Right-thinking people are losing the war of the mind. I almost didn’t type those words, because “right-thinking” is a term despised by nearly everyone nowadays as elitist, judgmental or as having overtones of elitism that are to be avoided in persuasive speech. Determining what is right and wrong is simply wrong for anyone… except the media, academic or political elite. And even then, if one strays from the path of philosophical correctness, a pronouncement of (purely non-judgmental, dontcha know!) anathema is bound to fall on one’s head from those so-called liberal elites.
And because the media and academia seem to think with one hive mind, we all know the vocabulary we must use in public speech.
“Gay” no longer means “happy, carefree,” but “nuerotic, angry homosexuals.”
“Liberal” no longer means “seeking to increase or protect freedom and basic human rights” but, on the one hand, “tyrannical limitation of personal freedoms via micromanagement by a nanny state” and “encouragement of lawlessness and anarchy by irresponsible citizens (and foreign invaders)” on the other. The latter function of modern faux liberalism is, of course, planned to increase the legitimacy of the former. Let’s see now… what would be a shorter definition of modern faux liberalism? Oh, yes: a Soviet (or Chinese) style communism, complete with an elite copied directly from Animal Farm (where some animals are clearly more equal than others… ).
In media/academia speak, “Undocumented Workers” ir “Illegal aliens”=”Invaders, ‘Reconquistadores'” or just plain “criminals” if we translate the terminology into right (as in correct, corresponding to reality) thinking.
And of course, these are just the most obvious examples. And Mass Media Podpeople newsreaders Political Poltroons and Academia Nuts are really the least of the propagandizers.
Huh?
Right.
Make yourself watch an evening of MTV analytically. Or do the same with any network or cable TV channel. Heck, watch The History Channel analytically. In any and all of those examples, among the many, many media outlets I could cite from Hollyweird to Nashville and on, what we generally view as harmless entertainment is framing our references.
Think about it. The popular entertainment culture we are embedded in is defining the terms, building the box we think in. It doesn’t determine how we think, necessarily, but it does limit our vocabulary, the concepts we have to manipulate and express to others. From pop music to sitcoms to pop-historical pap (on the History Channel and elsewhere), we and everyone around us are daily fed a melange of concepts, much of which is garbage at best, and poison at worst.
Just try this for a week: watch or listen to mass media pop culture offerings critically, analytically, looking for lies, distortions, corruptions of sound thinking, ethics or morality. “Oh, but that sitcom’s so funny! Surely it’s harmless?” or “That song’s really [moving/ beautiful/ fun to dance to]; so what if the lyrics are [violent/ disrespectful of women/ promoting immoral-unethical behavior, etc.]?”
Right. And an army of ants eats the elephant, a tiny bite at a time.
And as we allow the concepts of a mass media pop culture to seep into our own hindbrains uncritically, without thinking about the contents, we participate in our own destruction.
Oh, well, Rainy Days and Mondays Always Get me Down.
heh
X-Posted at The Wide Awakes
This post is so so important..it should b on the front
page of every dang newspaper which serves to pass itself off as
objective reporting ..ha…but does nothing but further
the well oiled propaganda machinery.
Well said David…Hope it makes the impact on even one
soul…will be well worth your time n effort and brain cell
expenditure!
David: Watching an evening of MTV – analytically or not – will cause mass cell death in the brain accompanied by a corresponding loss of IQ points. Points, I might add, that I cannot afford to lose (because even coffee can’t bring them back to prior levels). Still – I agree with your premise and notice it whenever I succumb to the desire (irrational, but present) to turn on the giant glowing drool-box in the living room.
RY, I must take exception to your assertion about MTV. While watching the poisonous pap perpetrated on picayune minds uncritically, without thought ful analysis of the contents will certainly allow the lies, distortions and morally destructive material that is the norm of pop culture–of which MTV and television in general are simply examples–to take root and grow, thinking critically about the content and presentation, both form and function, of the pap that is pop culture can actually be quite stimulating.
Of course, extricating oneself from the cesspool and cleaning up afterwards can be a difficult process.
I try to listen, really listen to pop music of nearly all genres (although I gave up on the simplistic crap that is rap years ago and only sample it every now and then to confirm that it’s only gotten worse), but even though I sample the contents of the stuff I do so to gain what understanding of the culture(s) (speaking almost anthropologically) the modern mostly-crap music represents. And, because of my musical background and particular interests, I’m able to look at the technical and etymological aspects of the music itself, as well aws the lyric structure, and in the analysis sometimes learn some useful things about musical form and structure and always learn something about the direction the particular genre is taking–usually a “downward” direction in terms of quality, of late.
If you have the ear and training, attempt to listen to some popular music and determine just how sadly lacking in pitch recognition and reproduction many current “artists” are, for example. Speaks volumes about both the work ethic of the artists (and their producers), as well as their intelligence… and the intelligence level of their audience.
Rome created its own downfall from within. Much of our popular culture sounds very like several of the causes of the fall of Rome as delineated by Gibbon, for example.
And the moral ambiguity (or even worse, immoral certainty) so prevalent in the entertainment so embraced by our society is, I fear, central to the hopes of those who wish the downfall of our society.
But it’s just entertainment!