is futile...'

[AverageJoe]

67. You're right....

And that's a wonderful meme: We are borg, assimilated by the flickering blue light....

[racaulk]

69. Great post, AverageJoe!

This excellent post was very well put together and thought out. I think you have described the corporate media accurately and beautifully. Thank you for posting this.

:yourock:

Now, if we can only get some of those fundies and freepers to pay attention and actually give some thought to what all corporate media exposes them to, they may start to realize that the media is not so "liberal" after all. Then we can start making some true progress.

[AverageJoe]

70. Thank you, racaulk!

You rock, too!

Wouldn't it be nice if we could get the fundies and freepers to think, really think, about something, anything, anything at all....

[bluerum]

72. Yes - television is mind control. Free your mind. n/t

[kerry-is-my-prez]

73. Nancy Grace is the poster child for this syndrome....

n/t

[AverageJoe]

74. Wow--yes!

I'd say that's a bull's eye....

[leftstreet]

75. It's odd that FOX had "24" in the can so quickly after 911

George Bush is definitely a "Jack Bauer" president. The rogue "lawman" shooting people, hacking off fingers, all outside the law but totally necessary (to the viewer) because he's on the side of "right" and he's fighting "terrorists." Fuck warrants - they're in the business of protecting the American people.

Spooky how it coincided with BushCo's escalating abuse of power.

[AverageJoe]

76. "24" is probably a better example of what I'm talking about

than in Law & Order, except that Law & Order is far more available to viewers.

And yep, good observation about the show being ready so quickly after 9/11....

[CanSocDem]

77. Another disturbing trend in the "Mean World...

...Syndrome" is the proliferation of ADVERTISING that promotes...for lack of a better description, ANTI-social values.

Ideologically, I lay the blame for ALL our social problems on the culture of consumerism. At times I have had to sell 'my wares' to the advertising industry, so I've had to overcome my sense of hypocrisy and stay current...

However, as you've wisely noted, knowing how the corporations manipulate the masses, is a very good tool for the social-revolutionary. Selling an idea isn't any different than selling a brand of beer....and for that I've kept a keen interest in advertising since the sixties.

My point, finally.....

I'm seeing a lot of major corporations like McD's use THEFT and SUBTERFUGE as the winning values in the pursuit of 'a burger'.....

Not to mention the obvious "over-sizing" that is implicit.

I used to be able to accommodate the milder form of American consumerism of the 60's, 70's and even into the 80's. It was fun being able to cross the border and buy a 100 or so cans of beer for $9.99......

Nowadays, you're asked to go shopping to counter the effects of 911.

Anyway, good post. Great topic!

[AverageJoe]

78. Good points, all!

and welcome to DU!!!

:toast:

[NJCher]

93. Anti-social products themselves

Examples: leaf blowers. Hummers, Excursions, and their ilk. Mercury lights for use in neighborhoods. Giant stereo speakers for cars (boom box cars).


Cher

[AverageJoe]

100. Interesting

An anti-social medium convincing people to by products which rip the social fabric, producing greater alienation, probably often assuaged by watching more television. Talk about your vicious circle!

[Mme. Defarge]

108. Yes, consumerism is the opiate of the people!

In my opinion, Costco is the greatest marketing concept of all time. Think about it -- impulse buying in bulk. No wonder we need vans and SUV's and McMansions.

[sojourner]

81. oh god, we're so f*cked!

corporations are on top of the latest theories and are so bent on controlling the whole world...here we were worried about artificial intelligence going off the deep end. it was really those non-human entities that have all the rights of an individual without any of the responsibilities and who are in essence "immortal" in that they do not have a natural life-span like the rest of us. damn.

[HR_Pufnstuf]

85. Privatize all business.

No more borrowing funny money when you cant actually make it.

[Peace Patriot]

87. Nope, I think all these psychobabble theories about "why Americans let

Bush be president" are not useful, when you have "secret decoder ring" elections run by Bushite corporations. The simplest theory--and the one with a fact or two to back it up--is always best. We threw the bastards out, but their buds tabulated all the votes with "TRADE SECRET," PROPRIETARY programming code, with virtually no audit/recount controls, and overruled the peace-loving, justice-loving, quite well-informed, thank you, and with a lot of common sense, too, great, progressive American majority.

So, ya'll better eat your Wheaties and get your own secret decoder ring for the next election, or you won't know WTF they did with your vote.

