Alceste
Vagabond
You
You think Americans are more liberal than Europeans? That's hilarious.
You think Americans are more liberal than Europeans? That's hilarious.
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Nothing to see here, America.
- Thread starter Alceste
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Alceste
Vagabond
What did you think of it? Do you think it ties into the subject of the OP?
dust1n
Zindīq
I don't think it's easy for any one person to do, especially in modern times, but a totality of media probably has a lot to do with it. Advertising to children, the dumbing down of the education system, the drive by parents for financial success. How often does an American citizen get to practice being a citizen in this country? Now how often do they get to practice being a consumer?
Caladan
Agnostic Pantheist
To go back to my first question, I wonder if it helps me that Bernays or Anna Freud were instrumental in shaping people's ideas or consumerism in general, when it is the people themselves who should be considered the issue, not this personality or that personality.
to be honest, it still takes me a long time to form a full opinion on the documentary. it may be tied to the topic, but that is not surprising considering what we are discussing, it may be a case of guilty by association.
dust1n
Zindīq
Oh, I see. Well perhaps because people are not flawless beings capable or really needing discerning abstract truths? Are people hard-wired to consume things relentlessly as evolutionary benefit? Perhaps. Does our culture exploit our evolutionary dispositions? Often.
I think another big question is whether people are being deceived, or whether they allowing themselves to be deceived, or knowing embracing deception for ulterior, perhaps psychological, motives. Is embracing deception even possible? And this needs to be addressed before we can even address the issue of consumerism. I mean, is consumerism a beneficial or negative thing? Where does it lack or not? How do we even go about judging it's usefulness to humans to answer the question of why humans find it so enthralling? How can two different people at the same time hate consumerism and like consumerism? Are they both valid opinions?
Alceste
Vagabond
I think Bernays couldn't do much alone, of course, but he came up with a winning idea: a model of public control that was irresistible to the entrenched powers of industry and politics. The idea of the American as a citizen, fully capable of making decisions in his own interest, given enough education, is well and truly dead now. Not just in America but in the entire globalized, consumerist world. America is the starkest example, I think.
Kathryn
It was on fire when I laid down on it.
Kathryn
It was on fire when I laid down on it.
Father Heathen
Veteran Member
If the U.S. issue is different from the one received by the rest of the developed world, which tends to me more liberal than the U.S., do you honestly think it's saying something about America's liberalism? Really? How about telling us what you think made them feel it warranted the difference? What is it that the rest of the world can handle that U.S. readers cannot?
But then again, we are talking about reading, so perhaps it might not have much to do with conservatives after all.
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Jeremy Mason
Well-Known Member
No really, finish your thought.
Kathryn
It was on fire when I laid down on it.
\If the U.S. issue is different from the one received by the rest of the developed world, which tends to me more liberal than the U.S., do you honestly think it's saying something about America's liberalism? Really? How about telling us what you think made them feel it warranted the difference? What is it that the rest of the world can handle that U.S. readers cannot?
But then again, we are talking about reading, so perhaps it might not have much to do with conservatives after all.
I wouldn't know what conservatives read.
As for myself, I wouldn't lower myself to the level of Time magazine when it comes to reading material.
Kathryn
It was on fire when I laid down on it.
I finished my thought. I'm just not going to post it.
Speak for yourself.
The OP is just another bit of evidence. The level of intellectual involvement among the citizenry of this country is just depressing.
Shadow Wolf
Certified People sTabber
Because here in America the government does pressure media outlets, and they want as few people as possible to get any ideas.
Kathryn
It was on fire when I laid down on it.
If anyone wants an easy way to post this on facebook, etc, here's a nice condensed version:
You'd at least think that whoever came up with this flier/poster/whatever it is would be educated enough to use proper punctuation.
OH, THE IRONY! Oh, well, let's just hope the author isn't American...
Copernicus
Industrial Strength Linguist
Missing comma not withstanding, I posted it on my Facebook page. It is a wonderful example of how an editor decided not to increase our anxieties by publishing a front page story that explained why anxiety could be good for us. That irony is too delicious to pass up.
Alceste
Vagabond
The crap spelling and punctuation is part of the charm of demotivational posters.
It's the people's art form, if by people we mean teenagers.
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