The Masses Are Asses

[Essence_Smith]

I've taken this from a blog I read regularly, it appears long but reads quickly and I agree with a lot of it...how does it make you guys feel?

1. There are approximately 30 million illiterate people in the United States. The politics of spectacle, culture war, and faux populism are a response to this fact.

2. Americans have been socialized into being citizen consumers in a market democracy. Consequently, they are not active, responsible, forward thinking, or virtuous.

3. There is no liberal media. There is only a corporate media. Consent is manufactured; the terrain for "approved" discourse is narrow. For example, see the howls in response to Chris Hayes' very reasonable intervention regarding the overuse of the word "hero" in regards to members of the military that he made over the Memorial Day weekend.

4. Hard news is dead. Long live soft news.

5. Information is not knowledge. All of us in the Internet age have witnessed a revolution in how information is shared and circulated. The Facebook Millennial generation have come of age in this moment and know no alternative. Unfortunately, as a society we have not developed the critical skills necessary to synthesize citizenship, information, and knowledge. Moreover, as I wrote about here, for many young people "politics" and "activism" consists of clicking "like" on Facebook or wearing plastic wristbands or hoodies. This can be parallel or even pre-political behavior. It is no substitute for substantive political engagement that involves personal commitment, risk, and material resources.

6. The public schools have utterly failed. They are producing passive citizens who are drones for the neoliberal order. The universities are complicit: they fashion an experience which is prefaced on a logic where "the customer is always right," and critical pedagogy and learning are secondary to high course enrollments, sports stadiums, and trends such as "smart classrooms," iclickers, and the empty rhetoric of "student centered" approaches to learning.

7. The dreams of digital democracy and a vibrant Internet that brought together people of different views and beliefs has not come to pass. The blogosphere and online news media are balkanized. Epistemic closure is real. This is especially true on the Right. We are (more often than not) quite literally talking to ourselves and those other folks who already agree with us.

8. The life worlds, communities, and realities of conservatives and progressives, Red State and Blue State, are increasingly divergent, separate, and apart. How can we even come together to solve common problems when basic empirical facts cannot be agreed upon? Add in the bastard marriage of radical religion in the form of Christian Dominionism to Ayn Randian libertarianism and matters are made even worse.

The sum effect of these elements is crystallized in the following ideal typical example. The public actually believes that the enemies of the American government hate the American people--notice I separate the two--because of our "freedoms."

This con is no accident. What would you add to the above list? And can this "mental terraforming" be undone?

[Essence_Smith]

[Romeo]

4. Hard news is dead. Long live soft news.

I completely agree with this statement. And I blame the internet.
there are no longer real journalists that investigate and uncover stories, like Woodward & Bernstein. Now any blogger sitting in their Mother's basement calls themselves a journalist

[krakle]

4. Hard news is dead. Long live soft news.

And I blame the internet.

the internet didn't do anything, it's still awesome.

[Essence_Smith]

4. Hard news is dead. Long live soft news.

And I blame the internet.

the internet didn't do anything, it's still awesome.

I think to a great extent the internet has absolutely made it easier to spread misinformation, but the underlying problem imo is the fact that most don't, can't or won't do enough in the way of critical thinking to discern how credible a source is or if the information they're receiving can be take seriously, etc...it speaks to how lazy people are imo...I remember growing up and being taught to read the same story in several newspapers and then analyzing the differences and then attempting to read between the lines...and even then I was still taught that about 80% of what I just read might just be a lot of

[Larry B.]

I've been saying all that for years and I usually get blasted because I'm a foreigner and/or because "I just don't get it."

A huuuge percentage of Americans seem to have a high level of nationalism and a pretty low level of self-criticism and willing to change their own habits. Otherwise, there would be revolts everywhere. In my opinion, your last 3 governments have done nothing but screw you all.

[Hype]

1. There are approximately 30 million illiterate people in the United States

There are approximately 30 million fundamentalist Christians in the United States.

Unfortunately those two don't completely overlap (much sense as that would make).

In a large population like the US, you're going to get significant segments of the population who have all sorts of problems.

1/100 people are schizophrenic. That means 3 million Americans are schizo.
About the same number are bipolar.

That's a lot of fucked up people. Some of them are brilliant. You can be very smart and illiterate.

[Larry B.]

BTW... reading the title of the thread and ES' name under it, I was expecting a much needed booty thread.

[Essence_Smith]

I wish I could, but the priorities are definitely different these days...

On topic, the murmurings of the dumbing down of America should not be just that...and not for nothing I think its not just isolated to this country. I think there are certainly places where the citizens better schooled in science and math, but "book sense" (as my parents would say) isn't necessarily everything you need to make it through life...its just a shame that the trend appears imo to be systematic and epidemic in a lot of ways...