[AverageJoe]

96. I agree with you that Bush did not win either election

He is not a legitimate president. Republicans on the scotus installed him the first time, Diebold did it the second time. Yes.

But things don't stop there. The mass media is a very powerful tool. Just think how much outrage againt Bush there would be, for example, if all of our "news" organizations suddenly started doing their jobs and presenting stories on how the elections were stolen, how PNAC was hot to invade Iraq years before Bush invaded the Oval Office, how he let New Orleans die, etc.

There would be no stopping the impeachment juggernaut.

This is the opposite of that. Rather than tell us what's going on, I'm suggesting that the media is lying to us and that many people--not the people here, of course--believe the lies and live accordingly. This helps the regime control the people and maintain power.

I'm not saying that this is the whole story, just that it is at our peril to ignore the power of the media to mold public perception and action in a negative way

[Nimrod2005]

90. I studied com. theory and media in college, in one of my favorite

classes, we studies propaganda, US propaganda from the WWII, all about how America manipulated viewers and listeners with images of german soldiers killing, cities being blown up...and implying strongly that your American city could be next unless we join this war...etc.


50 years from now, people will be studying the content of this thread.

[AverageJoe]

97. Blush

Yep, there have been a good many insightful comments here. I am happily surprised that this thread has generated as much fine discussion as it has.

[Nimrod2005]

101. This will make you flame!!! Right now watch....

[sundancekid]

91. Link, please :: or is this original work??

[AverageJoe]

94. No link, I wrote it

Of course, the theories aren't mine. I just used them to suggest one of the ways the GOP maintains control over the American people.

[sundancekid]

103. KUDOS to your brilliant application ... made my day here at DU ... thanks

[AverageJoe]

104. Wow, thank you

I must say that you've made my day, too, and it's still early!

[Junkdrawer]

95. Totally agree! I call the Spiral of Silence 'Drinking the Koolaid'...

and Michael Moore's 'Bowling for Columbine' explores the Mean World Syndrome in depth.

Kicked and Recommended. :thumbsup:

[AverageJoe]

98. Thanks, junkdrawer!

Moore did a great job with Bowling for Columbine, indeed.

[Hello_Kitty]

121. I was thinking of that movie too

Because the fear is laced with a healthy dose of racism.

[Truth__Seeker]

99. Image is everything. Control is imperative and all means will

be used to obtain it. And its happening right now.

<http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/_/id/8798997?rnd=1135869541578&has-player=true&version=6.0.12.1040>

The antidote is to be aware of it. Then you can enjoy the drama of "24".

[AverageJoe]

102. You're right--the only antidote is awareness

Many thanks for the link--looks like a very good story.

And welcome to DU!

:toast:

[Stand and Fight]

105. Threads like this ONE are why I love DU!

There are people in my life who I love and care about a great deal, but I've had to face the sad fact that they haven't a clue about the world and how it works. I see family members, friends, and loved ones going about their daily activities completely unaware and/or unconcerned about what is going on in the world. In the last five years there has not been ONE DAY that I have not been aghast at what the government is doing, yet were I to rely solely on word-of-mouth to find out about the state of the world, I'd be swimming in ignorance as well. It's very distressing to realize that the people that you love have no clue when it comes to the "news" that they watch...

For example, I've a coworker who is a very dear friend, but s/he hasn't a concern in the world outside of what gadget or clothes they shall next purchase. My wife is very much the same way, and no matter how often I relate the state of things to her, she cares not about anything save her pets, shopping and other bits of the mundane. My grandmother -- bless her heart -- lived through the fire houses of the Civil Rights era in the South, and she fails to see the ugliness that has come to be America. I've sent several links to stories that have broken over the last year, and each time I am greeted with a cold indifference or feigned and short interest. However, these same people will become absolutely fascinated by tragedies that are anything but local or important to this community. They will become entwined by reality television's mind numbing vapid idiocy. They've has no concern for the fact that the President may have spied on them and seems to have fantasies of dictatorship. They haven't a care that some members of concern -- mostly Republicans -- seem to have done everything short of declaring war on the poor and downtrodden.

To them -- my loved ones -- the world is indeed a big scary place, but so long as they've the warm hypnotizing light of television, never mind the poor, the elderly, or the rest of the world drowning. Never mind the soldiers who are dying for a LIE in Iraq. Never mind the startling fact that there was a coup on December 12, 2000. Never mind that the same thing happened four years later. It's all very distressing. Sometimes I feel as if I'm on a sinking ship and though I know what direction to swim in to reach safety, but no one -- the ones I love, to include the majority of America and the world -- are listening and they are taken down into the deep dark depths.

