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