[Essence_Smith]

You can be very smart and illiterate.

I also know a lot of "intellectual idiots"...
There's an attorney here who's brilliant...can't figure out how to use his blackberry...not to mention being socially awkward...I personally feel social "skills" are almost as important as anything to being successful...

[Hype]

You can be very smart and illiterate.

I also know a lot of "intellectual idiots"...
There's an attorney here who's brilliant...can't figure out how to use his blackberry...not to mention being socially awkward...I personally feel social "skills" are almost as important as anything to being successful...

Not everyone wants to be *THAT* kind of successful. There's room for plurality. Taking "social skills" too seriously might leave you open to being taken advantage of by sociopaths, who can feign these things to manipulate people to get what they want.

[Essence_Smith]

You can be very smart and illiterate.

I also know a lot of "intellectual idiots"...
There's an attorney here who's brilliant...can't figure out how to use his blackberry...not to mention being socially awkward...I personally feel social "skills" are almost as important as anything to being successful...

Not everyone wants to be *THAT* kind of successful. There's room for plurality. Taking "social skills" too seriously might leave you open to being taken advantage of by sociopaths, who can feign these things to manipulate people to get what they want.

I get that...I'm just saying I know a lot of people in the corporate world who are very successful and some of them are the "I can't walk and chew gum" type...the CEO of my company on the other hand was an actor and is an extremely charming guy who makes about 68 million a year...I think a happy medium is best because I know some really exceptionally bright people who'll never get past a certain level in life because they lack the skills to "play the game" and get in good with the right people...for the average joe I still can't see the harm in being able to carry a conversation, etc...I think bottom line for me is that imo its just as important to be able to schmooze as it is to be well read or whatever...

[Hype]

You can be very smart and illiterate.

I also know a lot of "intellectual idiots"...
There's an attorney here who's brilliant...can't figure out how to use his blackberry...not to mention being socially awkward...I personally feel social "skills" are almost as important as anything to being successful...

Not everyone wants to be *THAT* kind of successful. There's room for plurality. Taking "social skills" too seriously might leave you open to being taken advantage of by sociopaths, who can feign these things to manipulate people to get what they want.

I get that...I'm just saying I know a lot of people in the corporate world who are very successful and some of them are the "I can't walk and chew gum" type...the CEO of my company on the other hand was an actor and is an extremely charming guy who makes about 68 million a year...I think a happy medium is best because I know some really exceptionally bright people who'll never get past a certain level in life because they lack the skills to "play the game" and get in good with the right people...for the average joe I still can't see the harm in being able to carry a conversation, etc...I think bottom line for me is that imo its just as important to be able to schmooze as it is to be well read or whatever...

Your CEO sounds like a sociopath.

Seriously though, I take your point -- yeah, it can obviously make life easier, in some sense, if you are capable of "playing the game" that way. But not everyone is built to be capable of playing that game, and sociopaths can play that game really well. The reason I keep mentioning them is that among CEOs there are 4x as many sociopaths as in the general population. It's still not a lot, four out of every hundred instead of one... but it's pretty disturbing. These are people who have mastered LOOKING LIKE they care, but not caring at all.

Some of us don't have that ability, and trying to gain it would destroy what value we do have. Imho.

[Essence_Smith]

You can be very smart and illiterate.

I also know a lot of "intellectual idiots"...
There's an attorney here who's brilliant...can't figure out how to use his blackberry...not to mention being socially awkward...I personally feel social "skills" are almost as important as anything to being successful...

Not everyone wants to be *THAT* kind of successful. There's room for plurality. Taking "social skills" too seriously might leave you open to being taken advantage of by sociopaths, who can feign these things to manipulate people to get what they want.

I get that...I'm just saying I know a lot of people in the corporate world who are very successful and some of them are the "I can't walk and chew gum" type...the CEO of my company on the other hand was an actor and is an extremely charming guy who makes about 68 million a year...I think a happy medium is best because I know some really exceptionally bright people who'll never get past a certain level in life because they lack the skills to "play the game" and get in good with the right people...for the average joe I still can't see the harm in being able to carry a conversation, etc...I think bottom line for me is that imo its just as important to be able to schmooze as it is to be well read or whatever...

Your CEO sounds like a sociopath.

Well if he is and I were somehow given a choice as to what kind of sociopath I'd be...it'd be that kind...
Seriously though, all the VP's I know that get a chance to meet him always come back raving about how inspired they feel...my department got to meet him briefly last year and dude is definitely a charmer, but obviously the type of business we're in you KNOW he can be as cutthroat as he needs to be, when he needs to be...definitely a great leader who's gotten results...the top of most professions have a distinct kind of personality imo, if they didn't they wouldn't be where they are...but its also cool imo if they at least appear to be "people" oriented...