[NJCher]

106. Wow, what a post!

You have managed to write my story, too. I loved how you expressed this situation in the second paragraph and in particular your comments about reality television.

We watched election 2000 with some liberal friends of ours. After the election was handed to bush, I immediately went back into protest mode (I'd been protesting on the streets about Clinton's treatment) and even formed an action group to work on his defeat. I was heartbroken when my friends with whom we watched the election told me no when I asked them to go to a protest. As it was expressed, "We don't do things like that." This was one of the worst moments of my life--realizing people I really cared about didn't share my passion for action. I still cry real tears when I think about it.

This was assuaged somewhat when I found out the husband in this couple donated considerable sums of money to liberal causes. But the wife--I've never really forgiven her for that and for saying that she'll just "keep her head down" when things get too fascist here. And this woman is Jewish and who had relatives who died in the Holocaust.

One of my favorite bumper stickers is "If you're not enraged, you're not paying attention." For the life of me, I just don't understand how these people can be so engaged with frivolity and how they can ignore the signs of what is happening to our country.


Cher

[Stand and Fight]

112. Civilians are one thing, but can you believe soldiers are the same way?

Sometimes I look at the situation and wonder what the apathetic would do if fascism came to this country. The late Huey P. Long once said, and I paraphrase, “If fascism comes to America it will come in the form of patriotism waving a flag.” If I can look back on times in my life that America changed it would be the selection of 2000 and 9/11.

I was a soldier when it happened – out training troops on the use of the SAW (Squad Automatic Weapon) in Fort Lewis, WA. I had gone back on the troop carrier to fetch some “poggie bait” – snacks and the whatnot one masticates to pass the time – when I heard Howard Stern of all people talking about a plane having hit the World Trade Center. Since it was coming from Howard Stern, I was positive it was nothing more than one of his antics. I instructed the driver to change to the AM frequency for news… I was shocked. I knew then and there that things were about to change in America – greatly. It is no wonder then the I found all the flag waving that occurred after 9/11 that was accompanied by mass paranoia as extraordinarily disturbing… Rumors spread in my unit that the perpetrator was bin Laden and that he was in Afghanistan and that’s where the Army was being sent to hunt him down.

I watched and listened as horror as we went into Afghanistan without holding back or seeming to really think about it, but I understood the sense of urgency to capture Osama bin Laden. I actually supported it a great deal once I understood he was there and how much of a danger he represented. In 2002 I read reports that he had been cornered in Tora Bora but had escaped, I could not believe it. When the rumor spread that the Joes on the ground had been prevented from going after him by the higher ups and he had slipped away I was incensed with anger. However, when rumors began to spread through the ranks that we were going to Iraq, I was completely aghast! What did Iraq have to do with 9/11? I knew that I had read that the terrorist were primarily from Saudi Arabia. I had watched news clippings of Saddam Hussein firing his gun into the air surrounding by Iraqis, but I never deemed him a danger or thought it necessary to remove him from power through overt force. He was a silly little man on a silly little television screen of little or no consequence. However, in March of 2003, we invaded with ground forces. At that point I turned completely against George W. Bush. I had been doing my own reading and research (and had come across DU in the process), and it was clear that there were no weapons of mass destruction and Hussein posed no threat. I knew it was a complete and outright vicious lie. However, my fellow soldiers did not care. They did not care. I was stunned to say the least, because you would due to the gravity of the situation in relation to their livelihoods.

I changed my party affiliation to Democrat and have not looked back since. I had not liked what had been done to Bill Clinton, and the war in Iraq convinced me that Republicans truly had lost their way. I began to read and read and read about everything that had happened since 2000 and came to believe that the election had been stolen. I was hard pressed to find anyone in the Army who agreed with me or shared a passion for getting to the truth. The soldiers were content to go along with the madness and lies – even though it most certainly meant they and those they called “battle buddies” would face death on that flawed premise.

