Occasionally an email will float into my screen that carries with it content of great import. Such a communication came my way this morning. It was a link to a lecture given before a room full of journalists. The video didn't start close enough to the gentleman's opening remarks for me to ascertain who he was or where he was speaking. His topic, while somewhat hard to grasp, was clear enough to really make me think.
The basic gist of his talk was that media outlets, in our country, are feeding us pablum and a gradual dumbing down of American is taking place right before our very eyes. He used the analogy of pizza versus broccoli and which food would be the most palatable to the highest number of people. Of course, the majority of people would choose pizza over broccoli and restaurants and grocers know this so pizza is offered far more frequently in restaurants than broccoli and grocers offer dozens of different pizza brands and offer sales on pizza more than most other commodities. Why? Because consumers demand pizza over broccoli so marketing gurus keep giving us pizza when broccoli would be far healthier than pizza. The lecturer draws this pizza/broccoli analogy to media information. Media outlets, both blue and red, feed American political consumers (aka voters) information they demand and not what is really good for us................"the facts, Mam, just give me the facts."
The lecturer argues that we are losing our collective intelligence because we are being fed news junque because we demand it. More internet "hits" go to news junque than factual web sites that are noted for their accuracy and straight-forward deliveries.
The sad, frustrating and yes, scary part of this lecture is that the gentleman is correct. We are losing our collective intelligence and I am right there as part of the problem and not part of the solution. When given the choice, I will search for news on the Honeymoon Killer sooner than I will search for the Congressional Record. I am part of the insatiable demand for news pablum and junque.
When did my switch happen from independent thinker to comatose sheep?
Where are you on this continuum?
Ancora imparo