[Hype]

See, now it sounds like a cult to me...

I'm not trying to deny what you're saying about how useful it is. And I certainly think interacting with people who lack basic social skills is painful (I agree with you in that I think we should expect some baseline level of ability to interact with other humans from most people!) But I definitely want to disagree if you think that it's most valuable for most people to try to develop both sides of that coin evenly. Some people will slide to one side or the other more easily, and for these people, I think it's unfair (and possibly psychologically traumatic) to try to force them to behave out of character. It may also be economically stupid, since you're trying to mold people who may be unmoldable instead of using them most efficiently in positions that suit their personalities to begin with.

Of course I'm biased... I'm surrounded by "successful people" (meaning: they are living a life they want to live, doing what they want to do, comfortably) who are more likely to have, and often live up to the stereotype of having, really strange personality quirks or interpersonal deficits. One of my colleagues has remarked that philosophy, in particular, seems designed to attract introverts (people who live in their heads). Extraversion doesn't really lend itself to good philosophical skills.

[Essence_Smith]

See, now it sounds like a cult to me...

I'm not trying to deny what you're saying about how useful it is. And I certainly think interacting with people who lack basic social skills is painful (I agree with you in that I think we should expect some baseline level of ability to interact with other humans from most people!) But I definitely want to disagree if you think that it's most valuable for most people to try to develop both sides of that coin evenly. Some people will slide to one side or the other more easily, and for these people, I think it's unfair (and possibly psychologically traumatic) to try to force them to behave out of character. It may also be economically stupid, since you're trying to mold people who may be unmoldable instead of using them most efficiently in positions that suit their personalities to begin with.

Of course I'm biased... I'm surrounded by "successful people" (meaning: they are living a life they want to live, doing what they want to do, comfortably) who are more likely to have, and often live up to the stereotype of having, really strange personality quirks or interpersonal deficits. One of my colleagues has remarked that philosophy, in particular, seems designed to attract introverts (people who live in their heads). Extraversion doesn't really lend itself to good philosophical skills.

I'm not saying more focus should be placed on development of social skills in general, I'm just saying for people trying to be make it in certain fields its useful. Its just as much a tool as anything, but I don't at all feel its something for everyone. Some people are naturally quieter and less outgoing and that's fine...the big mouth people need people to listen to em...
I work for one of the largest media content providers in the world...so it kinda goes with the territory that the guy in charge knows how to talk to people, etc...if I told you who he was you'd go "ohhhhhh"...but nah, we're on the same page, I just think in conversations about how bright people are I don't think the people who aren't necessarily brilliant in the scholastic way but are great with people gets enough play...

[Hype]

A lot of very nice, kind of intellectually dull, people do a lot of good work all the time.

Some people are naturally quieter and less outgoing and that's fine...the big mouth people need people to listen to em...

There, I fixed it.

[ant]

4. Hard news is dead. Long live soft news.

And I blame the internet.

the internet didn't do anything, it's still awesome.

I think to a great extent the internet has absolutely made it easier to spread misinformation, but the underlying problem imo is the fact that most don't, can't or won't do enough in the way of critical thinking to discern how credible a source is or if the information they're receiving can be take seriously, etc...it speaks to how lazy people are imo...I remember growing up and being taught to read the same story in several newspapers and then analyzing the differences and then attempting to read between the lines...and even then I was still taught that about 80% of what I just read might just be a lot of

The overarching factor in soft news is that the media is owned by the corporations and people it should be reporting on. We get the news they want us to get.

I agree with most of the original post especially this:

2. Americans have been socialized into being citizen consumers in a market democracy. Consequently, they are not active, responsible, forward thinking, or virtuous.

I work for a corporation that trades on the stock market and we always have to out-perform what Wall Street expects. That means we always have to show sales growth. We happen to sell a product that needs constant replenishment by our customers but the pressure is always on to sell more, open more location, create more profit for investors etc...

You cannot have unlimited growth in most sectors unless there's built in obsolescence in your product and/or you can convince your core customer that they need the latest item offered even though the one they have works fine. Apple is the king of this. I see many people I know totally bought into this type consumerism. They are constantly buying stuff. Stuff they don't need. More of stuff they already have. Stuff they think other people will admire. At the end of the day all you have is a bunch more stuff you don't really need and you're distracted by all this from what's really going on because you're so focused on finding the next cool thing you need.

I struggle every day with the fact that I work for a publicly traded corporation and I'm somewhat caught in that rat race. At the end of the day we also do a lot of good for others and we take care of our people and as long as that outweighs the other stuff I'll stick around. Someday though it will be time to cash out and leave this country I think. America is on the decline and our society is going to get worse before it gets better if at all.