Gradually I looked for civilian outlets and began to read DU a great deal more. I got out of the Army on February 3, 2004, and immediately began to take an active role in local politics. I was the county chairman for Wesley Clark and worked my tail off for him in the primaries. I take solace in the fact that Oklahoma is the only state he won. I did not see fit to become any more than a lurker until the election was stolen last year. It crushed my spirit. I had been out of the army for seven months to the day when Kerry conceded, and went home that day with tears in my eyes, my heart ripped asunder, and in a deep depression. For months following the concession – until there was no hope after January 6, 2005 – I had suffered a profound since of melancholy. I tried to find people here in Oklahoma who felt the same way, but no one seemed to share the outrage – not even my wife or friends or those I loved and respected.

I began to feel apathetic toward them for their apathy and then anger and then aversion. I still feel a lot of this, but DU is the means by which I maintain, not only my sanity, but my civility in the face of the more pressing importance of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, Lacy Peterson, the Surreal Life, Animal Planet, and all other matters of distractions that opiates the masses and those I love and respect. The country slips evermore toward fascism and authoritarianism when Bush can get on television, admit to committing a crime, and say that he will continue to do so…

It’s even more disheartening that people I regularly think of as intelligent can NOT feel any outrage or care about it. This thread helps explain some of it, but it does not help excuse it. I’m 27 years old today and a former Republican who enjoys video games and multimedia design, and I saw through the lies. I still watch the occasional episode of Cops or Law and Order, but I have never felt inclined toward group-think. Even as a Republican I had a maverick streak because I could not see the sense in supporting the death penalty but abhorring abortion. I could not separate the doctrine or “state rights” and what the true success of said doctrine would have meant to the cause of civil rights. I share your confusion as to how so many people can be so taken up with frivolous matters when the country is going to hell, but it is even more disheartening that an alarming number of soldiers continue to support this madman. It’s very confusing and damn near maddening… I am alarmed that the flag waving continues despite the fact that the ship of democracy is sinking. It’s like the band that supposed played on while the Titanic sunk – even as a kid I regarded them as fools and not brave ones.

[Mme. Defarge]

110. Good point here ...

"Mean World Syndrome is tied to both news and entertainment media. The corporate "news" media treat local crime stories (kidnapped children, missing women, etc.) as national crises and spend grossly inappropriate amounts of time and energy covering these stories. While it is correct for media to report crime, very often the stories with which the corporate media choose to saturate their "news" shows are of legitimate interest only to a specific community or region."

I'm old enough to remember when the local news did not have nightly sex offender updates with its quasi-pornographic overtones, and when the weather was never considered news -- 24/7 coverage of the threat of wind gusts just wasn't a concept in those days.

[AverageJoe]

111. Yes, once upon a time we had fine network news organizations

I remember Walter Cronkite, David Brinkley, Harry Reasoner, Howard K. Smith. Those guys were giants. They gave us a national conversation that had meaning and was based in reality and critical thought. These guys were Journalists with a capital "J." They had ethics, integrity, and the smarts and training to do their jobs. They also knew who the served: The public.

We no longer have a national conversation. What we have now is titillation, fear mongering and propaganda. I was a news junkie prior to the 2000 presidential debacle. When no one covered the fact that the election had been stolen I finally realized that we no longer had a credible 4th estate in the United States.

I think I'm most disgusted with CNN. They were a great news organization and now they're no more than a propaganda team for the corporatist culture and the GOP. I so wish they'd just gone out of business instead of moving to their current format of half-truth and * boosterism. CNN, with its perception among the general public of being objective, is one of the biggest dangers democracy faces. You could say the same thing about the New York Times. They've essentially done the same as CNN though, since reading a newspaper takes work, the average person isn't affected as directly by the NYT as they are by CNN.

[Stand and Fight]

113. Indeed the great national conversation has ended... with a noisy chirp.

I think this is one of the most pressing crises that we have ever faced as a nation. A neutered and/or impotent press that has rendered ITSELF little more than a bullhorn of propaganda does represent the greatest threat to our nation. I look at CNN as only part of the problem though, because NPR is very much the same along with the old network stations as well. You're absolutely right.

I think that the majority of Americans -- if they care to get the news at all -- want it spoon fed and preprocessed for them already. It's from an aversion to critical thinking in my opinion. They don't want to be taxed with the difficulty involved in having to masticate the information themselves, so they allow fools like Hannity, O'Rielly and Blitzer to chew it up for them. The only problem is that they strip out the majority of the nutrients first, and as a result the country is dying from malnourishment when they're perfectly capable, but unwilling, to feed themselves. God help us, but it’s as if we've become a nation of noisy birds who are no longer babies and chose not to fly!

