LCD talking and thinking

[coberst]

LCD talking and thinking

I think that almost all political talk is LCD (Lowest Common Denominator) talk. LCD talk is aimed at manipulating the maximum number of people as possible to agree with the talker.

I claim that almost all verbal exchanges on TV are LCD talk. Advertisers, political aficionados, and ideologues all use LCD talk.

LCD talk is so prevalent on TV because it produces sales. It produces sales because our schools and colleges have taught us only what to think rather than how to think. We have never been taught to be Critical Thinkers and thus the great mass of us are easily manipulated by talk that appeals to base instinctive emotions rather than to good judgment.

Success is more important than truth. Moving people to buy my commodity is more valuable than is the expression of truth. Selling is more important than truth. We have lost our sense of direction because we have allowed LCD talk to be successful.

[Flux]

I definitely agree that the media is a problem now adays in how they present information. Every news station seems to have some kind of political agenda, leaning either to the left or right. This only bothers me when it gets too out of control, since any station is bound to be a bit biased, being made of fallible and oppinionated people.

What really drived me up a wall though is what you mentioned--presenting information in such a way that it will produce sales. News stations are so concerned with making daily news sound like and action movie that they unnecessarily skew information. For those who can seperate the facts from the opinions of reporters, it's merely obnoxious, but it can cause major problems when people don't think about what their watching. I don't mean to demonize all reporters or anything, but the media in general is too biased, I think.

[scameter]

Actually, I think it's the opposite. The talker doesn't manipulate people into thinking what he wants them to. The talker agrees with what the people say and they like him/her because of it. Some talkers just agree with different groups and viewpoints than others. The best politicians are ones that do what is most popular at the time. Which is precisely why I think that Lincoln and Clinton, in that order, are the best presidents ever, because for one, at the time it was most popular in the north to free slaves and to kill Native Americans and to invade the south, so Lincoln did it and has been revered ever since; and for two, the economy and money are always the most important things in the minds of people, and Clinton was great at making those two things proceed well during his reign, so he's also praised constantly, and was even more liked when he committed adultery and purgery.

[coberst]

One reader suggested that I had misstated the problem. The problem is that our LCD is too low. In other words, we must, as a group, increase our level of intellectual sophistication. We have the brain power but lack something that Emerson has written about, Self-Reliance. I suspect that we might gain some understanding of our situation if we were to read Emerson's essay "Self-Reliance".


http://www.transcendentalists.com/self_reliance_analysis.htm