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ctembreull · 09-01-2003, 03:16 PM

I honestly think that the biggest problem in the United States today is the closing down of the marketplace of ideas. Thought, creativity, rationality, intellect, and expression have been devalued and even suppressed.

As I sit and think about this (and you'll pardon me, I hope, if my arguments are stilted today - I've just returned from a two-day Highland Games, and I'm exhausted), I think the source is the pervasive influence of business on daily life. Look, the nation needs an economy, and if we don't all want to be farmers working our little patches of land, that means a robust (if well-moderated) business climate. But somewhere along the line, we came to the tacit national decision that businesses had a right to succeed, instead of the right to try to succeed. And thus was born the era of pervasive advertising. Today, you can't look left, right, or center without seeing a prominently branded product, or an advertisement for the same. Hipness, conformity, wealth, power, and sex are used to entice the American public to patronize businesses, instead of the relative merits of service x or product y. The thought process is subverted and substituted for with easily-digested imagery.

It goes further, too. More recently, diversified businesses have become the gatekeepers of mass media, bringing their advertising style and mindshare-grabbing theories to the world of information. Viewers, listeners, and readers are told what to think and the conclusions that they should reach, instead of being allowed or even required to formulate their own opinions based upon the facts. They are told what to wear, how to act, how to dress, what to think about anything under the sun, and what products they need to solve their problems.

And those few people who do think originally anymore are shouted down, figuratively and literally, by an increasingly loud and verbose national media. Inventors' inventions are either purchased outright or sued into oblivion. Thinkers are sued and defamed. Free spirits are feared and shunned. Every day, a little louder, the message is: conform. Do what we tell you to do. Buy what we tell you to buy. Think what we tell you to think. There, isn't that more comfortable? Now, then, time for a refreshing adult beverage enjoyed in the company of nubile women and studly men having all sorts of fun in trendy clubs or beautiful locales. Just do it. You'll feel better.

Welcome to the United States of America ™, my friends.

(on edit: the author reserves the right to expand and expound upon this post - there's a whole book here I could write, not that anyone would publish it. You have been warned.)

09-01-2003, 03:16 PM	#10 (permalink)
ctembreull Crazy Location: Silicon Valley, CA, USA, Earth	I honestly think that the biggest problem in the United States today is the closing down of the marketplace of ideas. Thought, creativity, rationality, intellect, and expression have been devalued and even suppressed. As I sit and think about this (and you'll pardon me, I hope, if my arguments are stilted today - I've just returned from a two-day Highland Games, and I'm exhausted), I think the source is the pervasive influence of business on daily life. Look, the nation needs an economy, and if we don't all want to be farmers working our little patches of land, that means a robust (if well-moderated) business climate. But somewhere along the line, we came to the tacit national decision that businesses had a right to succeed, instead of the right to try to succeed. And thus was born the era of pervasive advertising. Today, you can't look left, right, or center without seeing a prominently branded product, or an advertisement for the same. Hipness, conformity, wealth, power, and sex are used to entice the American public to patronize businesses, instead of the relative merits of service x or product y. The thought process is subverted and substituted for with easily-digested imagery. It goes further, too. More recently, diversified businesses have become the gatekeepers of mass media, bringing their advertising style and mindshare-grabbing theories to the world of information. Viewers, listeners, and readers are told what to think and the conclusions that they should reach, instead of being allowed or even required to formulate their own opinions based upon the facts. They are told what to wear, how to act, how to dress, what to think about anything under the sun, and what products they need to solve their problems. And those few people who do think originally anymore are shouted down, figuratively and literally, by an increasingly loud and verbose national media. Inventors' inventions are either purchased outright or sued into oblivion. Thinkers are sued and defamed. Free spirits are feared and shunned. Every day, a little louder, the message is: conform. Do what we tell you to do. Buy what we tell you to buy. Think what we tell you to think. There, isn't that more comfortable? Now, then, time for a refreshing adult beverage enjoyed in the company of nubile women and studly men having all sorts of fun in trendy clubs or beautiful locales. Just do it. You'll feel better. Welcome to the United States of America ™, my friends. (on edit: the author reserves the right to expand and expound upon this post - there's a whole book here I could write, not that anyone would publish it. You have been warned.) __________________ Mac "If it's nae Scottish, it's crap!