[Mme. Defarge]

114. Do you think

that the dumbing down of our public education system has played a role in this?

[AverageJoe]

116. I think so

And I think it's been done purposely in some cases and out of fear and/or apathy in others. The republicans don't want people to think clearly, because clear thought exposes the republican agenda as nothing but avarice and brutality. No wonder * gives us something like "No Child Left Behind," which encourages rote learning and takes critical thinking out of the classroom.

On the other hand, many school boards have been infiltrated by members of the "religious" right. These people, for the most part, seem to honestly believe that getting rid of science and replacing it with fundamentalist Christianity is in the best interest of students. These people have often been able to steamroll their way to victory.

Either way, the republicans are gutting the public schools and setting America up for the biggest fall since the last days of Rome.

[Stand and Fight]

117. Yes, I'm quite positive of it in fact.

I graduated from high school in 1998. Independent thinkers were frowned upon, not only by the students, but sometimes by the staff. As if that is not bad enough, critical thinking if not taught. It should be taught in grade school, but it is instead discouraged in the interest of fostering "teamwork" or some other such like saving money. (Yet at the same time thousands are poured into the best equipment for the football team... Sickening.)

I believe a lot of the skills that assist in critical thinking can be found in the most underfunded -- or abandoned -- of school programs like art, music, and other outlets that encourage creativity. I was fortunate enough to got to a quasi-private school in Las Vegas, but even there I experienced and saw youths orstrasized because they had a talent for thinking outside of the box. Looking at things as three dimensional, you know? The dumbing down of the public education system will have dire consequences -- we have yet to see them manisfest completely in our life times unless we can reverse the process.

Not to sound tinfoil hattish, but I am given to wondering if perhaps some nefarious elements would like to crush the public school system because it would enable them to better control the populace...

[AverageJoe]

115. You're right about NPR and the broadcast networks, of course

CNN just breaks my heart because they were the ones I always turned to for news. But those other organizations were great and trustworthy for many, many years, and now that trust is gone.

By the way, I want to say how much I've appreciated reading your posts on this thread. Thank you.

[Stand and Fight]

118. AverageJoe -- you're anything but average...

Our primary source for a view of the world’s reality has been altered into some cartoon-like mockery of journalism and truth telling. It’s sad really…

A ship that was on course to land upon pristine shores seems to be sailing ever deeper into the storm and toward a rocky abyss. Our navigator has betrayed us by telling us that north is south and east is west, and by replacing the sound science of navigation by compass with that of magical chicanery. The clouds in the sky are dark and ominous and the raging waters seem intent on snatching us into its murky depths... Despite all of that, I believe that we shall reverse course for the pristine shores of what America can be – a lighthouse of hope to the oppressed and disadvantaged within our country and around the world. Our vessel has not yet sunk, but it seems to be dangerously close to being capsized. Pray tell we shall correct our course, repair our ship, and sail toward the promise of a brighter tomorrow.

[PATRICK]

119. Thanks for the fish- Methodology

In addition one might remember the classic fish story lie. To boost and pump up and entertain one increases step by step the size of the fish. Less noticed however is the shrinking fish(such as Iraqis protesting their recent election). This step by step natural process is motivated by fear and need to hide disclosure and comes from a timid or fearful soul being under attack for talking about a fish that is too big or a wiser fear someone might want his secret fishing hole source.

It would take a lot of subjective discipline to avoid either dynamic, a tightwire of simple news, hopefully entertaining and of interest in its own right. Notice that the populace at large, while entertained or fooled a bit, treats the storyteller(not news-teller) as a buffoon. But too often as a tolerated artless buffoon with no real harm done. THAT last attitude carries over unfortunately into important matters until so much harm is done the audience begins rebelling in earnest, not teasingly.

Of course this leaves out the organization at various levels of the news media, but the loose behavior at ground level is either enthusiastic or unprofessional storytelling(facts enlarge or shrink beyond the truth or silence descends when it doesn't work too well) or cold calculation by a few manipulators who use human nature like any commodity to process with lies.

One can take a lot of tacks to understand the loose and organized flow of mainstream lies and slant or go ballistic with totally organized propaganda A to Z. But no journalism in the US is truly independent. Local news and sports has to boost consumer(advertiser) loyalties, not serve as a conduit for the bald facts. No journalist in the commercial zone can necessarily stop being incompetent buffoons, emotionally blinded or self-serving liars. It is more than condoned and tolerated so much that those with zeal for the truth and alarming dangers thereof seem a sidelined corner of earnest listeners at a wild party where the biggest lying blowhard gets the most smiles and listeners. Those being lied to wink at the whole thing knowing it is a farce, but a feel good, feel superior farce where TRUTH is put in its place and toyed with for amusement.