[guysmiley]

Its not just America. These things are happening globally. People have gotten very good at making money or turning things into ways of making money. News has fallen prey to this as well. 24 hour News channels are a joke. They're in it for the ratings and advertising money. America is a special case because of its diversity and dark history. It's the biggest real life ongoing social experiment of people in the history of the world. At times it shouldn't work, but it has. There are growing pains to our future and technology in a lot of ways hasn't made life any simpler.

[mockbee]

America is a special case because of its diversity and dark history.

This always struck me as odd when people would say this. Yes, America is certainly diverse and it has that over many, most other countries, and I understand the implications of the dark history but ALL countries have a pretty bleak history if you do some investigation, or some are just flat out obvious, like Russia ....... I mean jesus.

[guysmiley]

America is a special case because of its diversity and dark history.

This always struck me as odd when people would say this. Yes, America is certainly diverse and it has that over many, most other countries, and I understand the implications of the dark history but ALL countries have a pretty bleak history if you do some investigation, or some are just flat out obvious, like Russia ....... I mean jesus.

True.

[Jasper]

America is a special case because of its diversity and dark history.

This always struck me as odd when people would say this. Yes, America is certainly diverse and it has that over many, most other countries, and I understand the implications of the dark history but ALL countries have a pretty bleak history if you do some investigation, or some are just flat out obvious, like Russia ....... I mean jesus.

True.

Yeah, I was actually thinking the same thing. I mean, look at Turkey or something. They've got a history of diversity, being situated as they are, and they've also got some very nasty marks on their record. Nobody's hands are clean, except maybe Bushmen in the Kalahari or something. It's just that America is the latest biggest power. I doubt many people would prefer Russia or China being the top dog, though we may find out someday. In the meantime we have to try our hardest to right this runaway ship, do the least harm, and maybe even manage to do some good.

[Romeo]

4. Hard news is dead. Long live soft news.

And I blame the internet.

the internet didn't do anything, it's still awesome.

I think to a great extent the internet has absolutely made it easier to spread misinformation, but the underlying problem imo is the fact that most don't, can't or won't do enough in the way of critical thinking to discern how credible a source is or if the information they're receiving can be take seriously, etc...it speaks to how lazy people are imo...I remember growing up and being taught to read the same story in several newspapers and then analyzing the differences and then attempting to read between the lines...and even then I was still taught that about 80% of what I just read might just be a lot of

exactly.

Ever notice they always report almost the exact story on local TV News, verbatim, on all the local channels and it's same story you read on the net. Which is where some flunky in their news room found it.

AND to add insult to injury the story has a half a leg because no one fact checked.

[Hype]

America is a special case because of its diversity and dark history.

This always struck me as odd when people would say this. Yes, America is certainly diverse and it has that over many, most other countries, and I understand the implications of the dark history but ALL countries have a pretty bleak history if you do some investigation, or some are just flat out obvious, like Russia ....... I mean jesus.

True.

Yeah, I was actually thinking the same thing. I mean, look at Turkey or something. They've got a history of diversity, being situated as they are, and they've also got some very nasty marks on their record. Nobody's hands are clean, except maybe Bushmen in the Kalahari or something. It's just that America is the latest biggest power. I doubt many people would prefer Russia or China being the top dog, though we may find out someday. In the meantime we have to try our hardest to right this runaway ship, do the least harm, and maybe even manage to do some good.

Yeah. I suspect the only way China or Russia could become a true superpower would be if they could ever manage to secure all or most of their (claimed) territory. Having to wage separatist wars against significant minorities all the time (Chechnya, and probably a bunch of weird stuff in Siberia, and that weird enclave in Europe where Kant lived [Kaliningrad]; Tibet, Inner Mongolia, non-Han populations, internal dissent against the ruling classes, etc.) ... it seems like they are both a ways away from any kind of stability of the sort America has produced in spite of (or partially because of) the Civil War (and in spite of the lasting differences in mentality from north/south and coastal/middle).

[mockbee]

... it seems like they are both a ways away from any kind of stability of the sort America has produced in spite of (or partially because of) the Civil War (and in spite of the lasting differences in mentality from north/south and coastal/middle).

hmmmm.... interesting, you're right, at least we aren't flat out killing each other yet........

We just hate the opposing camp...I'd call the split rural vs. urban really. You go to most places in rural California and you might as well be in the middle of Nebraska. And St Louis, Denver, Omaha etc certainly have their progressive liberal enclaves as well.
It's too bad we can't just try and understand each other......

And the North-South thing is just weird. I guess being a Westerner through and through, it doesn't make any sense, but certainly seems par for the course as far as the history of humanity goes.