When crisis hits. When the boosted or shrunken news hurts for real.

We are left holding a bag of buffoons, sellouts, idiots and belligerent enforcers of lies whose moral character treats integrity and responsibility like water of the duck's back. The rest are curmudgeons with their various supporters. Society in relation to the truth falls apart into insane entertainment and rabid fear and anger.

[mojowork_n]

120. The Model I'd pick is Good Cop/Bad Cop

In fact, you hear that theme over and over and over again, if you listen to the AM noise machine.

They can't over-emphasize enough that the NBS media is soooo compromised. When it's not.

They're an active partner, the other half of the one-two punch. That way, they completely define the envelope, magnifying and multiplying the overwhelming power they already have in controlling 95 % of the news outlets. It's really pretty overwhelming.

And when the 'good cop' is always appealing to one's better nature (the cheerful, optimistic side), they're that much more seductive. To people who really have enough to do figuring out what they need to do about their own kids, jobs, lives

[ManiFesto]

123. I agree, especially on the Mean World Theory...

So someone please explain why we're adopting it as our official platform for 2006?

The "Fighting Dems" Uniform Wedge, destroying Democracy in a primary near you.

Recruiting faster, stronger, more heroic REGRESSIVES to vote against us in Congress!

[AverageJoe]

126. Maybe the idea is to fight fire with fire

I'm in no way condoning any underhanded manipulation of the electorate by either side of the political fence, but perhaps the point is to find a technique that works and use it against the other side, period.

You're right, of course--this is ultimately a democracy killer. It's always been true that politicians and parties have done whatever they could to manipulate voters, but in the age of television and corporate media lock down, the game has become much, much more serious and much, much more dangerous.

[roseBudd]

127. I think we ignore underhanded manipulation at our peril as it is clearly

being used against us. For example the RNC mailing that claims dems would ban the bible if elected. A thinking person realized it was preposterous, but a lot of unthinking people in 4 states received that mailing.

[blindpig]

124. The power and danger is not just in the message but the medium itself.

All of what you say is true but I would add that the nature of TV itself lends itself to the effectiveness of the message. Something about our sight oriented primate brain makes us particularly susceptible to whatever is on that idiot box. Someone on these boards mentioned a study which showed that the brain used so much of it's processing in watching TV that critical thinking is slowed down or suppressed. I don't know but it's got to be something like that. What else would explain that people will watch almost anything, as long as they're watching something? Why would they even bother airing infomercials late night? Combine the medium and the message and you have an awesome tool for manipulating the populace. And it's not like you have to be effective with everyone, as long as you can affect a majority. This fits well with the Spiral of Silence.

Were there some sort of complete turnaround and our side controlled the media it would still be wrong for our messages to be delivered in such a manipulative manner. We really need to consider how TV and the associated video media affect humans. Personally I'd just blow up the TVs but one lesser option I see is removing the entertainment factor from information, news and advertising.

[AverageJoe]

125. Highly perceptive, scary and true

Your post makes television all the more frightening. I don't know a whole lot about Marshall McLuhan, but it sounds like his ideas are in the framework of your post. McLuhan gets a short shrift in communication studies these days, but I think that this happens at our peril.

I'd love to see the study you mention. It makes sense to me that this would be the case, the shutting down of critical thought while watching television. My guess is the more visual stimuli that appears on the screen, the greater the effect that you describe. If this is true, consider all of the screaming graphics used by both CNN and FOX--not to mention the garish background sets Bush uses whenever he reads a speech. This eye candy is likely a deliberate switch to turn off the higher critical functions of the brian.

Something else along these lines that's bugged me for a while: The "crawl" at the bottom of the screen on CNN and FOX (and others too?). I don't watch TV news any more, but when I did, I found the crawl to be annoying and diverting. I couldn't fully absorb the news from the newsreader and from the crawl at the same time. It was an overload and a disconnect at the same time. I don't know if anyone has studied the "crawl effect" but I'll bet it has dynamic, negative effects on cognition and retention. The beauty,for the bad guys, is that the crawl makes it appear that they are delivering much more information, when really they are just making it that more difficult for the audience to absorb or think about anything.